New dimensions of work ability

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Abstract

Work ability was constructed and defined in 1981 in a follow-up study of aging employees. The conceptual definition was, “How good is the worker at present, in the near future, and how able is he or she to do his or her work with respect to the work demands, health and mental resources?” To measure the work ability, a method called Work Ability Index (WAI) was developed and its validity was tested by clinical examinations and by the follow-up inquiries over 4 and 11 years. Since 1990s, the WAI has been used widely both in research and in occupational health services. The purpose of this research was to find out what are the relationships of human resources and work life factors with WAI today in different age groups. A representative population sample was used for linear regression models of different dimensions of work ability among 30- to 64-year-old men and women (n=3157–3774). The results showed, that health and functional capacities (R2=0.39) as well as the factors of work (R2=0.33) explained the best the WAI. In the oldest group, the health (symptoms) and functional capacity (physical) (R2=0.34) and the work factors (mental strain) were strongly related to the level of WAI. The competence, values and attitudes as well as family and community factors were less significant, and their role to explain the WAI decreased with age. The results suggest that the balance between human health resources and work demands and characteristics are also today important dimensions of work ability. However, the importance of competence, attitudes and values and other life-related dimensions of work ability were confirmed and indicated the complex and multidimensional feature of work ability.

Introduction

The actuality of work ability has steadily grown due to the demographic changes in societies, to the increasing demands of work life, and due to the needs to lengthen the working of older workers. The proportion of 50- to 64-year-old people in the European Union will increase steadily and reach the level of 35% of the whole work force in several countries already before 2015. The older worker population will be about twice the size of the youngest age group of 15–24 years old. The possibility to have a better and longer working life is strongly dependent on the work ability of the individuals. Today only 38,5% of the 55- to 64-year-old people are working in European Union. The target is to increase the employment rate up to 50% in year 2010 [1].

The conceptual background of the work ability is based on the stress-strain concept and balance model, where the human resources correspond to the work demands in a healthy and safety way [2]. A method called Work Ability Index (WAI) was developed and tested and its guidelines were published for research and practice [3]. The results and experiences from the 1990s have indicated that, beside the health resources, also competence as well as values, attitudes and motivation can play an important role on work ability. From the factors of work, the supervisors and ergonomics have significant influences on an individual's work ability [4].

The role of different dimensions of work ability is important to know in aiming to maintain and promote the work ability during aging.

Section snippets

Material and methods

The study material is a part of Health 2000 Study [5] which was carried out in Finland in 2000–2001. The nationally representative sample included over 8000 persons aged 30 or over. About half (47%) of the sample were occupationally active and these 3774 persons form the sample of this study.

Results

The results of linear regression models for different dimensions of work ability among 30- to 64-year-old population are shown in Fig. 2. For all dimensions studied, the R2 was 0.49. Health and functional capacity indicated the highest explanation rate (R2=0.39) followed by the factors of work (R2=0.33). From health resources, the symptoms were more pronounced than the functional capacity. From the dimensions of work, mental strain and physical demands of work explained best the level of Work

Discussion

The results confirmed that work ability has a complex structure including the human resources, characteristic of work as well as factors outside the working life. The constructive model of work ability, described as a house of four floors and the surrounding gives a new inside for work ability paradigm. In the new model, the basic floor (health resources) and the fourth floor (factors of working life) indicated the most significant connections with work ability. The result does not mean,

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There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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