18 CHAPTER 1 1 Sustainable employment and well-being at work In the literature, there are different conceptualizations of sustainable employment, as it is a broad concept that is hard to grasp (100-102). Generally, sustainable employment refers to the ability of workers to participate in the labor market during their lifetime (103). Traditionally sustainable employment focuses more on performance indicators, such as workability (104), and medical indicators such as sick leave (105). However, due to the emerging field of positive organizational psychology (106), there is now more focus on well-being at work. A more recent conceptualization of sustainable employment, based on the capability approach and which includes well-being at work, has been proposed by van der Klink et al., namely ‘throughout their working lives, workers can achieve tangible opportunities in the form of a set of capabilities. They also enjoy the necessary conditions that allow them to make a valuable contribution through their work, now and in the future, while safeguarding their health and welfare. This requires, on the one hand, a work context that facilitates this for them and on the other, the attitude and motivation to exploit these opportunities’ (103). An important aspect of this conceptualization is the set of capabilities that workers can develop if they are able and empowered to realize their work values as meaningful goals in the work context (103, 107). Examples of work values are ‘using your knowledge and skills in your work’ and ‘being involved in important decisions about your work’. According to this capability approach, for employees to have high levels of sustainable employment, they should (a) consider certain work values as important, (b) have adequate work opportunities to achieve these values, and (c) be personally able to realize them (103, 107). If this is the case, a work value is part of someone’s set of capabilities. According to this conceptualization, the value of work is an important aspect of well-being at work, and thus of sustainable employment (103). The current thesis will include both the traditional perspective on sustainable employment, focusing on performance, and more novel indicators of sustainable employment, such as well-being at work. The context of this thesis The research presented in this thesis was conducted within the Dutch military. The Dutch military is a military force with approximately 40.000 military personnel and no compulsory military service. For the interpretation of the results of this thesis, it is important to elaborate on the structure of mental health care and the legislation related to substance (ab)use in the Dutch military.
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