Werkgevers en de Participatiewet in tijden van reorganisatie

The Labor Participation Act is a Dutch law to stimulate employers to employ more workers with reduced work capacity. The law urges employers to create 125,000 additional jobs for these workers. Implementation of the law is a challenge for employers. Restructuring their organizations, many employers face the dilemma of on the one hand having to dismiss workers, whereas on the other new jobs for people with reduced work capacity should be created. Our goal is to identify successful strategies for restructuring organizations in the creation of employment opportunities for workers with reduced capacity. Drawing on the Strategic Inclusive HRM model, we compare organizations that have successfully created employment opportunities for people with reduced work capacity to organizations that have so far been unsuccessful. Data were collected via interviews in financial and public organizations. The results show that all organizations want to comply with the Participation Act, but their motivations differ. Successful organizations execute the Participation Act as part of their identity. They implement policies from a social legitimacy perspective and the implementation of the law's goals is fully integrated in this perspective and their policies. Furthermore, they apply more inclusive HR activities in comparison to the unsuccessful organizations. A flowchart shows the factors for successful compliance with the Participation Act.