Sustainability in Human Resource Management

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University of Berne European Association of Personnel Management
Sustainability in
Human Resource Management
Evaluation Report
Survey in European Companies and Institutions
Carried out by the Institute for Organisation and Human Resource Management of
the University of Berne, on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Personnel (EPA) and
the European Association of Personnel Management (EAPM)
Robert J. Zaugg*, Adrian Blum** and
Norbert Thom***
Berne, June 2001

* Dr. Robert J. Zaugg is a senior lecturer, chief assistant, and post-doctoral
candidate at the Institute for Organisation and Human Resource Management at
the University of Berne.
** Dr. Adrian Blum is a former assistant of the Institute for Organisation and
Human Resource Management at the University of Berne. He now works as an
independent management consultant.
*** Prof. Dr. Norbert Thom is a full professor of management and the Director of
the Institute for Organisation and Human Resource Management at the
University of Berne. He was also the Scientific Project Manager of this study.
Contact for further information
Dr. Robert Zaugg
Institute for Organisation and Human Resource Management
University of Berne
Engehaldenstrasse 4
CH-3012 Berne
Switzerland
robert.zaugg@iop.unibe.ch
Sustainability in Human Resource Management
Robert J. Zaugg ; Adrian Blum ; Norbert Thom.-
Berne : IOP-Press, 2001
ISBN 3-906471-48-9
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2001 by Institute for Organisation and Human Resource Management (IOP) and Swiss
Federal Office of Personnel (EPA).
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in Switzerland.
www.iop.unibe.ch
www.epa.admin.ch

Sustainability in Human Resource Management I
Preface of the Sponsor
In human resource management today, sustainable, effective approaches are neither
adequately known nor do they enjoy sufficiently broad application. As a major public
sector player in the labour market, we find such approaches particularly important as
we are always striving to keep track of the overall interests of society.
In sponsoring the study on "Sustainability in Human Resource Management“, the
Swiss Federal Office of Personnel sought to contribute to closing this gap. The study
brought a wealth of research material to light which allows European trends,
methods and instruments of sustainable human resource management to be
assessed and compared.
With the new Swiss Law on Federal Personnel, the efficiency of public service
provision and particularly the flexibility of employment conditions will be enhanced.
In this context, the findings of the study also include the opportunity for
benchmarking. This provides us with important pointers as to how we can give
greater consideration to the sustainability of our personnel policies in the
implementation of the Law on Federal Personnel.
With this study, a first step has been taken to identify and more closely examine
innovative concepts and instruments for sustainable human resource management.
We hope that further steps will follow in order to firmly anchor the concept of
sustainability in human resource management.
Dr. Peter Hablützel
Director
Swiss Federal Office of Personnel

II Sustainability in Human Resource Management
Preface of the Project Manager
The long term socially and economically efficient recruitment, development,
retainment and disemployment of employees will be the foremost challenge of future
human resource management in a dynamic environment. Companies respectively
public institutions are challenged to provide adequate frameworks enabling the use
of instruments in the context of sustainable human resource management. The
present paper is a first explorative empirical step for a wide inventory record of
different human resource oriented companies in Europe. The presented report
describes primary statistically defined trends of the survey. Additional analysis, espe-
cially case-studies in active pioneer companies, will follow in later publications.
In this context I would like to thank on behalf of all the authors the Swiss Federal
Office of Personnel for the informative and valuable contributions as well as for the
generous financial support, which allowed a survey of this international scope. The
European Association of Personnel Management (EAPM) assisted in obtaining
address data for this survey and enabled us to put the findings at the disposal of a
large public in the business community and the world of science. I am also grateful
to all the involved persons for their valuable support.
Prof. Dr. Norbert Thom
Director
Institute for Organisation and Human Resource Management, University of Berne

Sustainability in Human Resource Management III
Contents
Preface of the Sponsor_________________________________________________ I
Preface of the Project Manager __________________________________________II
Contents __________________________________________________________ III
1. Introduction _____________________________________________________ 1
2. Model of a sustainable human resource management_____________________ 3
3. Empirical analysis _________________________________________________ 5
3.1 Methodical procedure __________________________________________5
3.2 Structural composition of the data base ____________________________6
3.3 The significance of human resource management in the
entrepreneurial context ________________________________________7
3.4 Objectives of human resource management_________________________8
4. Fundamental conception of sustainable human resource management ______ 11
5. Instruments of sustainable human resource management ________________ 13
5.1 Human resource recruitment ___________________________________13
5.2 Personnel deployment_________________________________________14
5.2.1 Health management____________________________________ 15
5.2.2 Older employees ______________________________________ 15
5.2.3 Work-Life-Balance _____________________________________ 17
5.3 Human resource development___________________________________18
5.4 Human resource marketing_____________________________________20
5.5 Retainment of staff ___________________________________________21
5.6 Disemployment ______________________________________________23
5.7 Management and leadership____________________________________23
6. Conclusions _____________________________________________________ 25

