LIFE PHASE CONSCIOUS HR POLICY

LIFE PHASE CONSCIOUS HR POLICY

BEING FUTURE-ORIENTED AND HAVING THE ABILITY TO CHANGE

Master Thesis, MscBA, specialization Human Resource Management University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business

June 4, 2010

MARJAN JAGER Student number: s1802569 Burgemeester van Engelenweg 54

8271 AT IJsselmuiden Tel.: +31 (0)6 23237597 Email: M.Jager.8@student.rug.nl

Supervisors university

Drs. J. van Polen & Dr. P.H. van der Meer

Supervisors field of study

M. Juk-Kamminga & Drs. K.J. de Hoop Municipality Dronten

LIFE PHASE CONSCIOUS HR POLICY

BEING FUTURE-ORIENTED AND HAVING THE ABILITY TO CHANGE

ABSTRACT

The objective of this research is to investigate, within the Municipality Dronten, in which appearance life phase conscious HR policy can contribute to a high level of employability and as a result to the development of employees being future-oriented and having the ability to change. A HR-role assessment survey has been conducted, company documentation has been reviewed, and additional interviews have been held to analyze what appearance the life phase conscious HR policy should acquire. Questionnaire-based information has been used to analyze whether or not the preconceived characteristics of an employee’s life phase and generation are perceived as accurate, and to analyze the relationship between employability (divided among job satisfaction, functional flexibility, and work strain and carrying capacity) and being future-oriented and having the ability to change. Results revealed that life phase conscious HR policy will be most effective when adopting a strategic focus, having customized arrangements for the employees, and devote additional attention towards departments with complexities. Hypotheses were only partially confirmed, since no significant relation was found for job satisfaction to be related with being future-oriented. Implications and future research needs of the results are discussed.

Keywords: life phase conscious HR policy, employability, job satisfaction, functional

INTRODUCTION

In contemporary organizations changes are abundant and ubiquitous, mainly due to necessary environmental adaptations in order to stay competitive or due to internal needs for improvement (Johansson & Heide, 2008; Lane, 2008). Organizational change requires employees to adjust to transformations by means of functional flexibility – the capacity to multi-skill (Cordery, Sevastos, Mueller, & Parker, 1993). The concept of functional flexibility is considered to be a type of internal flexibility, also known as employability (Groot & Maassen van den Brink, 2000). Employability is a future-oriented perspective and facilitates employees to proactively cope with changes in the organization (Fugate, Kinicki, & Ashford, 2004; Rothwell & Arnold, 2007). Nowadays organizations are common users of employability-stimulating measures, which are to be found in life phase conscious Human Resource (HR) policy (De Vries, Gründemann, & Van Vuuren, 2001).

Life phase conscious HR policy can be defined as “a policy which aims at sustainable employability of all employees, by taking into account the different life phases and their corresponding characteristics and needs” (Van der Weegen, 2006: 49). The basic purpose is to find the right work-life balance and a good mental and physical vitality of the employees (Scholten, 2006). Good alignment between employment relations, working conditions, job content, and terms of employment are necessary to achieve the right work-life balance (Peters, 1995). As a result, employees are stimulated, by means of commitment and inspiration, to work longer for the organization (Thunnissen, 2001). According to Thijssen (1997), life phase conscious HR policy is also known as the ‘new style’, referring to a refocusing approach of utilizing available HR tools. Therefore, it can not be seen as an isolated policy but in a context with general personnel policy, health management, and career development.

In this master thesis a research concerning the outline of life phase conscious HR policy will be accomplished with regard to employability, being future-oriented, and having the ability to change. Practical information will be derived from the Municipality Dronten, which is planning to introduce a life phase conscious HR policy that is aligned with their recently established long-term Human Resource Management (HRM) policy.

implement life phase conscious HR policy as well, although the implementation is often due to urgency adjustments (Thunnissen, Thijssen, & De Lange, 2000). The works council of the Municipality Dronten is, in line with the municipal obligation, aiming for a policy which takes into account the needs of an employee’s life phase. The underlying thought for this is twofold: (1) the works council experience that managers make ad hoc arrangements for employees of their departments and (2) employees are often unfamiliar with the opportunities concerning specific arrangements. Therefore, the works council prefers to have clear guidelines that fosters equality between departments and that offers an entrance for improving employees’ work-life balance. Though, the obligation set in the collective employment agreement of 2005 is not the only angle of incidence which asks for a life phase conscious HR policy. The Municipality Dronten has established a long-term HRM policy which ought to support the general policy in achieving seven perspectives by the year 2025. The policy is aiming that Dronten will become: a network municipality of vital villages, a knowledge centre for the agricultural sector, the base for recreation and tourism, innovative in the combination of work-life, the intersection on the transport route Alkmaar-Zwolle, an innovative and service municipality (direction lining), and a community with an involved society. Two aspects which are of symbolic value for the aforementioned perspectives are being future-oriented and having the ability to change. This requires that, together with the organization, the employees need to adapt to the transformation. The Municipality Dronten is aware that life phase conscious HR policy is assumed to facilitate the employees.

