Background: Despite growing interest in sustainable employability (SE), studies on the effectiveness of interventions aimed at employees’ SE are scarce. In this review, SE is defined by four core components: health, productivity, valuable work, and long-term perspective. The aim of this review is to summarize the effectiveness of employer-initiated SE interventions and to analyze whether their content and outcome measures addressed these SE components. Methods: A systematic search was performed in six databases for the period January 1997 to June 2018. The methodological quality of each included study was assessed. A customized form was used to extract data and categorize interventions according to SE components. Results: The initial search identified 596 articles and 7 studies were included. Methodological quality ranged from moderate to weak. All interventions addressed the components ‘health’ and ‘valuable work’. Positive effects were found for ‘valuable work’ outcomes. Conclusions: The quality of evidence was moderate to weak. The ‘valuable work’ component appeared essential for the effectiveness of SE interventions. Higher-quality evaluation studies are needed, as are interventions that effectively integrate all SE core components in their content.

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Background: Sustainable employability (SE) is top priority for employers. Measures based on the employee perspective of SE that would give direction to interventions to be initiated by employers currently fall short. This study aims to develop and validate an instrument that captures these issues: the MAastricht Instrument for Sustainable Employability (MAISE). Methods: MAISE items were generated from an extensive literature review and interviews with employers and employees. A questionnaire containing these items as well as proxy variables (health and vitality) and demographics was answered online by 632 employees (response rate 50.3%). Construct validity, reliability, and criterion validity were tested through Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Cronbach’s alpha, and correlational analyses. Results: The MAISE comprises 12 scales divided over five areas: (1) Meaning of SE; (2) Level of SE; (3) Factors affecting my SE; (4) Overall responsibility for SE; and (5) Responsibility for factors affecting my SE. Reliability, construct, and criterion validity were adequate to good. SE of the employees was relatively high, and SE was considered a shared responsibility of the employee and employer. Conclusions: This study showed the MAISE to be reliable and valid in various employee groups. More validation studies are needed. We recommend that employers use the MAISE as a needs assessment in order to develop SE interventions that will be readily accepted.

This review aims to outline the effectiveness of employer-initiated workplace interventions in promoting sustainable employability (SE), which means developing workers’ capabilities to foster productivity, health, and valuable work in the long term. A systematic search of the literature is performed in three databases covering the period from January 1999 to February 2022. Fourteen studies are included. Considering SE core components, all interventions cover the valuable work component in terms of content, and the majority also cover the health component. Interventions addressing at least three SE components have more positive effects on SE outcomes. More positive effects are found for valuable work outcomes. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of developing workplace interventions considering a comprehensive model of SE and promoting an organizational culture for SE. Future directions and limits are discussed.

Background Governments and employers aim to promote sustainable employability (SE) in aging societies. In the Netherlands, an instrument for capturing the employee perspective on SE, the MAastricht Instrument for Sustainable Employability (MAISE-NL), has recently been developed. This study seeks to validate the Italian version of the MAISE (MAISE-IT). Methods The MAISE-IT (a translated and culturally adapted version of the MAISE for the Italian population), the Work-Health Balance questionnaire and a demographic survey (age, gender, education, and occupational activity) were completed online by 455 respondents (328 public administration workers and 127 respondents recruited from social networks). Construct and criterion validity were tested by CFA; reliability, correlational analyses and subgroup differences with ANOVAs. Results The CFA analysis revealed that the MAISE-IT consists of 12 scales distributed in four areas: (1) Meaning of SE; (2) Level and Factors affecting SE; (3) Overall responsibility for SE; and (4) Responsibility for factors affecting SE. Construct and criterion validity and reliability were good. Italian workers reported a moderately high level of SE. They regarded employers to be somewhat more responsible for SE than employees. Conclusions This study showed the validity of the MAISE-IT in the Italian context. The MAISE-IT is valuable for tapping employees’ needs in order to develop SE interventions tailored to the employee perspective.