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 1
1. Introduction
The present report describes the main results of a research project,* which was
carried out by the Institute for Organisation and Human Resource Management of
the University of Berne (IOP), initiated by the European Association of Personnel
Management (EAPM) and financed by the Swiss Federal Office of Personnel (EPA).
This brief report will be followed by a detailed research paper containing the results
of the quantitative survey in European companies/institutions and several qualitative
case studies of European best practice companies. The quantitative survey has
examined fundamentals, instruments and processes of sustainable human resource
management in eight European countries.
There seems to be a general consent that human resources are gaining importance
in a knowledge-oriented economy. In this context human resource management is
bound to become more and more important since this function aims at creating,
developing and maintaining future-oriented human resource potentials. The
increasing task-enlargement and the ongoing intensifying of staff-work ask for an
analysis of how and by whom these tasks, which are crucial for the success of
companies/institutions, are taken care of. Therefore, two questions are prominent:
1) How must companies handle their human resource management in order to
secure their supply of qualified and motivated staff on a long-term basis? 2) Who is
in charge of fulfilling the corresponding human resource management tasks? It is
therefore a question of perception of human resource management as well as its
institutional, staffing and instrumental orientation.
This paper is based on the assumption that sustainable human resource
management can only be implemented if it is based on individual responsibility of
employees and is future-oriented. It is defined by methodological and instrumental
approaches whose objectives are long-term-oriented, socially responsible and
economically efficient recruiting, training, retaining and disemployment of employees.
Increasing employability, guaranteeing a harmonious work-life-balance and
enhancing individual responsibility take on an important role in the concept of
sustainable human resource management. In this context the objectives of the
employees as well as those of the company/institution are to be considered. The
principle of participative management systems, can for example only be implemented
if a company is prepared to allow the employees a respective room for manoeuvre.
This paper focuses on the one hand on companies recognising their employees as
individually responsible actors (subjects) of human resource management. This
organisations also control the context of enhancing individual responsibility. On the
* The authors specially thank Mrs Jana Petrovcic for her collaboration in this project and the
valuable data provided from her diploma paper. Furthermore the authors are very thankful to
Peter Boppart who has translated the original German text.

2 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
other hand employees are concerned who actively assume their responsibility for
individual development and motivation.
The empirical surveys (quantitative and case studies) supplement the conceptual
model of sustainable human resource management with quantitative and qualitative
data. In a first step members of national institutions for human resource
management were interviewed in the context of a quantitative study (written, mail
survey) about fundamentals of human resource management as well as about the
use of instruments for sustainable human resource management in various European
countries. In a second step the authors have chosen companies/institutions with at-
tractive human resource management approaches (so called case studies) and have
interviewed their human resource managers. During this stage detailed data of these
institutions could be gathered and analysed. These studies do not claim to be
representative. The identification of qualitative trends is the foremost objective of
these studies as well as their definition in the framework of an explorative research
strategy.

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 3
2. Model of a sustainable human resource
management
The present research project is based on a conceptual model of sustainable human
resource management whose underlying objectives are the following: 1) increasing
the employees’ employability, 2) using participatory management models to enhance
individual responsibility and 3) ensuring a harmonious work-life-balance.
The achievement of these objectives is possible if the individual as well as the
company are considered as equal partners. Measures for sustainable human resource
management concern the individual and the company. On the one hand, satisfaction
of individual needs is promoted and on the other hand maintaining the
competitiveness of a company is supported by sustainable human resource
management.
Work-Life-Balance
Individual Responsibility
Employability
Individual
Companies
Strategies 
Objectives Instruments Methods 
Processes Structures
Culture Attitudes Values
Work-Life-Balance
Individual Responsibility
Employability
Individual
Companies
Strategies 
Objectives Instruments Methods 
Processes Structures
Culture Attitudes Values
Chart 1: Model of a sustainable human resource management
Why are the listed objectives the foundations of a sustainable human resource
management? The starting point are social needs and values: the needs of the
employees are gradually changing. A lot of individuals are searching for opportunities
for individual development not only in their professional activities but also in other
areas of life (objective: work-life-balance). Although work is still considered of prime
importance in the lives of most employees, family life respectively private life is seen
as equally valuable. Whereas future male managers wish to pay more attention to
their children, women more and more build their identity on a professional career
and are no longer prepared to forego this for family life. This change of values is not
necessarily related to a decrease in professional motivation. In reality this is a
shifting of value-specific rating and an increase in variety: intrinsically motivated
goals such as searching for individual development, scope for decision-making,

4 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
challenges through project oriented activities gain in significance. The common basis
of these goals is the eagerness for individual responsibility and self-determination.
(objective: individual responsibility). Due to the changed needs of employees the
individual professional careers entail more and more breaks, changes, detours and
“time-outs”. Professional as well as private biographies are very often composed of a
chain of single projects (patchwork-biographies) which attach a uniquely individual
pattern to each biography. Traditional life profiles, based on models and reliable reci-
pes might rarely be found in the future. From an individual point of view it seems
useful not to focus on a specific activity or a specific profession only but to aspire to
gain a basically high “market-value” in the labour market and to engage in
continuous development (objective: employability). Such individuals are
characterised by a large potential for various fields of activity and the motivation to
engage in familiarising with new fields of knowledge.
Companies can profit from these developments and create advantages on the
market: the search for individual responsibility is for example supported by the grow-
ing requirement of companies to delegate tasks, competence and responsibility. The
reasons for this are amongst others to be found in the increasing market dynamism
which asks for a shortening of decision-making and communication lines. The
resulting flattening of the hierarchical structure usually demands a higher level of
competence in leadership (e.g. greater span of leadership respectively a greater
number of subordinates) and the ensuing need for delegation.
Autonomously acting employees who want to contribute to the shaping of the
company, who meet the requirements of the labour market and who have found a
reasonable balance between work and private life are the success potentials of the
future. The efficient use of these individuals is a new challenge for human resource
management: The framework required for enhancing individual responsibility such as
scope of decision-making, opportunities for participation etc. has to be created, the
employability for instance is promoted by comprehensive, long-term oriented human
resource development measures and the balance between work and private life is
facilitated by instruments of human resource deployment such as up-to-date working
time models.
The authors will discuss these developments more profoundly in the following
sections. They will analyse by means of an empirical study to what extent the
present human resource management takes into account such developments by
using specific instruments.

