Work life in the Netherlands

The nature of work is changing, not only in the Netherlands but throughout Europe. There is a growing demand for different types of products and services. These demands are influenced by technological developments and innovations, but also by globalization, which indicates the integration of national and regional economies. Under the influence of economic pressures, (international) competition between commercial organizations increased and extensive outsourcing of activities, mainly to low-wage countries, has led to a change in the type of business operations in which those ompanies engaged in. It is highly possible that this globalization has led to a flexibilization of the work process, with more part-time employment, temporary employment and independent contracting staff. Another effect may resulted in a changed labour market with an increased demand for staff in services and reduced employment opportunity in industry and agriculture. These changes occur against a background of a greying workforce in the Netherlands as well as in Europe. All in all we would expect a considerable change in the quality of work and health of workers. Studying these changes and their impact on the quality of work, health and productivity of both the worker and the organization is the core of the work at TNO Work & Employment. TNO Work & Employment - with about 150 employees – is a national center of knowledge on working life issues in the Netherlands. TNO as an organization – with about 4000 staff members- is the largest independent research and consultancy organization in the Netherlands, receiving structural, however partial, funding from the Dutch Government for innovative research and developments. In consultation with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, TNO Work & Employment seeks to develop new approaches to improve the quality of working life in a healthy, sustainable and productive organization. It supports the Dutch government as well as public organizations and the business community. Its major fields of research are the quality of work and health, social innovation and human capital, sustainable employment and sustainable productivity. TNO Work and Employment is a WHO Collaborating Center on Occupational Health, the Dutch representative in the Partnership for European Research in Occupational Safety and Health (PEROSH) and national correspondent for the European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO; Eurofound), as well as member of the European Association of National productivity Centers (EANPC). This book is an update of the first edition of ‘Worklife in the Netherlands’, published in 2006, and reflects the major research areas of TNO Work & Employment. It presents recent work performed by researchers from TNO Work and Employment on topics that recently were or still are an issue for debate in the Dutch media, politics or a main topic in the national research agenda. The book starts out with a presentation of trends in the quality of work based on both Dutch and European data sets, providing a European benchmark for the Netherlands on quality of work. In a second chapter the focus is more on the development of health of the Dutch workforce, whereas the third chapter taps into the topic of sustainable employability. The fourth chapter presents the current status of the occupational health services in the Netherlands and future prospects on this topic are discussed. Chapter five pays attention to the quality of work and employment conditions of flex workers, a group of workers which appears to be growing particularly in the Netherlands. Chapter six focuses on the long history of government spending cuts and its consequences for the quality of work and productivity, and particularly addresses the developments in the public sector. The subject of the seventh chapter is ‘knowledge work’, which appears to be an emerging, although not often well defined topic. One who thinks this a purely academic debate is wrong, since this topic has emerged as a policy debate in countries of the EU and in the Netherlands, the Foreign National Employment Act was revised in 2009, making it easier for ‘knowledge workers from abroad’ to come and work in the Netherlands. The final chapter addresses workplace innovation in the Netherlands which is considered to be a prerequisite to achieve the EU 2020 objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. With this update of ‘Worklife in the Netherlands’, I am confident that we present the reader a broad picture of interesting trends, research findings and conclusions as well as some forecasts related to the quality of work and employment in the Netherlands. I am proud the book is published and hope it will further stimulate international collaboration and discussion on the future of this important research area.