The basic assumption in this article is that growing older does not mean only, or even necessarily, a decline in one’s labour capacities. Some capacities increase over the years, although this development is clearly not the same for each and every individual. The older workers’ “enriched” capabilities are determined by certain aspects of job design. Older employees find, however, that their ability to learn and grow is hardly respected or addressed by their employer. Through action research in collaboration with a team of older female care workers with low educational levels, a new learning process was launched in a health care institution. The programme was designed in line with the team’s own needs and experience. Thus, the initiative and learning demand lay with the participants. Their experiences and interests were key to the learning programme, which consisted of experimental and collective learning with the opportunity of self-direction. With the development of their capacities in the job and their improved performance, a change arose both in the employment relationship (the delegation of power and a more coaching oriented management style) and in the work content (the possibility of organising and cooperating in order to solve problems together). Due to new cutbacks and quality requirements in the standardisation of care processes, however, most of the changes have since disappeared.
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This study investigated the association of fatigue and cognitive complaints among employees post-cancer diagnosis, with work-related outcomes, and moderation by cancer-related anxiety. A survey was carried out among workers 2–10 years after cancer diagnosis. Employees without cancer recurrence or metastases were selected (N = 566). Self-reported fatigue and cognitive complaints were classified into three groups. ANOVA’s and regression analyses were used, controlling for age. Group 1 (cognitive complaints, n = 25, 4.4%), group 2 (fatigue, n = 205, 36.2%), and group 3 (cognitive complaints and fatigue, n = 211, 37.3%) were associated with higher burnout complaints and lower work engagement, and group 2 and 3 with lower work ability. Cancer-related anxiety positively moderated the association of group 3 with higher burnout complaints. Employees with both fatigue and cognitive complaints report less favorable work functioning. Cancer-related anxiety needs attention in the context of burnout complaints.
Background: This follow-up study investigated the year-round effects of a four-week randomized controlled trial using different types of feedback on employees’ physical activity, including a need-supportive coach intervention. Methods: Participants (n=227) were randomly assigned to a Minimal Intervention Group (MIG; no feedback), a Pedometer Group (PG; feedback on daily steps only), a Display Group (DG; feedback on daily steps, on daily moderateto-vigorous physical activity [MVPA] and on total energy expenditure [EE]), or a Coaching Group (CoachG; same as DG with need supportive coaching). Daily physical activity level (PAL; Metabolic Equivalent of Task [MET]), number of daily steps, daily minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), active daily EE (EE>3 METs) and total daily EE were measured at five time points: before the start of the 4-week intervention, one week after the intervention, and 3, 6, and 12 months after the intervention. Results: For minutes of MVPA, MIG showed higher mean change scores compared with the DG. For steps and daily minutes of MVPA, significantly lower mean change scores emerged for MIG compared with the PG. Participants of the CoachG showed significantly higher change scores in PAL, steps, minutes of MVPA, active EE, total EE compared with the MIG. As hypothesized, participants of the CoachG had significantly higher mean change scores in PAL and total EE compared with groups that only received feedback. However, no significant differences were found for steps, minutes of MVPA and active EE between CoachG and PG. Conclusions: Receiving additional need-supportive coaching resulted in a higher PAL and active EE compared with measurement (display) feedback only. These findings suggest to combine feedback on physical activity with personal coaching in order to facilitate long-term behavioral change. When it comes to increasing steps, minutes of MVPA or active EE, a pedometer constitutes a sufficient tool. Trial registration: Clinical Trails.gov NCT01432327. Date registered: 12 September 2011
Hogeschool Rotterdam wil in samenwerking met IT-Campus en Rotterdamse mkb-bedrijven onderzoeken of de dataskills die studenten in hun opleiding verwerven, aansluiten op de datageletterdheid die van hen als startende professionals wordt verlangd. Om dit te beoordelen vragen we Rotterdamse ondernemers naar de datagedreven uitdagingen en problemen die zij voor zich zien en of zij bij de instroom van startende professionals voldoende kennis en skills zien om die uitdagingen het hoofd te bieden. Met de uitkomsten kunnen kennisinstellingen een helder beeld krijgen van het concept datageletterdheid en hiermee een handvat bieden aan opleidingen om dataskills in de curricula aan te laten sluiten op de behoefte in de arbeidsmarkt van de Metropoolregio Rotterdam-Den Haag (MRDH). We werken toe naar een ontwerp Data Skills-set. Misschien is het beter om te spreken van datacompetenties, hetgeen onderdeel is van de zoektocht in dit onderzoek. Welke terminologie is het meest behulpzaam in het oplijnen van onderwijs en werkveld op het gebied van data: geletterdheid, competenties, skills of een combinatie daarvan. Is het van belang of juist contraproductief om daarin (merk)specifieke tooling een plek te geven? We vragen ons ook af of datageletterdheid als een generiek concept domeinoverstijgend bruikbaar is, bijvoorbeeld tussen het economisch en technisch domein. De verwachting is dat de bevindingen op het gebied van datageletterdheid in de regio Rotterdam te generaliseren zijn naar andere delen van Nederland. Ook die hypothese willen we verkennen in dit onderzoek. Door het beantwoorden van deze vragen willen we een start maken voor het ontwerp van een instrument voor professionele ontwikkeling in het werkveld als ook een referentiekader voor het gesprek met onderwijspartners en overheid. Daarnaast kan zo’n ontwerp DataSkills-set ervoor zorgen dat de onderwijsdomeinen in gesprek blijven met elkaar ten aanzien van nieuwe methoden en onderwijsvormen voor vaardigheden.
Despite Dutch Hospitality industry’s significant economic value, employers struggle to attract and retain early career professionals at a time when tourism is forecasted to grow exponentially (Ruël, 2018). Universally, hospitality management graduates are shunning hospitality careers preferring other career paths; stimulating the Dutch Hospitality to find innovative ways of attracting and retaining early career professionals. Following calls from the Human Resource Management (HRM) community (Ehnert, 2009), we attribute this trend to personnel being depicted as rentable resources, driving profit’’ often at personal expense. For example, hotels primarily employ immigrants and students for a minimum wage suppressing salaries of local talent (Kusluvan, et al 2010, O’Relly and Pfeffer, 2010). Similarly, flattening organizational structures have eliminated management positions, placing responsibility on inexperienced shoulders, with vacancies commonly filled by pressured employees accepting unpaid overtime jeopardizing their work life balance (Davidson, et al 2010,). These HRM practices fuel attrition by exposing early career professionals to burnout (Baum et al, 2016, Goh et al, 2015, Deery and Jog, 2009). Collectively this has eroded the industry’s employer brand, now characterized by unsocial working hours, poor compensation, limited career opportunities, low professional standing, high turnover and substance abuse (Mooney et al, 2016, Gehrels and de Looij, 2011). In contrast, Sustainable HRM “enables an organizational goal achievement while simultaneously reproducing the human resource base over a long-lasting calendar time (Ehnert, 2009, p. 74).” Hence, to overcome this barrier we suggest embracing the ROC framework (Prins et al, 2014), which (R)espects internal stakeholders, embraces an (O)pen HRM approach while ensuring (C)ontinuity of economic and societal sustainability which could overcome this barrier. Accordingly, we will employ field research, narrative discourse, survey analysis and quarterly workshops with industry partners, employees, union representatives, hotel school students to develop sustainable HRM practices attracting and retaining career professionals to pursue Dutch hospitality careers.