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 5
3. Empirical analysis
3.1 Methodical procedure
The quantitative top-level survey is aligned to the following objectives:
• Analysis of fundamentals, instruments and processes of sustainable human re-
source management in European companies and institutions.
• Assessment of qualitative trends regarding the use of instruments in
sustainable human resource management.
• Carrying out of a country specific comparison.
• Identification of show-case companies which can be analysed more profoundly
in the context of qualitative case-studies.
The population for this study was defined by a selection of national institutions for
human resource management.* Assuming that primarily highly engaged human
resource management experts are involved in a professional association, a higher
participation rate and a qualitatively higher standard of answers are to be expected.
A further assumption is, that the represented companies are further advanced in
human resource management than those not pertaining to a professional association.
For this reason we talk about a survey in companies/institutions that are particularly
interested in human resource topics.
Switzerl. Germany Italy France Spain Netherl. Austria England
Country
Questionnaire Abs. % Abs. % Abs. % Abs. % Abs. % Abs. % Abs. % Abs. %
Mailed
Questionnaires 3020 47 500 7.8 500 7.8 500 7.8 500 7.8 500 7.8 400 6.2 500 7.8
Returned
Questionnaires 749 73.7 45 4.4 81 8 42 4.1 37 3.6 37 3.6 12 1.2 13 1.3
Return rate 24.8% 9% 16.2 % 8.4 % 7.2 % 6.8 % 3 % 2.6 %
Total of mailed questionnaires 6420
Total of returned questionnaires 1016
Total return rate 15.83%
Chart 2: Return rates
* Switzerland: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Personal-Management (SGP); Italy: Associazione
Italiana Per La Direzione Del Personale (AIDP), Germany: Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Personalführung e.V. (DGFP e.V.); France: Association Nationale des Directeurs et Cadres de la
Fonction Personnel (ANDCP); Spain: Asociación Española De Dirección de Personal (AEDIPE);
Netherlands: Nederlandse Verenigung voor Personeelbeleid (NVP); Austria: Österreichisches
Produktivitäts- und Wirtschaftlichkeitszentrum (ÖPWZ); England: Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development (CIPD)

6 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
While the return rate of 24.8 percent for Switzerland can be considered as
surprisingly high, the return rates achieved in the other countries are relatively low.
The following reasons can be stated as an explanation: 1) The members of
institutions for human resource management are very often addressed in the context
of survey projects. Saturation trends are obvious. 2) The address data provided by
the national institutions was partly faulty. 3) The Institute for Organisation and
Human Resource Management of the University of Berne is lacking broad
international recognition.
The great number of companies to be interviewed and the diverse nationalities led to
the decision to carry out this survey in written form (questionnaire). For this purpose
a standardised written questionnaire was created in the following languages:
German, French, Italian, Spanish and English. The mailing of the questionnaires was
done between 15th January and 21st February 2001. The evaluation of the data is
usually started with univariate statistical analysis. They refer to the definition of
research units with a view to single variables. Frequencies as well as mean and
standard deviation were calculated. Correlation between two variables (correlations:
Kendalls Tau b, Lambda; significancy-tests: Kruskal-Wallis-H-Test, Mann-Whitney-U-
Test) is done with bivariate analysis.
3.2 Structural composition of the data base
1’016 companies/institutions have returned their questionnaires. Thereof 73.7
percent (749) are Swiss, 8 percent (81) are Italian, 4.4 percent (45) are German, 4.1
percent (42) are French, 3.6 percent (37) are Spanish, 3.6 percent (37) are Dutch,
1.3 percent (13) are British and 1.2 percent (12) are Austrian.
Out of the total number of companies which supplied information about their number
of employees 12.8 percent belong to the group of smaller companies (up to 50
employees), 47.5 percent have between 41 and 500 employees and 39.8 percent
belong to the group of large companies with more than 500 employees.
The most prominent sectors are industry (316 companies), various services (148),
commerce and transport (127), public sector (118), the sector group comput-
ing/information/communications (103), healthcare (82), banking (74), construction
(48) and insurance (45).
68 percent of the companies participating in this survey offer up to one fifth part
time jobs. 18 percent employ between 21 percent and 40 percent part time
employees and 14 percent even more. The average number of employees with a
higher education is 27 percent. The paper supports the thesis that the percentage of
women in managerial positions is decreasing the higher the hierarchical level. Taking
into account the whole population the average percentage of women in upper man-
agement is 8.17 percent, on middle management 14.35 percent and lower
management 19.24 percent.

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 7
Competition on the relevant labour markets to recruit qualified employees is
considered to be hard by 90 percent of the interviewed. The struggle for qualified
employees in Italy, Spain and France is less severe than in other countries.
3.3 The significance of human resource management in the
entrepreneurial context
The extent of sustainability in human resource management depends largely on the
status attributed to this function in a company. For this reason the authors asked
several questions about the significance of human resource management. Human
resource strategy has according to the statements of the interviewed, a rather
important to very important influence on corporate strategy in most (68 percent)
companies. This underlines the significance of human resource management. This
function has a greater influence on the strategy in smaller companies than in big
ones. More than three quarters of the companies have recorded the central points of
their human resource policy in a vision statement. This occurs with an above average
frequency in larger companies and in banking.
The statement that the company is characterised by a short line of command can be
supported completely or at least partially by 73 percent of the interviewed. While
lines of command are rather short in England they are above average in Germany.
This is also clearly evident in larger companies and in the public sector. In most
companies employees have the possibility to take part in projects. This is often the
case in smaller companies and in companies in the sector computing/information/
communications. About 70 percent of the interviewed profit from the know-how of
older employees and resort to the labour market potential of women. The know-how
of older employees is used above average in Austria and in small companies. This is
more rarely found in the sector computing/information/communications. This could
be attributed to the fact that this sector is characterised by a relatively strong
dynamism. The labour market potential of women has the highest status in
healthcare.
About one third recognise a potential for improvement concerning communication
and information. Merely 3.5 percent of the interviewed European companies are of
the opinion that communication and information are dealt with in a perfectly
exemplary fashion.
Except the use of the labour market potential of women the companies, who
characterise their human resource management as sustainable (question 22), judge
all the listed statements significantly more positive than those who do not have a
very high rating of sustainability of their human resource management. This
correlation is extremely prominent in strategy orientation, communication and in the
integration of human resource policy aims in the vision statement.

