1. 1 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Sustainability in Human Resource Management Norbert Thom, Robert Zaugg, Adrian Blum Presented by Prof Dr Dr hc mult Norbert Thom Director of the Institute for Organisation and Human Resource Management (IOP), University of Berne www.iop.unibe.ch

2. 2 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Work-Life-Balance Individual Responsibility Employability Individual Companies Strategies  Objectives Instruments  Methods  Processes  Structures Culture  Attitudes  Values Model of a sustainable human resource management (All diagrams and statistics from Zaugg/Blum/Thom 2001.)

3. 3 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Three pillars of sustainability Work-Life-Balance ♀: Growing importance of professional career ♂: Growing importance of private and family life Individual Responsibility Increased autonomy and self-determination in questions of professional development Employability Focus on continuous development and professional agility rather than specific activity

4. 4 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Survey* of 1016 European companies. Aims: Overview of state of the art of HRM in Europe Determining conception and stage of implementation of sustainable HRM in European companies Cross-country comparison The pillars in practice *The project was kindly supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Personnel and the European Association of Personnel Management (EAPM).

5. 5 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Sample Sectors: industry, service providers, trade, transport, public sector, IT, healtchcare, banking, construction, insurance Company size: 40% >500 empl; 47% 50-500 empl; 13% <50 empl

6. 6 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Objectives of HRM in European companies

7. 7 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Central objectives of HRM in European companies Contributing to achievement of economic objectives Promoting individual responsibility (90% of questioned companies!) Ensuring adequate pay and promoting employee health Enhancing employability (strong dispersion: 68% of Dutch vs. 22% of French companies) - HRM is gaining in strategic importance. - Sustainability as defined by the model is an issue.

8. 8 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Conception of sustainability in European companies HR development: training, continuous education, career planning Employee characteristics: motivation, flexibility, responsibility Leadership: consistency, social skills, MbO Staff retention, incentives Keywords associated by HRM responsibles with sustainability in HRM:

9. 9 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Conception of sustainable HRM in European companies: keyword categories

10. 10 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 „I am of the opinion that our company has a particularly innovative concept for sustainable human resource management.“ Sustainability in European companies

11. 11 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Major instruments of sustainable HRM Recruitment: requirement & job profiles; HR marketing; labour market research Deployment: health management; staff composition (older employees!); advanced working-time management Development: encouraging continuous education; career planning; promoting individual responsibility & participation HR marketing; image analysis & improvement Retention: sophisticated incentive systems Disemployment: exit interviews; outplacement Management & Leadership: participative management styles; MbO; assessment of superiors

12. 12 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 The instruments in practice – selected results Deployment: health management Effective health management rests on systematic collection of data on absences and health of employees. Health management more sophisticated in large (>500 empl) companies of the industry and construction sectors. Less common among service providers. ~ 60% of questioned companies across countries charge at least 1 person or unit with employee health.

13. 13 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Deployment: staff composition Demographic and economic developments in Europe increase the significance of the potential of employees of advanced age. Less than 5% of questioned companies indicate that they have recognised and made efficient use of the potential of older employees!

14. 14 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Deployment: working-time Flexible working-hour models are conducive to improved work-life- balance. Especially so are Job sharing Sabbaticals Telework Long-term or lifelong working time schemes Flexible working hours are used in more than two thirds of the questioned companies, though mostly for individual cases only. Systematic implementation is still very rare.

15. 15 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Advanced working-time schemes in European companies

16. 16 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Sabbaticals (long-term leaves)

17. 17 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Development: promoting individual responsibility Participation and/or autonomy in decision-making is a crucial feature of sustainable HR development. Around half of the companies interviewed report that their employees can directly participate in important decisions. Also roughly half claim to promote individual responsibility & partial autonomy of their employees.

18. 18 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Individual responsibility

19. 19 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Management & Leadership Management and leadership styles contribute essentially to participation and individual responsibility on the part of employees. ~ 80% of European companies claim to be using participative management styles, and also MbO seems widely implemented. Far less widespread is superior assessment, which would provide an excellent opportunity for enhancing sustainability in HRM.

20. 20 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Staff retention Attractive non-material incentives are an essential element of sustainable HRM.* While around four fifths of the companies questioned claim to offer generous material incentives to their employees (compensation, fringe benefits, bonuses), 40% believe that non-material incentives are "rather not" or "not at all" attractive for employees. *Cf. also Thom/Friedli 2003

21. 21 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Non-material incentives

22. 22 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Disemployment Sustainable HRM must take into account the needs of employees laid off or leaving on their own initiative in order not to harm the company image on labour and sales markets. A large majority of European companies uses exit interviews systematically as a classic method of disemployment. However, a significantly lower percentage (61%) consider it important to give professional advice to employees during their leaving process.

23. 23 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Conclusions Sustainability in Human Resource Management is an issue in companies throughout Europe, though with local differences. A considerable variety of specific instruments supportive of sustainable HRM is in use. However, these instruments so far have been implemented only restrainedly and unsystematically. Much more could and will have to be done to ensure and enhance employability, individual responsibility and a work-life- balance that does justice to the societal changes of recent decades among European workforces.

24. 24 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 Further steps Reconsider staff composition: make sure to fully exploit the potential of "minorities", esp female and elderly employees. Do not underestimate the motivating effects of non-material incentives. There are many more of these besides having employees participate in decision-making. Include superior assessment in a comprehensive workforce assessment scheme. Take better advantage of the great potential for flexibility in the area of working time schemes. The above conclusions suggest the following immediate recommendations to European HRM responsibles:

25. 25 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 … and always remember: Sustainable Human Resource Management concerns both the individual and her or his employer as equal partners: it is not simply a question of better satisfying the individual needs of employees, but stands in the service of corporate competitiveness – fully in agreement with the central purpose of HRM to support the achievement of the company's economic objectives.

26. 26 © IOP  University of Berne Mykolas Romeris University, Sept 2006 References Zaugg, Robert J.; Blum, Adrian; Thom, Norbert (2001): Sustainability in Human Resource Management. Evaluation Report. Bern 2001. Thom, Norbert; Friedli, Vera (2003): Retention. Case Studies on High Potentials. Bern 2003. Further results to be published in: Zaugg, Robert J. (2006): Nachhaltiges Personalmanagement. Eine neue Perspektive und empirische Exploration des Human Resource Managements, Wiesbaden 2006 (in press).