FIGURE 1

Research Model: Level of Employability as Mediating Effect

Besides the practical relevance of this research for the Municipality Dronten, this master thesis seeks to contribute to science as well. There is little significant evidence that life phase conscious HR policy, which takes into account an employee’s life phase and generation, is of influence on the level of employability. Moreover, no research has been conducted aiming at the relation between the level of employability and the affect on being future-oriented and having the ability to change. The latter is of increased importance, because life phase conscious HR policy expects employees to look forward and adapt.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

In the late 1990s, various concepts of personnel policy have come to pass with differences in their approach and accent. Where the concepts of elderly policy and age-related policy are concerned with age as the main criterion, the ones such as life resistant policy and diversity policy are tailor-made for individuals of whatever age. In between there is life phase conscious HR policy which takes into account needs of individuals but with a focus on age. The attempts of life phase conscious HR policy are mainly to increase job satisfaction, improve the functional flexibility, and to find a balance between the work strain and carrying capacity. It is assumed that these attempts, which are employment related aspects, are the most important motives that influence employability (Thunnissen et al., 2000).

An Integral Approach of Life Phase Conscious HR Policy

and when the organization has a long term approach then guidance provisions are carried out. Taken together, this results in four different strategies: refreshment, blocking, maintenance, and development (figure 2). The refreshment strategy is pursued when older employees are depreciated or replaced by younger employees. With the blocking strategy, employability is encouraged by means of limiting post-employment funds. The purpose of the maintenance strategy is to customize an employee’s function. Finally, a development strategy promotes employability by, among others, training.

FIGURE 2

Strategies of Life Phase Conscious HR Policy

Source: Adapted from Thijssen (1997)

To enable life phase conscious HR policy to be effective, the chosen strategy should be integrated with the general personnel policy. With this integrated approach it is likely that an alignment between needs of employees, organizational objectives, social policy, and HR tools is achieved (Noomen, 2004). In order to accomplish this integration, the HR department must adopt one of the following roles: administrative expert, employee champion, change agent, or strategic partner (Ulrich, 1997). The underlying assumption is that all four roles need to be performed by the HR department at the same time. However, the focus might differ in relation to the overall business strategy, which eventually leads to a variation in the intensity that the HR department devotes to each role. According to Gersen (2009), which revised Ulrich’s model (figure 3), the HR department must devote a great amount of their time to the strategic partner. Herewith it becomes likely that life phase conscious HR policy, often referred to generation management as well, will be fully integrated.

mainly focused on older employees. In contrast, the strategic partner is similar to the maintenance and development strategy – desirable for life phase conscious HR policy, where life phase conscious HR policy is utilized as generation management. The administrative expert and the change agent are somewhere in between, since there seems to be no integration between needs of employees, organizational objectives, social policy, and HR tools.

FIGURE 3

Role Appearance of the HR Department

Source: Based on Gersen (2009)

O’Connor, & Nagao, 1991) that a normative-reeducative strategy will have the most positive influence on employees’ cognition, emotion, and intention.

Taken the aforementioned strategies into account, it is expected that life phase conscious HR policy is likely to succeed when the organization adopts a maintenance or development strategy – in which the latter is favorably, the HR department performs the role of a strategic partner, and the policy changes are guided by a normative-reeducative strategy. Accordingly,

Sub-Question 1: Do the conditions of the strategies, which are said to be necessary in making life phase conscious HR policy successful, fit within (the HR-department of) the Municipality Dronten?

Moreover, it is presumed that, in order to let life phase conscious HR policy succeed, the workforce needs to be characterized. In other words, the structure of the workforce needs to be identified and the expectation of how pre-employment, employment, and post-employment will develop. As a result, changes in the workforce are recognized by which it becomes clear where the main focus needs to be drawn in the life phase conscious HR policy. Accordingly,

Sub-Question 2: Given the changes (that might occur) in the workforce of the Municipality Dronten, where should the life phase conscious HR policy devote most of the attention to?

Life Phases and Generations as the Initial Concept

life-span, is a combination of the aforementioned approaches but emphasizes individual differences due to behavioral change. The chronological approach is the one that is most frequently applied within life phase conscious HR policy.