8 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
3.4 Objectives of human resource management
The second block of questions raises the issue of objectives for human resource
management. The evaluation shows clearly that human resource management in
European companies is strongly aligned to economic objectives. Human resource
management measures very often serve the purpose to support the economic
company objectives. The promotion of individual responsibility of employees already
appears in the second position according to the statements of the interviewed. About
90 percent of the companies align their human resource management to enhance
individual responsibility of employees. This is of crucial importance for a sustainable
human resource management. Guaranteeing a performance-adequate-pay and
promoting health are also quite often mentioned as objectives for human resource
management. A comparatively low significance is attributed to the objectives
“endeavour to give employees a high quality of life” as well as “arrange social
contacts for employees within the company”.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Economic objectives
Employability
Self-realisation
Pleasure at work
Individual responsibility
Quality of life
Social contacts
Compensation
Social responsibility
Health
Europe Netherlands France
Chart 3: Objectives of human resource management
The comparison between countries shows that the economic alignment of human
resource management ranks first in all of the surveyed countries except Switzerland.
The economic alignment is most prominent in Spain. The enhancement of individual
responsibility has a high significance especially in Austrian companies. In comparison
to other countries French companies consider this aspect as the least important.
These differences become especially clear when comparing the Netherlands with
France. With regard to the promotion of employability 68 percent of Dutch
companies attach a rather high to a very high importance to this objective. The

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 9
corresponding share is at 22 percent in France. Small companies attach a
significantly higher importance to employee-oriented goals (e.g. self realisation,
pleasure at work, individual responsibility, quality of life and social contacts) than
larger companies.
The listed empirical results lead to the conclusion that an increasing strategic
importance is placed on human resource management. But it is mostly aligned to
economic objectives and aims at increasing individual responsibility of employees.
These results support the initial definition of a sustainable human resource
management.

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 11
4. Fundamental conception of sustainable human
resource management
The survey asked (with the technique of open questions) the company representatives
for terms (key words) and instruments they considered as important in the context of
“sustainability in human resource management”. The evaluation of this shows more
than 300 different key words which were grouped into 20 categories.
120
36
67
245
55
126
45
26
308
96
123
58
42
69
43
63
126
94
52
9
144
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Others
Value orientation
Relationships / Stakeholder
Well-being of employees
Characteristics of employees
Involvement / Loyalty
Leadership / Coaching
Arbeit
Job
Human resource development (HRD)
Human resource management (excl. HRD)
Incentives
Information / Communication
Controlling
Development of company
Quality
Stability
Strategy / Planning
Progress / Innovation
Culture / Structure / Management
Environment
The figures correspond to the number of enumeration within the category (Ntotal = 1’947)
Chart 4: Practical application of terms
As shown in chart 4 sustainability in human resource management is most frequently
associated with the terms “human resource development” (308), “characteristics of
employees” (245), “leadership and coaching” (126), “strategy/planning” (126), “in-
centives” (123), as well as “value orientation” (120). The term “human resource
development” contains especially key words like “training”, “continuous education”,
“support”, “qualification”, “know-how” and “career planning”. In the context of
employees-qualities terms like “motivation”, “flexibility”, “responsibility” and
“willingness to perform” are mostly mentioned. Another issue of importance for the

12 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
companies in the context of sustainability are aspects of leadership and strategy.
Management and leadership principles, attention paid to the employees as well as the
concept of Management by Objectives are also of prime importance. In the context of
strategy the long-term orientation of human resource management is especially
underlined. A high status is also attributed to retaining staff. Other often mentioned
key words are, “communication”, “trust”, “respect”, “well-being of employees”,
“information”, “loyalty”, “participation”, “competence”, “quality” and “continuity”.
The analysis of the questionnaires shows that the interviewed staff experts did not
accurately differentiate between the explanation of the terms “sustainability in
human resource management” and “allocation of corresponding instruments”. These
are therefore similar terms, which occur frequently in the context of an instrumental
perspective. The interviewed named the instruments of human resource
development most frequently. Instruments of leadership are also considered as
important. Additionally they mention above average frequently “retaining of staff”
and “personnel deployment”. In the context of the functional area, personnel
deployment measures for flexible working time are also mentioned. The aspect of
work-life-balance mentioned in the conceptual model also receives attention on the
instrumental level by the personnel specialists.
5
7
24
23
37
4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
agree
entirely
partly agree tend to agree tend to
disagree
partly
disagree
do not agree
at all
Share in percent
Chart 5: Self-assessment regarding sustainable human resource management
(N=960)
At the end of the questionnaire the personnel experts commented the following
statement: “I am of the opinion that our company has a particularly innovative
concept for sustainable human resource management” 3.6 percent of the
interviewed fully agreed (35) 23 percent (222) partly agreed 37 percent tended to
agree. This is a self-assessment of the respective personnel experts. The differences
in the self-assessment in various countries and different company sizes are not
significant.

