Sustainable employability for employers

Sustainable employability is an important issue within many organisations.
An employee who can make the best use of their qualities has more energy, delivers higher labour productivity and drops out less often.

Why is a different way of looking at development important - now and in the future?

The labour market is tight, and is expected to remain so for the next five years. After corona, there has been an acceleration in automation and digitalisation, which has changed the way various functions and roles are organised, partly due to the increase in working from home. With the rapid rise of AI, this development will only increase. Existing functions will disappear and new roles will emerge - roles that often require different competences from current functions. Not always completely different, but with a clear adjustment in knowledge and skills.

Whereas we used to learn mainly from past experience and existing knowledge, we now have to develop new skills as well as actively search for the right knowledge. This requires a completely new way of working and thinking. The older generation often built a career in periods of 8 to 10 years. With the current outflow, changes and acceleration, that time is no longer there.

We live in a new reality where continuous change is the norm.

What does this mean for workforce planning?
This requires a different way of looking at your current workforce planning. Employees must be able to fit into changing roles within five years. By facilitating this process, the organisation gains insight into and control over the development of employees towards the future. We call this reverse strategic workforce planning - based on the principle that change is the only constant.

Change takes place on two levels:

At the employee's own: personal development, ambitions and changes in one's labour market.
Within the organisation: strategic direction, changing processes, team composition and function changes.

We see all these movements as opportunities. We help organisations accompany these movements, keeping employees sustainably employable and moving flexibly with the organisation's strategy.

Sustainable employability starts with insight - in two themes:

Developments within the organisation
- What strategy is your organisation following?
- What implications does this have for processes, roles and teams?
Insight for the employee
- What impact do these changes have on my role or function?
- Does my job still suit me, now and in the future?

By offering insight into both themes, employees see for themselves when a mismatch might be imminent. As a result, they start moving from positive energy and their own direction - not because they have to, but because they want to. The result: less absenteeism, higher productivity and avoidance of outplacement processes.