Clustered ages are accompanied by generations, which are almost interchangeably interlinked (Bontekoning, 2007). Generations may be defined as a cluster of cohorts representing a certain vital level which is characterized by a common identity on the individual level or on the system level. The former level refers to the life phases, values, and behavior, whereas the latter refers to the culture (Becker, 1992; Marías, 1970). A distinction can be made between four different types of generations: the ones up to 25 years are also known as screenagers, the pragmatic generation has the age of 25-40 years, the ones between 40-55 years are entitled as generation X, and babyboomers refer to the ones from 55 years and older (Becker, 1992). Within life phase conscious HR policy, however, a classification of ages is mostly distinguished as follow: up to 25 years, between 25-34 years, between 35-44 years, between 45-54 years, and 55 years and above.

found. The organization can support them by providing career development in the form of training and coaching. Important tools to be included in life phase conscious HR policy are: training, job rotation, career as well as personal development, job evaluations and assessment reviews, part-time work, collaboration, maternity and childcare arrangements, compassionate leave, tests, and previously obtained experience. The experts are between 45-54 years and have a lot of work and life experience. Duties at home are decreasing and generally there is an excellent work-life balance. At work they are constantly seeking for importance and acknowledgement. It is essential that the organization continues to invest in these employees to avoid demotivation and absenteeism. The organization could let these employees function as mentor for younger employees, provide them with short courses and training, and let them be of more influence at work. Important tools to be included in life phase conscious HR policy are: training, various leave arrangements, career as well as personal development, functions based on quality, participation in projects and social functions, job evaluations and assessment reviews, collaboration, leadership, tests, feedback, influence on planning their work, and previously obtained experience. Employees from 55 years and above are primarily occupied with the reduction of their career and spend more time and attention to their private lives. They have sufficient capabilities to put things in perspective and are realistic in adjusting plans. For these employees to still feel appreciated, the organization could let them function as mentor for younger employees and give them more influence at work. Important tools to be included in life phase conscious HR policy are: various leave arrangements, participation in projects and social functions, job evaluations and assessment reviews, collaboration, leadership, and influence on planning their work.

The aforementioned image formation from the life phases and generations are based on previous research (Baird & Kram, 1986; Becker, 1992; Bontekoning, 2008; Stoffelsen & Diehl, 2007), from which it can be concluded that the characteristics in a life phase are similar to the ones in a generation. The image formation may entail the risk of stereotyping. When this stereotype occurs, it tells how employees behave, what they prefer, and where their competences lie (Fiske, 1993). Accordingly,

From Work Ability to Employability

The foundation to fully utilize the features of employability is the promotion of work ability (Ilmarinen, 2001). Work ability can be defined as the extent to which an employee is able to do his/her job, both now and in the future, by taking into account the work strain and the needs of that employee (De Zwart, Frings-Dresen, & Van Duivenbooden, 2002). Work ability is formed by the interaction of individual capacities and needs – human resources, with physical and psychosocial characteristics of the work. According to Ilmarinen (2001: 551), this means that work ability “are human resources related to physical, mental, and social demands of work, work community and management, organizational culture, and work environment” (figure 4). Work ability has the tendency to decrease with advancing age and is therefore assumed to fit in the framework of life phase conscious HR policy.

FIGURE 4

The New Concept of Work Ability

Source: Adapted from Ilmarinen (2001)

economic-social perspective refers to maintain employability and thus making a distinction between employment and unemployment. Within the individual perspective, the emphasis is placed on the so called boundaryless career – a career that is unpredictable and frequently associated with horizontal mobility across organizational boundaries. The final perspective, organizational, is related to optimizing the knowledge and skills of an employee. Important indicators of employability are job satisfaction, the functional flexibility, and a positive balance between the work strain and carrying capacity (Thunnissen et al., 2000). Employees who are less satisfied with their job tend to have a higher level of employability, as they are oriented towards improvements in their job (Lee, Carswell, & Allen, 2000). A high level of functional flexibility, employees who “fulfill different tasks and activities to meet changes in work requirements”, are likely to acquire a higher level of employability (Van den Berg & Van der Velde, 2005: 111-112). Finally, when there is a better balance between the work strain and carrying capacity, the employee tends to have a higher level of employability (Silla, De Cuyper, Gracia, Peiró, & De Witte, 2009). As been mentioned in the beginning of this section, life phase conscious HR policy is a tool which can be utilized to influence the aforementioned indicators. Therefore, it is necessary to indicate if and in which appearance life phase conscious HR policy is needed according to these indicators. Accordingly,

Sub-Question 4a: To what extent are the employees of the Municipality Dronten satisfied with their current job?

Sub-Question 4b: To what extent are the employees of the Municipality Dronten functionally flexible in their current situation?

Sub-Question 4c: To what extent are the employees of the Municipality Dronten perceiving that there is a balance between the work strain and carrying capacity in their current job?