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 13
5. Instruments of sustainable human resource
management
5.1 Human resource recruitment
Human resource recruitment is only sustainable when it is capable of recruiting
employees who most adequately meet the requirements of the open position. The
assessment of the requirements is of prime importance, followed by an efficient
search for candidates on the relevant labour markets. In the context of an efficient
human resource selection the final aim is to predict the success of the candidate in
the assigned position and to make an employment decision.
Over 88 percent of the interviewed use requirement and job profiles for human
resource recruitment. These instruments are used to help to optimise the allocation
of human resources to tasks. Requirement respectively job profiles are significantly in
higher use in Dutch companies and are significantly less applied by Austrian
companies. Companies with more than 50 employees are also using this instrument
significantly more frequently than smaller ones. A majority of companies (59 percent)
invests heavily in instruments which enhance their attractiveness in the labour
market, which corresponds to the fundamentals of sustainability.
43 percent of the interviewed more or less systematically analyse reference numbers
in the relevant labour markets (e.g. unemployment figures). An increased use of
labour market research could additionally enhance sustainability in human resource
recruitment. The more specific labour market information is available, the easier it is
for a company to recruit efficiently. The labour market is significantly more often
systematically analysed in Spain and in larger companies than in Germany and in
Switzerland respectively in smaller companies.
41 percent of the interviewed companies do not hesitate to entice qualified
employees away. Especially in British and Italian companies the specific hiring away
has a higher priority than for example in Switzerland. Smaller firms are rather
restrained in this domain compared to larger companies.
Human resource recruitment
3.1 We use job requirement profiles to find ideal candidates for each position. (N3.1=1010)
3.2 Our company systematically analyses various key figures for the relevant labour
markets (unemployment figures etc.). (N3.2=1003)
3.3 We invest significant resources in instruments/initiatives intended to enhance the
attractiveness of our company in the labour market. (N3.3=1010)
3.4 We are not afraid to entice well-qualified employees away from our competitors. (N3.4=1002)
3.5 We attach great importance to assessment centres as a means of personnel selection
in our company. (N3.5=1003)

14 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
3.82
2.20
2.72
2.10
1.83
123456
3.5
3.4
3.3
3.2
3.1
mean
Chart 6: Instruments of human resource recruitment
The assessment centre represents a selection instrument with a high validity. But it is
only systematically used by a minority (35 percent) of the companies or used on par-
ticular occasions. The cause for this may be the cost of this instrument and the
difficult handling. Therefore, it is also plausible that the application frequency in
larger companies (over 500 employees) is higher than in smaller ones. Banks use this
procedure much more often than construction and healthcare. This selection and
qualification instrument is used significantly above average in Italy and the least in
France.
The application intensity of the instruments correlates significantly and clearly
positively with their rating of sustainability – with the exception of the topic “en-
ticement”. Companies striving for respectively implementing sustainable human
resource management use the recorded instruments more intensively. This
correlation is most clearly evident in the increased attractiveness of the company in
the labour market.
5.2 Personnel deployment
Sustainable personnel deployment focuses on the allocation of jobs for employees re-
spectively the integration of employees into the work process. In this context the in-
struments for health management such as gathering and evaluating health related
data (absence from work, accidents, causes of illness, etc.) and the medical and
ergonomic compatibility of the workplace are important factors. Furthermore,
methods are of interest which integrate older employees into the work-process and
support the work-life-balance.

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 15
5.2.1 Health management
The basis for effective health management is founded in gathering and
systematically evaluating data for absences from work, accidents, causes of illness,
etc. The majority of the interviewed companies record such information and evaluate
it regularly. Especially in the Netherlands the employers consider health data as
important; such reference numbers are of significantly lower importance in France.
Companies with a high percentage of physically active employees (industry/
construction) evaluate such data more often than the service sector.
About 60 percent of the interviewed companies charge at least one person or a unit
with the promotion and maintenance of employees’ health (especially in big industrial
plants with more than 500 employees). The country-specific analysis shows no
significant differences in this respect. A similar picture presents itself in the analysis
of guidelines containing standards for medically/ergonomically acceptable workplaces
as well as setting standards for good health in documents of principal (e.g. vision
statement).
If all variables for health management are compiled into a scale (block of questions),
one can see that over 90 percent of the interviewed companies apply measures in
one form or another for health management. About one fifth maintain to regularly
and systematically apply measures for health management. The frequency of
application significantly depends on the size of the company and the sector: large
companies and those in the industrial sector place significantly more importance on
an efficient health management than smaller ones and the service sector. Country
relevant differences do not occur systematically.
5.2.2 Older employees
The population is growing older in most Western European countries and the birth
rates are decreasing. Assuming at the same time an increase in the overall
production, the significance of the potential of older employees for human resource
management increases. How far is the labour potential of this employee group with
regard to the socio-cultural changes promoted today? Less than 5 percent of the
interviewed indicate that they have recognised and efficiently used the potential of
older employees. About one third uses it partially. There are significant differences in
the use depending on the variable country and company size: Italy, Spain and the
Netherlands generally assign a greater significance to older employees than
England, Germany and Switzerland. Furthermore, the significance increases with
company size considerably. Older employees are very often assigned to project and
part-time jobs, frequently as Senior Consultants. This kind of activities is most
prevalent in the Netherlands. Furthermore, they are most often found in the service
sector. Of minor importance for older employees in the surveyed European area is
the taking on of management assignments on a temporary basis or external
communication assignments and representation duties (networking).

