The document discusses the strategic importance of sustainable employability in Belgium. It notes that sustainable employability is an area where HR, individuals, and the government have common interests. However, progress has been slow, and discussions are sometimes counterproductive as different stakeholders have differing views. HR can play a crucial role by creating the right conditions for motivation, engagement, competence and health to ensure people are able and willing to perform sustainably over the long term. While some progress has been made, more is still needed to address challenges like scarce talent, low mobility and training participation, and increasing health issues.

1. #hrpro100
The strategic Importance of
Sustainable Employability
David Ducheyne
President hrpro.be

2. About hrpro.

3. ° 2016
11 + 3 Organizations
• Networking
• Professionalisation
• Impact
3500 HR professionals
Member of EAPM

4. A Story.

5. In your own interest, you should leave
this job and do something else.
Are you crazy, then I’ll lose my premium.
Are you crazy, we’ll have to find
someone else.
HR
Worker
Manager

6. The Strategic Importance of Sustainable
Employability

7. Sustainable Employability is a domain
where HR, Individual and the government
have a common interest.

8. It’s on the Agenda in Belgium
but progress is slow,
and discussions are sometimes
counterproductive.

9. Different views on how to tackle the topic.
Social Partners have different opinions.
Common ground is too small.
Government wants to push.

10. Difficulty of
Job
+
Exposure
Timing of
Retirement
Example: Demanding Jobs
Criteria?
Under Debate.

11. Discussion on “demanding jobs” is one of
repairing afterwards,
and not one of preventing problems or
leveraging our single most important
resource: talent.

12. We must admit that
everyone has a demanding job
or
that the difficulty of a job is
a subjective notion.

13. Prevention
Learning – Mobility
Healthy Work
Shared responsibilities
HR has a crucial role
to play in this discussion
(or at least in the implementation).

14. The Role of HR.

15. Market
Employed
Self-Employed
Employers
Customers
Government
The role of HR in the Talent Market

16. The Essence of HR
Creating the right
conditions
Motivation,
Engagement
Competence
Health
HR is about
performance
Long Term
Future-Oriented
Customer, Organisation
Person, Society
Making sure people are willing and able to perform
sustainably in order to create value for all stakeholders
Human
behaviour
The transfer of
behaviour into value.
© David Ducheyne

17. ContextStrategy Behaviour
Vision
On Work.
Job Quality
Working Conditions
Learning
Mobility
Value
Creation
Levers for Sustainable Employability
Training
Investment © Otolith.be

18. But there’s some difficulty to put it on the
agenda of the organization.
• Sustainable Employability is about long-term, in a context that is
short-term thinking.
• HR depends on the quality of leadership within the organization.
• Many sustainable employability initiatives seem to be in conflict with
or not contributing to the performance of the organization.
• There’s a lack of company-specific data on the return on investments
in sustainable employability.
• The dwindling supply of talent is in favour of Sustainable
Employability Initiatives.

19. The Situation in Belgium

20. A labour Market with different Speeds

21. 60
62
64
66
68
70
72
74
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Flanders Wallonia Brussels Belgium EU-28
Evolution of the activity %
Source: Statbel - EAK, Eurostat - LFS (Bewerking Steunpunt Werk/Departement WSE)

22. 6
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Wallonia Brussels Flanders Belgium EU-28
Evolution of the Self Employed in Belgium
Source: Statbel - EAK, Eurostat - LFS (Bewerking Steunpunt Werk/Departement WSE)

23. Activity % goes up, but lags behind the EU.
Different situations in North & South.
Limited but increasing
intercommunity mobility.

24. Unemployment Flanders
(July 2018)

25. The Belgian Beveridge Challenge

26. We have no other choice then to get
everybody to work, also those with a
distance to the labour market.
(à inclusive talent acquisition practices)

27. Formal Training Investments
Bron: CVTS - FOD Economie / Eurostat (Bewerking Steunpunt
WSE/Departement WSE) – Figures from 2010
Participation to training
Training Cost as % of labour cost

28. Belgian enterprises score well on average for
their training investments.
How can we make sure the effort is more
evenly distributed?

29. Participation to Life-Long-Learning
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Roem
eniëBulgarijeSlovakije
FYR
M
acedonië
Polen
Kroatië
Griekenland
TurkijeLitouw
enHongarije
Ierland
Cyprus
België
Letland
M
alta
ItaliëDuitsland
Tjechië
Spanje
Portygal
EU
28
Slovenië
Verenigd
KoninkrijkOostenrijk
Estlandluxem
burgNederlandFrankrijkNoorw
egen
Ijsland
Finland
Denem
arken
ZwedenZwitserland
2011 2016

30. Reasons not to engage in LLL56.7
5.1
7.3
9.5 10.3
52.1
14.2
9.2
6.2
15.1
42.7
22.1
16
1.9
20.5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
I do not need it for my
Job
Work Schedule Family Reasons Health/Age Practicalities
Lower Education Level Middle Education Level Higher Education Level
Source: AES, FOD Economie (Bewerking Departement WSE/Steunpunt WSE), 2011 figures

31. People still see training as the
responsibility of the employer
How can we convince people that they should
invest in their development as well?
LLL is the key to longer fruitful careers.

32. Mobility

33. Mobility and Protection
JobSeniority
Employment Protection Legislation

34. How can we convince people that job
mobility is a good thing?
How can we convince management that it’s a
good thing for people to leave?
How can we stimulate internal job mobility
as a development & retention tool?

35. Workability Indicators for the Flemish Labour Market
Engagement
Mental Fatigue
Learning
Opportunities
Work-Life Balance
Workability Indicators

36. Mental Fatigue / Stress is one of the most
important aspects of sustainable HR
strategies.
How can we help people to stay / become
more resilient?

37. Risk indicators for the Flemish Labour Market
Risk Indicators
Workload
Emotional
Stress
Task
Variation
Autonomy
Leadership
Support
Work
Condistions

38. If someone is ”satisfied” about the conditions
they are in …
… but there’s an increasing illness,
insufficient personal investment in learning …
… what does this tell us.

39. Securex white paper, Absenteïsme 2016
Long Term Absenteeism on the rise.

40. How can we build work and work
environments that are a source of health?
It’s not about prevention after the facts, or
absenteeism programs. It’s about
fundamental choices organisations and
individuals must make.

41. How to go from here?

42. The Essence of HR
Creating the right
conditions
Motivation,
Engagement
Competence
Health
HR is about
performance
Long Term
Future-Oriented
Customer, Organisation
Person, Society
Making sure people are willing and able to perform
sustainably in order to create value for all stakeholders
Human
behaviour
The transfer of
behaviour into value.
© David Ducheyne

43. Sustainable Employability is a domain
where HR, Individual and the government
have a common interest.

44. Conclusions
• The context is what the context is: scarce talent,
too low mobility and participation, increasing
issues of health.
• Sustainable Employability is strategic. It’s a way to
deal with the talent challenge.
• HR plays a key role in this, but it needs to step up
its story.

45. • There is progress!
• But still not enough!

46. Part 2 of this presentation is about
solving the problem.

47. Thank you!

48. Get in touch
Hrpro.be
Belgian Association of HR Professionals
Stuiverstraat 8
1000 Brussels
www.hrpro.be
info@hrpro.be
Author: David Ducheyne
Founding President of hrpro.be
Founder of www.otolith.be
+32 479 91 08 67
david@otolith.be