Being Future-oriented and Having the Ability to Change

aligned with that of Bruininks & Malle (2005) who argue that human beings have the capacity to represent future events in a flexible way, imagine diverse possible outcomes, and proceed towards those representations. Future orientation is assumed to be a multiple steps model (figure 5) that consists of motivational, cognitive, and behavioral aspects (Seginer, Nurmi, & Poole, 1991). The motivational component refers to thinking about the future: the value a prospective domain will receive; the expectancy how to materialize domain-specific hopes, goals, and plans; and the believe of having the capability to reinforce what happens. Cognitive representation refers to content and valence, or in other words, the construct of the prospective domain and how that is associated to one’s hopes and fears. Finally, the behavioral component is characterized by the exploration of future options and the commitment to a specific option. This means that one is seeking advice, gathering information, and making decisions pertaining their prospective domain (Seginer, 2009).

FIGURE 5

Three-component Model of Future Orientation

Source: Adapted from Seginer, Nurmi, & Poole (1991)

Effective future functioning is one of the antecedents of employability (Harvey, 2001). Employees are stimulated to reflect on their career and, when necessary, anticipate by taking part in developmental activities (Van Dam, 2004). Therefore, the expectation is that an employee with a high level of employability is better able to adopt a future-oriented perspective than those who are less employable. Accordingly,

Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relation between the level of employability and being future-oriented.

Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior (figure 6), the ability to change is determined by one’s intention to perform a particular behavior. This intention is influenced by: attitude, the expectation that the behavior will lead to the desired outcome; subjective norm, considering what others might think whether or not conforming to that behavior; and perceived behavioral control, the believe that one can effectively perform the new behavior. Stated differently, the attitude of an employee indicates to what extent one wants to change, the subjective norm indicates to what extent one must change, and the perceived behavioral control indicates to what extent one can change (Metselaar & Cozijnsen, 2002).

FIGURE 6

Theory of Planned Behavior

Source: Based on Ajzen (1991) and Metselaar & Cozijnsen (2002)

Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control have underlying correlations with each other, which as an aggregate lead to an intentional behavior. Though, the intentional behavior can be influenced in a different capacity by these concepts, since their relative weight might vary. Furthermore, perceived behavioral control is not only indirectly related to performing a particular behavior, but also directly as it is a good indicator of actual behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Moreover, perceived behavioral control is closely related to the concept of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to the belief that one acquires the capabilities to execute certain tasks to achieve desired outcomes and which are the foundation for human motivation, well-being, and personal accomplishment (Bandura, 1977, 1995). When an employee acquires a high level of self-efficacy, one is likely to believe that desired outcomes will be achieved (Rafferty & Simons, 2005).

capacity of responding to changing demands and prepare in advance to those changes (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997; Bretz & Judge, 1994; Frese & Fay, 2001). As a result, employees with a high level of employability tend to be better able to conform to changing demands than those who are less employable (Fugate & Kinicki, 2008). Accordingly,

Hypothesis 2: There is a positive relation between the level of employability and having the ability to change.

METHODOLOGY

Procedure and Respondents

The two HRM advisors of the Municipality Dronten received an assessment survey (appendix A) to assess whether or not the HR-department performs the role of strategic partner, which was said to be necessary for integrating life phase conscious HR policy. The survey “operationalizes specific descriptors of HR concepts, activities, and practices for each role” (Ulrich, 1997: 39). The added scoring sheet divides the questions among the four roles and gives an impression to which role most time is spend by the HR-department.

Company documentation has been reviewed in order to analyze where the main focus of the life phase conscious HR policy should be concerning potential changes in the workforce. This information has been derived from the personnel system and the social report. In addition, interviews (appendix B) with key informants – i.e. managers of the departments from the Municipality Dronten – are held to derive more essential information which was not to be found in the company documentation. The interview, which took about half an hour each, was held in Dutch and was semi-structured, meaning that new questions were brought up during the interview to gain better insights. Participation was voluntary and from the ten departments, seven managers accepted the invitation (appendix C).

with differences in gender, age, tenure, function – of ten participants was selected to perform this pre-test, which is according to Burns & Bush (2006) a sufficient amount. Once revisions were made and the questionnaire was approved, all employees received an email with a cover letter accompanied by the link to the questionnaire. In order to remind employees of filling out the questionnaire, the link has been sent a second time. The questionnaire was written in Dutch and started with general questions considering the employee’s age, gender, education, tenure, function, and hours of employment. Thereafter, the main questions measured the perceptions of the life phases and generations, the level of employability, being future-oriented, and having the ability to change.