16 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
Worth mentioning is that part-time work for older employees (employees gradually
reduce their working hours until retirement) is systematically applied in over 40
percent of German companies. In this domain Germany clearly stands above the
European average. This working-time model is only used in 20 percent of the cases
in Italy and Spain. These countries mostly concentrate on coaching and mentoring
tasks. With regard to the frequency of using part-time work for older employees,
coaching and mentoring tasks, the Netherlands are also conspicuous. More than 20
percent of the Dutch companies profit systematically from the know-how of older
employees.
Working-time models
6.1 Flexible working hours (core working hours and flexible blocks). (N6.1=1002)
6.2 Job sharing (two or more persons sharing the tasks of one position). (N6.2=996)
6.3 Annual work quota (fixed number of hours to be worked per annum). (N6.3=989)
6.4 Sabbaticals (long-term leave). (N6.4=998)
6.5 Flexible/gradual retirement combined with the introduction of a younger employee
(relay model). (N6.5=984)
6.6 Extension of working life (employment may be continued after official retiring age).
(N6.6=987)
6.7 Shortening of working life (early retirement). (N6.7=994)
6.8 Various forms of teleworking. (N6.8=976)
6.9 Long-term accounts or lifetime work models (surplus working time may be accumulated
and used up over several periods of years). (N6.9=979)
6.10 Other. (N6.10=626)
53.03%
7.76%
18.31%
8.33%
67.56%
34.85%
81.72%
58.81%
20.93%
50.15%
60.37%
46.29%
46.01%
30.72%
14.67%
6.31%
35.39%
4.98%
2.84%
5.64%
60.94%
18.60%
47.39%
34.65%
47.01%
60.76%
35.55%
10.52%
12.12%
17.76%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
6.10
6.9
6.8
6.7
6.6
6.5
6.4
6.3
6.2
6.1
systematically on occasion never
Chart 7: Working-Time Models

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 17
5.2.3 Work-Life-Balance
An important contribution to work-life-balance offer the various models for working-
time. A summary of the collected working-time models in the surveyed countries is
listed in Chart 7.
Flexible working hours are used in more than two thirds of the companies. Germany
has the highest frequency (over 90 percent of the interviewed). A completely
different situation is found in Spain: Not even 40 percent of the interviewed
systematically offer flexible working hours, 20 percent even never. The use of flexible
working hours increases significantly with increasing company size. An above
average occurrence of flexible working hours is found in the public sector and in
insurance companies. They are relatively seldom in healthcare and in construction.
A special significance for a harmonious work-life-balance have the following working-
time models:
• Job-sharing involves two or more employees and entails the temporal and
functional dividing up of a job. This allows the participants an individual
development not only in their professional but also in other activities. Less
than 10 percent of the interviewed report to use job-sharing systematically.
Well over three fifths of the interviewed apply job-sharing for individual cases.
The use of job-sharing mainly meets interest in Germany and the Netherlands,
whereas it is very rarely used in Italy.
• Sabbaticals are long-term leaves where the working contract is kept in force
with full, partial or no pecuniary compensation. They serve various purposes:
e.g. language learning abroad, continuous education, recreation, time for the
family and volunteer work in non-profit organisations. About 5 percent of the
interviewed offer this model to their employees systematically. The use of
sabbaticals is comparatively frequent in France, the Netherlands and
Switzerland; and is the lowest in Spain, Italy, Germany and Austria. The
frequency increases with growing company size significantly. The offer of
sabbaticals is very wide-spread in banking as well as in companies in the
sector of computing/information/communications.
• Telework enables the employee to work at home or from telecentres, which
allow location independent work forms. 5 percent of the interviewed offer this
type of work form systematically; about one third in individual cases. The
frequency of use varies significantly amongst the surveyed countries. Telework
is most popular in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands (in at least 70
percent of the cases, a systematic or individual case oriented application is
reported). A specially large number of telework occurs in computing/
information/communications. Telework is seldom offered in French, Italian and
Spanish companies. The same is valid of industrial and construction companies
as well as of healthcare and the public sector.

18 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
4,76%
7,60%
8,33%
1,30%
2,7%
5,6%
6,3%
78,57%
58,33%
20,45%
47,39%
51,56%
46,15%
8,33%
27,27%
5,41%
36,11%
91,89%
16,67%
71,43%
79,55%
40,84%
53,85%
46,29%
83,3%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Netherlands
Spain
France
Italy
Germany
Switzerland
England
Austria
Europe
systematically on occasion never
N
Europe = 951 NItaly = 81 NSwitzerland = 749
N
Austria = 12 NFrance = 42 NGermany = 49
N
England
= 13 NSpain = 37 NNetherlands = 33
Chart 8: Sabbaticals (Long-Term-Leaves)
• Long-term accounts or life-time-work models enlarge the temporal perspective
of work time management for the entire work biography. They integrate
models of entering the professional career, forms of interruptions of
professional activities (continuous education, family, sabbaticals) as well as
models of leaving employment (gradual and flexible retirement). About 8
percent of the interviewed offer such models systematically, one fifth in
individual cases. They are most frequently found in France and the
Netherlands (almost 50 percent use those systematically or in individual
cases). They are hardly ever applied in Italy and England. There are no
significant differences with regard to sector and company size.
5.3 Human resource development
Human resource development embraces all information-, education- and job-related
measures supporting qualification respectively enhancing employability of the em-
ployee. Instruments for enhancing the motivation to learn, a focused career planning
and methods for the development of individual responsibility and participation are of
interest for the analysis of measures for human resource development in the context
of this research project. A crucial issue in human resource development is the
promotion of employee’s motivation for continuous professional education. Four fifths
of the interviewed companies support the statement that their employees are

