Background Sustainable employability (SE) is top priority. However, employers find it difficult to develop SE interventions. Measures based on the employee perspective of SE that would give direction to interventions, currently fall short, particularly for the understudied group of employees with lower levels of education (1/3 of the Dutch labor population). Earlier, the Maastricht Instrument for SE (MAISE-NL) was developed and validated in a sample of high-educated employees. This study aims to adjust and validate MAISE-NL for use among Lower Educated employees (MAISE-LE). Methods By means of focus groups consisting of employees with lower levels of education, items and response categories of MAISE have been aligned with the perceptions of these employees. Other items from subscales such as job control, self-efficacy and lifestyle were added. Language was checked for clarity and ambiguity. A questionnaire containing these items, as well as proxy variables (health and vitality) and demographics, was answered online by 944 lower educated employees from five organizations (response rates 44-64%). Construct validity, reliability and criterion validity were tested through PCA, CFA, Cronbach's alpha and correlations. Results MAISE-LE comprises 10 scales divided over four areas: (1) Level of SE; (2) Factors affecting my SE; (3) Overall responsibility for SE; and (4) Responsibility for factors affecting my SE. Preliminary results indicate that reliability, construct and criterion validity were adequate to good. Employees' SE was moderate to high, and was generally considered a shared responsibility of employee and employer. The latter varies per factor though. Employees wish to participate more in decisions regarding their work. Conclusions The MAISE-LE appeared to be reliable and valid. We recommend that employers use the MAISE-LE as a needs assessment in order to develop SE interventions that will be readily accepted and effective for employees with lower levels of education. Key messages MAISE-LE (Maastricht Instrument for Sustainable Employability) is a new instrument for measuring SE and the responsibility for SE from the perspective of employees with lower levels of education. The MAISE-LE will facilitate employers in the development of effective SE interventions, which align with the needs of this vulnerable group of employees.

Background: Sustainable employability (SE) is important for work organizations. Recently, the MAastricht Instrument for Sustainable Employability (MAISE-NL) was developed and validated. This study describes the development and validation of an adapted version of the MAISE-NL, the MAISE-Easy, which can be used for employees in low-skilled jobs. Methods: The adaptation of the MAISE-NL was based on six focus groups with employees in low-skilled jobs in various sectors. The MAISE-Easy was distributed among employees in five organizations. The response rate (n = 1033) was 53%. Construct validity, reliability and criterion validity were analyzed by means of principal component analysis (PCA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach’s alpha and correlational analyses. Results: The MAISE-Easy included 17 scales divided over four main areas: (1) level of SE; (2) factors affecting SE; (3) overall responsibility for SE; (4) responsibility for factors affecting SE. Construct validity, reliability and criterion validity were adequate to good. Conclusions: The MAISE-Easy is a well-validated instrument for measuring SE among employees in low-skilled jobs in terms of the level of SE, factors affecting SE, responsibility for SE and responsibility for factors affecting SE. MAISE-Easy is recommended for both needs assessments and evaluation research in as yet underserved groups of low-skilled workers.