For this research to be dependable, valid, and reliable, the questionnaire needed to have a response rate of minimal 56 percent – based on a confidence level of 95 percent. More specifically, at least 168 employees of the Municipality Dronten were required to fill out the questionnaire in order to draw conclusions. From the 296 employees that were approached to participate in this research, 204 employees – 68.9 percent – responded. However, incomplete questionnaires returned the usable response rate to 60.5 percent. From the participants, 47.5 percent was male and 52.5 percent was female, from which the average age was 44.3 years (s.d. = 10.69). In the degree of education no significant variations were to be recognized, most participants had a vocational education (44.1 percent) or higher vocational education (46.4 percent). Other degrees that were recognized: lower vocational education (1.7 percent), university degree (5 percent), and e.g. post-academic (2.8 percent). The average tenure of the participants working for the government sector was 15.6 years (186.85 months, s.d. = 139.99) and within the Municipality Dronten 10.5 years (126.26 months, s.d. = 122.11). Most participants, namely 88.8 percent, had an employment contract of more than twenty-four hours a week. According to the Municipality Dronten’s grouping of functions the participants were divided as follow: 20.1 percent administrative support, 17.3 percent policy, 10.6 percent management, 8.9 percent customer contact, 39.1 percent executive, and 3.9 percent advice.

Measures

HR-role. To assess the role which the HR-department of the Municipality Dronten

Life phases and generations. From the preconceived characteristics of an employee’s life

phase and generation, which has been elaborated on in the theoretical framework (Baird & Kram, 1986; Becker, 1992; Bontekoning, 2008; Stoffelsen & Diehl, 2007), thirteen statements have been developed. For each statement, the participant was asked to indicate, on a four-point scale, which principle suits him/her the most. Some example items are: “want to have a mentor vs. want to be a mentor”, “job enrichment or job rotation vs. maintaining current work”, and “good work-life balance vs. make a career”. Each extreme of the statement represents one or two life phases and generations, and therefore those life phases and generations not represented in that particular statement should ideally range in the middle.

Employability. Items to measure employability were divided among job satisfaction,

functional flexibility, and the work strain and carrying capacity. Four items of Brayfield & Rothe (1951) were selected to measure job satisfaction. From these items, “My job is usually interesting enough to keep me from getting bored” and “I feel fairly well satisfied with my present job” were reverse-coded, as it is considered that job dissatisfaction (hereafter: job satisfaction ought to be read in the context of being unsatisfied) is positively related with employability. Cronbach’s alpha on this item was .62. Three items were selected from previous research (Van den Berg & Van der Velde, 2005) to measure functional flexibility, for example: “I am willing to devote time and energy to education in order to develop myself for a future job”. Cronbach’s alpha on this item was .63. Finally, the items to measure the work strain and carrying capacity were selected from the Work Ability Index (WAI) which originated in Finland (Tuomi, Ilmarinen, Jahkola, Katajarinne, & Tulkki, 1998). One of the three items that were used is: “In general, my work ability is currently at its best”. Cronbach’s alpha on this item was .46. From all measures, feedback has been received on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’.

Future-oriented. Based on previous research (Seginer, Nurmi, Poole, & Shoyer, 1999),

there were seven items used to indicate how future-oriented the participants are. The prospective domain reflected one’s career, as this is most relevant in the context of this research. An example item is: “I am making serious preparations to enter a specific career”. Feedback has been received on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. Cronbach’s alpha on this item was .87.

Ability to change. To predict the participants’ ability to change, seven items were selected

Furthermore, the following item has been developed: “I find it important to develop myself in a broad sense, so I will be able to perform different task activities or jobs outside the organization”. Feedback has been received on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. Cronbach’s alpha on this item was .83.

Data Analysis

Several control variables have been included that may influence being future-oriented or having the ability to change in testing the research model.Previous research has indicated that the demographic variables of age, gender, educational level, tenure, function, and hours of employment are of influence on being future-oriented (Greene & DeBacker, 2004; Nurmi, 2005; Trommsdorff, 1983) and having the ability to change (Cunningham, Woodward, Shannon, MacIntosh, Lendrum, Rosenbloom, & Brown, 2002; Holt, Armenakis, Feild, & Harris, 2007). The tenure was distinguished in terms of employment in the government sector as a whole and within the Municipality Dronten. To indicate any bias between respondents and non respondents, tests were expounded based on the aforementioned characteristics. Test results did not confirm any significant evidence for outsized differences.

The hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. Gender, age, education, tenure, function, and hours of employment were entered as control variables in the first step. The main effects for employability were entered in the second step. Being future-oriented and having the ability to change were the dependent variables.