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 19
specifically encouraged to engage in continuous professional education. Most
supporters of these statements are Swiss, German and Dutch companies. It is least
supported by Italian companies. The agreement with the statement increases
significantly with increasing company size. Employees of banking and insurance are
most frequently motivated for continuous education.
Career planning represents a crucial instrument for human resource development
indicating the career path of an employee. About 30 percent of the interviewed
companies report to offer career planning to all employees. This is especially
frequently applied in the Netherlands and in England. It is used significantly more
frequently in large companies than in smaller ones.
In our company we specifically encourage our employees to develop a sense of
res
p
onsibilit
y
(
e.
g
. b
y
p
rovidin
g
them with course bud
g
ets that the
y
can administer
themselves).
3.31
3.35
3.16
3.75
3.89
2.80
2.98
3.54
3.22
123456
Switzerland
Germany
Austria
Netherlands
France
Italy
England
Spain
Europe
N
Europe = 992 NItaly = 81 NSwitzerland = 749
N
Austria = 12 NFrance = 42 NGermany = 45
N
England
= 13 NSpain = 37 NNetherlands = 37
Chart 9: Promotion of individual responsibility
An important measure in human resource development is the encouragement for
participation in decision-making processes. A strong participation is on the one hand
a key non-material incentive to enhance motivation to perform on the other hand it
is also an important avenue for the motivation to assume responsibility for one’s own
actions (individual responsibility). About 50 percent of the interviewed companies
report that their employees can directly participate in important decisions. There are
no significant differences in the different countries. However, it is clearly discernable
that the possibility of employees to influence decisions decreases with increasing
company size: worth mentioning is the above average high rate of participation in

20 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
smaller companies (up to 50 employees). Employee participation is most prevailing in
computing/information/communications, the least in the public sector.
With a view to sustainability of measures for human resource development it is of
interest, whether the companies efficiently promote individual responsibility of their
staff.
About half of the interviewed companies report to promote individual responsibility of
employees in different forms. One possibility consists in providing individual course
budgets that the employees can administer themselves. This mostly occurs in the
Netherlands and Austria. Taking on greater responsibility is often promoted in
banking and in computing/information/communications according to the opinions of
the interviewed. In the sector commerce/transport this is significantly less important.
Worth mentioning is that the enhancement of individual responsibility decreases
clearly with increasing company size. Smaller companies are more easily ready to
delegate responsibility than larger ones.
5.4 Human resource marketing
A company intending to effectively enhance its attractiveness in the labour market
through measures of human resource marketing depends on information about its
corresponding image. It is therefore rather surprising that only a mere 11 percent of
the interviewed carry out systematic image analysis. A further 40 percent apply this
instrument on occasion. About 50 percent do not use it. A higher use of this
instrument could enhance the sustainability of human resource marketing. This
thesis is also supported by the fact that a high rating of sustainability positively
correlates with the application intensity of image analysis. Image analysis is most fre-
quent in the Netherlands. 63 percent of French companies never use this instrument.
Above average use is reported from companies who judge competition in the labour
market as very heavy. Larger companies and those of the banking and insurance
sector apply this instrument more often than smaller companies and those from the
public sector and healthcare.
Especially co-operation with educational institutions and associations are available
besides the traditional human resource image marketing as measures for external
human resource marketing. Three quarters of the interviewed apply this instrument
systematically or occasionally. Only about one quarter of the interviewed do not
focus on co-operation with those most important external manipulators of the labour
market. German companies are significantly more interested in co-operation than
Swiss companies. 27 percent of Swiss companies never enter a co-operation with
educational institutions or associations. Most co-operation projects are to be found in
the computing/information/communications sector.

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 21
Human resource marketing
10.1 Image studies within the labour market. (N10.1=984)
10.2 Co-operation projects with educational institutions and associations. (N10.2=997)
17,4%
10,6%
24,7%
49,6%
58,0%
39,8%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
10.2
10.1
systematically on occasion never
Chart 10: Instruments of Human resource marketing
5.5 Retainment of staff
In the context of retainment of staff instruments for securing and enhancing of
individual motivation to perform are examined. Important instruments to this
purpose are material and non-material incentives. In the context of sustainable staff
retainment incentive models are involved which enable a long-term maintenance and
enhancement of the motivation to perform and also specifically promote the
motivation for taking-on of individual responsibility.
An efficient incentive model is aligned to the strategic objectives of a company in
order to become fully efficient. About 15 percent of the interviewed companies are
convinced that incentive models must correspond with the objectives of the
company; a quarter reports that this is to a large extent accurate. Italian companies
especially believe in their particularly distinctive orientation to objectives. This
alignment is least discernable in Switzerland. The fact that mainly small companies
report to have their incentive models aligned to strategic aims is outstanding.
Incentive systems aligned to material incentives are the basic approach for staff
retention in most of the interviewed companies. About four fifths report that
employees would receive attractive material incentives as for instance a performance
adequate compensation, fringe benefits and bonuses. An up-to-date performance
oriented system is offered in about three quarters of the cases, outstandingly
frequently in Italy and Germany as well as in banking. Relatively attractive material
incentives are offered by Spanish, Dutch and German employers according to their
statements. A more critical approach to material incentives is found in France.
Significant differences between company sizes are not discernable. Banking and
companies in computing/information/communications judge their material incentive
system as relatively attractive while this is less the case in the public sector and
healthcare.

