2nd International Conference on Sustainable Employability – Building Bridges between Science and Practice

12-13 September 2018 – Provinciehuis Vlaams Brabant, Leuven, Belgium

Due to the economic and political tendency to raise retirement age, people will have to work longer. A policy of keeping people longer at work can only be successful if their employability is maintained in a sustainable way throughout their entire career. Inevitably, both private and public organizations will have to deal with the challenges of promoting and maintaining the employability of their workers.

Occupational Health Services and Human Resource Managers are the protagonists within the action field of sustainable employability. It is therefore important that both fields interact with each other as well as with their respective scientific communities.

The first International Conference on Sustainable Employability was held in September 2016 and aimed to bring together scientists and practitioners within the fields of Occupational Health & Safety and Human Resources.

The successful first edition and the numerous positive reactions of the participants, showed the need for more dialogue between science and practice and encouraged us to organize a second International Conference on Sustainable Employability: “Employability in the 21st Century”.

The conference is an initiative of Securex and is organized in collaboration with the Ghent University, the University of Liège and the Scientific Committee “Aging and work” of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH).

Presentation by Wim De Vilder

Building bridges between science and practice

The conference aims to bring together scientists and professionals of all disciplines involved in sustainable employability. This second edition will continue to strive for an enhanced understanding and mutual communication between the scientific and the practitioners world.

We invite scientists to present scientific studies, and practitioners (both from private and public sector) to present practical cases or company policies. In return we offer them a unique international platform to exchange scientific knowledge and practical know-how and for discussions and interactions in an informal and constructive environment.

Who should attend?

Everybody involved in sustainable employability: scientists and researchers in the fields of Occupational Health & Safety and Human Resource Management, company leaders, HR professionals (HR directors, HR managers, HR business partners, HR consultants), Occupational Health & Safety professionals (occupational physicians, occupational psychologists, occupational health and safety services), governmental institutions, employer organizations and trade unions.

We would like to spark debate. Academics are encouraged to present their work in a comprehensible manner and professionals are encouraged to express their expectations towards the academic world.

What to expect?

Program
Speakers
How to get to the conference? 
Conference webpage

Conference Topics

• work ability throughout the life course
• physically demanding jobs and shift work
• psychosocial and organizational factors at work
• strategies for occupational health surveillance
• workplace social capital
• leadership
• prevention of and managing workers with chronic musculoskeletal disorders
• prevention of and managing workers with mental disorders, including burnout
• sickness absence and return to work
• health and safety culture at work
• cross-generational collaboration and diversity management
• job crafting, talent management, career management
• new forms of work organization, including working time arrangements and spatiotemporal flexibility
• non traditional work relationships and alternate forms of employment (new employment)
• commitment and motivation
• digitalization and technostress
• productivity throughout the life course
• cost effectiveness of interventions
• (socio-)demographic analysis, including age and/or generational analysis
• specific occupational groups: public sector, health care workers, emergency services