RESULTS

HR-role Assessment Survey

FIGURE 7

HR-Role Assessment Survey

Note: strategic partner; 34, administrative expert; 40, employee champion; 40, and change agent; 30

The scores of the strategic partner will be explained more extensively, as this role was said to be necessary. No item had received a score which indicated a very low importance. There were three items – “HR participates in the process of defining business strategies”, “HR effectiveness is measured by its ability to help make strategy happen”, and “HR is an active participant in business planning” – that are of low importance. Two items are of medium importance, namely “HR helps the organization accomplish business goals” and “HR spends time on strategic issues”. “HR makes sure that strategies are aligned with business strategy”, “HR is seen as a business partner”, and “HR’s credibility comes from helping fulfill strategic goals” were the three items that were of high importance. Finally, two items were found to be of very high importance: “HR works to align HR strategies and business strategy” and “HR develops processes and programs to link HR strategies to accomplish business strategy”.

Company Documentation & Interviews

Municipality Dronten this was 7.2 percent, with the departments A&A, PZ, and REO as outliers (respectively 9.5 percent, 15.2 percent, and 12.7 percent). Considering employment, there were a few departments with no significant changes – A&A, O&A, REO, and RIB. On the contrary, there were three departments that have been reduced in size (CD, MO, and WB) and also three departments where the size increased (PZ, SoZa, and VHV).

TABLE 2

Workforce of the Municipality Dronten

Note: numbers are exposed in percentages (average age excluded) and based on the first quarter of 2010

needs vary considerably within the department SoZa, the only clear reflection visible was between employees with or without children. On the contrary, at the department WB the employees share to a high extent the same wishes and needs. However, employees within the latter department are most often not familiar with the opportunities they have. An interesting finding was that within the department VHV the initiative to reveal certain wishes and needs is left to the manager. Finally, the managers were asked if life phase conscious HR policy would be of any interest for their department. The managers from the departments PZ, REO, VHV, and WB believed that life phase conscious HR policy is valuable for their department. It was appealing that the manager from the department REO had the same reasoning for this as the works council from the Municipality Dronten – to re-appoint: the experience that managers make ad hoc arrangements for employees of their departments. For the department PZ, the emphasis should be on finding a better balance between younger and older employees and flexible employment relations. The emphasis within the departments VHV and WB should mainly be on familiarizing employees with their options by means of better communication and a two-way direction. The managers from the departments CD, O&A, and SoZa did not see the value of life phase conscious HR policy solely for their department, but only in an organization wide context. In addition, the manager from the department CD believed that there should be a better awareness of employees’ capabilities.

Web-based Questionnaire

Life phases and generations. Results from the analysis, whether or not the preconceived

45-54 years and 55 years and above also desire an informal organization; “continue to develop vs. adjusting plans” (table E11), where employees from 55 years and above still like to develop instead of adjusting their plans; and “good work-life balance vs. making a career” (table E12), where employees between 25-34 years do not wish to make a career but try to find a right balance between their work and private life. Other inconsistencies that were to be recognized concern shifts from the former part of the statement to the latter part or the other way around. For the employees between 45-54 years this was the case with the statements: “leisure rewarding vs. salary rewarding”, “adjustments in working hours vs. pursue education or training”, “flexible employable vs. good leave arrangements”, “job enrichment or job rotation vs. maintaining current work”, and “continue to develop vs. adjusting plans” – the first two shifted to the latter part of the statement and the last three to the former part of the statement (respectively tables E2, E7, E8, E9, and E11). For the employees between 25-34 years this was the case with the statements: “collaboration or team work vs. own classification of work” and “high salary vs. importance and acknowledgement” – both shifted to the latter part of the statement (respectively tables E3 and E13). Next, there were still other inconsistencies to be recognized, although they were not significant and primarily concern a shift at the same part of the statement. Overall, there was an accuracy of 44.6 percent.

Descriptive statistics. Table 3 presents the means, standard deviations, and correlations of

the variables used in this research. As can be seen, there were some significant correlations between the variables to be recognized. However, the correlations among the control variables will here be left outside discussion, because they were only used to measure their influence on being future-oriented and having the ability to change. Employability part I, job satisfaction, is positively related with both being future-oriented (r = .20, p < .01) and having the ability to change (r = .30, p < .01). There was also a positive correlation to be found between employability part II, functional flexibility, and being future-oriented (r = .58, p < .01) and having the ability to change (r = .66, p < .01). Employability part III, work strain and carrying capacity, did not show any significant relation, nor was this positively related to being future-oriented (r = -.02, p > .05) and having the ability to change (r = -.10, p > .05). Not failing to remember, employees are in general satisfied with their job (m = 2.23), are functionally flexible enough (m = 3.85), and there is also a reasonable balance between the work strain and carrying capacity (m = 3.48).