22 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
The underlying dimensions of approach for this report that is employability, individual
responsibility and work-life balance can be especially enhance by effectively applying
non-material incentives: an example hereto is the delegation of scopes of decision-
making to take on more individual responsibility. The following chart shows to what
extent the interviewed companies offer these attractive non-material incentives.
About one third of the interviewed companies report to offer a mostly attractive to
very attractive non-material incentive model; another quarter describe their model of
incentive at least as rather attractive. However, over 40 percent are of the opinion
that non-material incentives are “rather” to “not at all” attractive for employees.
The attractiveness of non-material incentives is rated as relatively high in Dutch
companies; in France and in Italy the rating, however, is lower. Non-material
incentives are rated as especially satisfactory in smaller companies and in companies
in computing/information/communications.
Our company offers its employees attractive non-material incentives (scopes
of decision-making).
3.86
4.46
3.32
3.24
4.68
4.00
3.62
3.66
4.25
123456
Switzerland
Germany
Austria
Netherlands
France
Italy
England
Spain
Europe
N
Europe = 992 NItaly = 81 NSwitzerland = 749
N
Austria = 12 NFrance = 42 NGermany = 45
N
England
= 13 NSpain = 37 NNetherlands = 37
Chart 11: Offering non-material incentives

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 23
5.6 Disemployment
From a conceptual point of view disemployment is only sustainable if it takes into ac-
count the needs of employees as well as those of the company and is focused on not
harming the image of the company in the labour market. A large majority of the
interviewed companies uses exit interviews systematically as a classical method for
disemployment. Herewith valuable information about reasons to leave and about
corporate climate can be gained. Medium sized companies and banking frequently
apply this instrument. The use is below average in Germany and in the construction
sector, in Austria it is most frequently applied. Companies rating their human
resource management as sustainable use exit interviews significantly more frequently
as well.
A significantly lower percentage (61 percent) of companies consider it important to
give professional advice to employees during their leaving process. While this
support is of great importance in England it is hardly accepted in Italy. About half of
the interviewed companies offer managers outplacement consultations to
supplement the psychological support they receive while looking for a comparable
position. Outplacement is mostly used in larger companies and in banking. In
construction and smaller firms this tool is rather rare.
5.7 Management and leadership
Personnel management and leadership contribute significantly to guaranteeing
participation and individual responsibility. The fact that in about 83 percent of the
interviewed European companies a co-operative management style is present is a
formidable base for the implementation of sustainable human resource management.
In Switzerland in smaller companies and in banking this method is more in use than
in France, in larger companies and in institutions of the public sector. The positive
rating of sustainability and the extent of co-operative management correlate again
significantly. The co-operative management style is supported by the model of
Management-by-Objectives (MbO), which empowers employees to agree with the
superiors on aims that can be checked regularly. 41 percent of the interviewed
companies are fully in line with the statement, that superiors and employee agree on
aims that can be checked regularly. A total of 87 percent basically agree with that.
About 90 percent of the companies use structured performance review discussions
regularly. These feedback discussions are very popular in Switzerland, in Spain they
are significantly less frequent. In smaller companies the occurrence of performance
review discussions is also less frequent than in big companies. The data prove that
sustainability of human resource management can be enhanced by MbO.
The instrument of the assessment of superiors is significantly less in use. One third
applies this method regularly or on occasion. In this field there is an opportunity to
increase sustainability. In the context of a total assessment it would be reasonable to

24 Sustainability in Human Resource Management
complement an assessment by superiors with a self-assessment and an assessment
by peers, by clients/customers and by subordinates. Only from this, a comprehensive
assessment of one’s own strengths and weaknesses can be established and therefore
a chance for development. Mainly representatives of computing/information/
communications resort above average frequently to this assessment instrument. In
the public sector the assessment of superiors has not yet been widely accepted.
Once more the Dutch companies excel with an above average frequency rate.

Sustainability in Human Resource Management 25
6. Conclusions
Internal and external conditions (high dynamism and complexity of environment)
increasingly oblige companies to forego short-term oriented measures to increase
competitiveness (e.g. cost-reducing programs in training). Effects caused by an
increasing acceleration in the economic environment could otherwise lead to
negative impacts on business (e.g. burned-out syndrome). Concepts are in demand
promising continuity, conveying credibility and leading to qualitatively high standard
problem-solvings. The concept of sustainable human resource management is
founded on those insights.
Sustainability in human resource management is characterised according to the
applied research approach by enhancing the employability, promoting individual
responsibility and guaranteeing a harmonious work-life-balance. Measures of
sustainable human resource management concern the individual and the company as
equal partners: On the one hand, satisfaction of individual needs is promoted and on
the other hand maintaining the competitiveness of a company is supported by
sustainable human resource management.
The empirical analysis has shown that companies are really interested in the topics of
sustainable human resource management and have implemented individual
components. The interviewed companies mostly associate issues such as human
resource development, specific employee characteristics, e.g. taking-on
responsibilities, leadership, continuity/strategy and human resource retainment with
the term “sustainability in human resource management”. Consequently a specific
application of sustainable instruments is already in use:
Specific career-planning models for instance are offered by an important number of
companies and efficient measures are initiated to enhance motivation for continuous
education and the taking-on of individual responsibility. Interesting approaches can
also be found with incentive models whereby material qualities have a higher rating
than non-material ones. Furthermore a lot of interviewed companies offer
outplacement assistance for managers to supplement the psychological support they
receive while looking for a comparable position.
Considerations of sustainability in human resource management are of relatively low
significance in spite of these valuable starting points. The respective instruments are
rather restrainedly and unsystematically applied. Also the know-how of specific
human resource groups is exploited in a modest way: it is for instance conspicuous
that most companies stated not to profit sufficiently form the potential of female
employees. To provide concepts for human resource managers for the
implementation of sustainability in their companies, the authors will more profoundly
analyse the results of the presented report and carry out case studies in different
“best practice companies”. The results of those additional analyses will be published
in an appropriate format.