WORKLIFE GUIDANCE TOOLBOX
SURVEY: WORKABILITY INDEX
Within a career an employee (and so also his/her employer) has to deal with an increasing speed of change in society, economy, technology, with an increasing workload and complexity, with ageing, with outplacement, with Up-or-Out, etc. How much an employee can cope with all these changes and stress depends much on his work ability, is he, looking at his past and present able to cope with his/her career development. That is important information for the employee and also for the career guide supporting the employee.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the exercise participants will be able to:
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Describe own workability status
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Analyze and discuss possible hindrances (if identified) with a counsellor or appropriate specialist through referral
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Identify coping strategies for continuing career development
About the exercise
One tool for fairly reliable measuring the work ability of a person is the Workability Index (WAI). It is measured with a questionnaire that is available in a long and a short form. Filling in the questionnaire cost 10-30 minutes. The discussion afterwards depends on the result of the questionnaire and of the aim for using this instrument.
The Work Ability Index (WAI) is a Finland-developed questionnaire to assess working ability. Using the WAI questionnaire the individual worker makes an assessment of his or her working ability. This proves to be a good predictor of a person's employability now and in the future. Based on the outcome the employee, together with other professionals, such as career guides, therapists, etc., can take concrete measures to maintain and improve the workability can be initiated. Also the specific questions and answers from the questionnaire could be used for self-reflection and rethinking the future possibilities for work.
Workability has a strong relation with the nature of one's work but also with his or her values, skills and health. These factors are reflected in the questionnaire. The answers to the questions give a score: the higher, the better the working ability. WAI measures at individual level, but the results can also be used at group and organizational level.
Items covered by the work ability index:
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Current work ability compared with the lifetime best
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Work ability in relation the nature/ the demands of the job of the individual
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Number of current diseases / limitation diagnosed by a physician
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Estimated work impairment due to diseases
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Sick leave during the past year
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Own prognosis of work ability two years from now
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Mental resources (refers to the worker's life in general, both at work and during leisure time)
Next to the personal use, the information coming out of it could also be used (by putting the information of all employees together, preferably anonymous) by the manager and/or at corporate level to take appropriate measures to improve the workability.
Instructions
Step 1
The counsellor needs to be sensitive towards the physical and psychological situation of individuals. It can come up at a counselling session that someone is not able to work with tools set on self-exploration and planning of skills development for he/she is dealing with physical or psychological hindrances. The workability index can be introduced for individuals who may want to explore the way they are coping with work-life. It can also be introduced for groups, where individuals do the survey them selves and decide if they would like to discuss it with the counsellors.
Step 2
If the results of the individual reveals that he/she needs assistance with his/her situation, the counsellor needs to discuss that in a sensitive way and assist with contacting appropriate specialists if needed or how to approach the issue with the employer.
WAI Online Questionnaire:
http://www.arbeitsfaehigkeit.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php?wai-online-en