Evaluation of the hypothesized model. Results of the multiple regression analysis are summarized in table 4. The control variables explained a small amount of variance in being future-oriented (R2 = .18, p < .01) and having the ability to change (R2 = .21, p < .01). There was weak evidence that tenure within the Municipality Dronten is of influence on being future-oriented (b = -.00, t = -1.76, p <.10) and overwhelming evidence that this is of influence on having the ability to change (b = -.00, t = -2.80, p < .01), although both in a negative context. No evidence was found that the remaining control variables are of influence. The main effects explained an intermediate amount of variance in being future-oriented (ΔR2 = .24, p < .01) and having the ability to change (ΔR2 = .32, p < .01). For the first hypothesis, there was overwhelming evidence that functional flexibility is positively related to being future-oriented (b = .49, t = 7.83, p < .01) and there was also significant evidence that work strain and carrying capacity is positively related to being future-oriented (b = .13, t = 1.83, p < .10). Concerning the second hypothesis, there was again overwhelming evidence that functional flexibility is positively related to having the ability to change (b = .46, t = 9.01, p < .01), but there was also overwhelming evidence that job satisfaction is positively related to having the ability to change (b = .28, t = 3.68, p < .01). Furthermore, there was significant but weak evidence that work strain and carrying capacity is positively related to having the ability to change (b = .11, t = 1.89, p < .10).All together, there was many evidence found that support both hypotheses: functional flexibility and work strain and carrying capacity are significantly related to being future-oriented and all items from employability are significantly related to having the ability to change. It only has been failed to find evidence that job satisfaction is related to being future-oriented (b = .12, t = 1.31, p > .10).

DISCUSSION

Findings

The results of the HR-role assessment survey reveal that the HR-department of the Municipality Dronten is not yet sufficient enough to fully integrate life phase conscious HR policy. Although the score of the strategic partner indicates that this role is of importance, from the four roles it must have received the highest score to enable life phase conscious HR policy to be effective. The roles of administrative expert and employee champion are more significant in the HR-department, each yielding the same score. As a result, it would probably be difficult for the Municipality Dronten to acquire a maintenance or development strategy.

Information derived from company documentation revealed some interesting findings. Here, I only explicate the findings which are essential in deciding were the life phase conscious HR policy ought to focus on. First, there are three departments – MO, PZ, and SoZa – where more female employees are active in comparison to their male counterparts. Second, at the department WB the average age is 50.3 years, which is more than five years above average. Third, although the absence rate within the whole Municipality Dronten is nearly double the nationwide absence rate, the departments A&A, PZ, and REO have a very high – prolonged – absence rate. Finally, in almost every department lots of movement is recognizable in pre-employment, employment, and post-employment. However, within the departments CD, MO, and WB there are some negative movements accounted, i.e. there was more post-employment than pre-employment. The additional interviews were mainly used to indicate whether or not life phase conscious HR policy would be of any value. There were three managers – from the departments CD, O&A, and SoZa – who only recognize the value of life phase conscious HR policy in an organization wide context and not necessarily solely for their department. Reasoning for the aforementioned finding is primarily that awareness is stimulated about employees within a particular life phase and generation, which as a result will lead to a better management of possibilities concerning wishes and needs. The manager from the department PZ has the expectation that life phase conscious HR policy can contribute in finding a better balance between younger and older employees within the department and developing flexible working arrangements. Adversely, the managers from the departments VHV and WB expect initially that life phase conscious HR policy makes employees aware of their possibilities and let them think about their options.

shifts, there were five statements where participants in a particular life phase indicated that the opposite of the statement suits them the most. Something to be aware of is that the major part of the inconsistencies are applicable to the employees between 45-54 years. Overall, the accuracy reduced to 44.6 percent, which is rather low.

Measurements for the employees’ level of employability reveal that in general this is above average: employees are functionally flexible enough and there is a reasonable balance between the work strain and carrying capacity. Contradictory, employees are in general satisfied with their job which causes the level of employability to decrease. The multiple regression analysis reveals that there is evidence that functional flexibility, in fact overwhelming, and work strain and carrying capacity are positively related to being future-oriented. Furthermore, there is overwhelming evidence for job satisfaction and functional flexibility and also significant evidence for work strain and carrying capacity that they are positively related to having the ability to change. Although these variables are significantly related to one another, it is precluded to make any inferences about causality. Because of these findings, hypothesis 1 can partially be confirmed and hypothesis 2 is fully supported. Contradictory to the expectations, this research did not entirely confirm that the control variables of gender, age, education, tenure, function, and hours of employment are of influence on being future-oriented and having the ability to change. Only weak evidence was found that tenure within the Municipality Dronten is of influence.Although not hypothesized, it is worthwhile to mention that within the variable employability, job satisfaction is positively related with functional flexibility (r = .21, p < .01) and negatively related with work strain and carrying capacity (r = -.48, p < .01). Moreover, functional flexibility is negatively related, although not significant, with work strain and carrying capacity (r = -.13, p > .05).

Theoretical Implications

The findings from the life phases and generations do not correspond entirely with the literature. According to Bontekoning (2007), certain characteristics and behaviors of an employee, as well as their values and needs, are determined by his/her generation and life phase. Within the Municipality Dronten, however, it can not be assumed that employees chronologically pass the different life phases. Moreover, there are many similarities of what employees from whatever age value and only minor differences. The last-mentioned finding has been confirmed more or less by Deal (2007: 14), who argues that “all generations have similar values; they just express them differently”.

capacity where not familiar, but test-retest reliability analysis showed that the WAI, from which the items were adapted, is a valid instrument to utilize (De Zwart et al., 2002).

Practical Implications

Futhermore, within the whole organization awareness about and value recognition of life phase conscious HR policy should be created in order to let life phase conscious HR policy be effective and that it forms a thread for employees among all departments. Finally, taking into account the low accurateness of the preconceived characteristics of an employee’s life phase and generation, customization would be well advised for the employees within the Municipality Dronten. A feasible elaboration for customization, considering the ever-increasing importance of personal adaptability within contemporary organizations, is the dispositional measure of employability (DME) which has been established by Fugate & Kinicki (2008). The DME implies that personal characteristics are of influence on an employee’s adaptability and the realization of career opportunities. There are five items included within the DME: openness to changes at work, work and career resilience, work and career proactivity, career motivation, and work identity. It has been suggested (Campbell, 2000; Pulakos, Arad, Donovan, & Plamondon, 2000) that the DME is a valuable instrument which organizations can utilize in order to acquire employees who are highly employable. In addition, organizations should devote attention to the career preferences of their employees which are already present (Van Dam, 2004).

Conclusion

customization is recommended. Finally, when an employee is unsatisfied with his/her job, he/she is more willing to change. However, in the Municipality Dronten on average the employees are reasonably satisfied and thus less employable concerning changes. Functional flexibility is related to both being future-oriented and having the ability to change, and in general the employees from the Municipality Dronten are functionally flexible enough. The balance between the work strain and carrying capacity of the employees within the Municipality Dronten is quite good, and this also seems related to being future-oriented and having the ability to change. It is therefore recommended that life phase conscious HR policy is going to be introduced with a broad focus on employees being less satisfied and a further improvement of the employees’ balance between the work strain and carrying capacity. Nevertheless, the main focus should be on the employees’ functional flexibility, as this was found to be most related to being future-oriented and having the ability to change.

Taken together, life phase conscious HR policy within the Municipality Dronten will be most effective when adopting a strategic focus, having customized arrangements for the employees, devote additional attention towards departments with complexities, and focus on those who are less satisfied with their job and who need improvement in the balance between the work strain and carrying capacity but primarily on all employees’ functional flexibility. Last but not least, the DME could be introduced in order to acquire employees who already have a high level of employability. As a result, it is likely that life phase conscious HR policy will direct the Municipality Dronten towards employable workers being future-oriented and having the ability to change.

Limitations & Future Research

employability are seen as the driver for having the ability to change. Longitudinal designs are recommended for future research to explore the test-retest reliability of the relationships hypothesized in this research. Finally, socially desirable responses could have biased the outcome of this research. Although anonymity has been assured, employees might still have answered the questions in such a way that it is only in favor of the Municipality Dronten.

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APPENDIX A

APPENDIX C

Organization Chart Municipality Dronten

APPENDIX E

Results Life Phases and Generations

The tables below represent the thirteen statements that were used to indicate the accurateness of the preconceived characteristics of the life phases and generations. The y-axis signifies the life phases and the x-axis whether the former part (one or two) of the statement is applicable or the latter part (three or four). The light grey boxes indicate what, according to the literature, is accurate and when a dark grey box is added, then there is an inconsistency.

TABLE E1

Having a Mentor vs. Wanting a Mentor

TABLE E2

TABLE E3

Collaboration or Team Work vs. Own Classification of Work

TABLE E4

Short Term Results vs. Long Term Results

TABLE E5

TABLE E6

Gaining Experience vs. More Time for Private Life

TABLE E7

Adjustments in Working Hours vs. Pursue Education or Training

TABLE E8

TABLE E9

Job Enrichment or Job Rotation vs. Maintaining Current Work

TABLE E10

Transfer of Experience vs. Receiving Feedback Regularly

TABLE E11

TABLE E12

Good Work-life Balance vs. Making a Career

TABLE E13

High Salary vs. Importance and Acknowledgement