Positive health with a dash of sustainable employability

How Positive Health fits within Sustainable Employability

The focus on Positive Health and attention to sustainable employability in the workplace is growing. Understandably so. After all, the concept can increase employees' vitality and enhance their sustainable employability.

That is why we have chosen to include precisely this method in an innovative approach to sustainable employability. With this we bring together the power of 2 (proven) powerful tools. In order, from a positive perspective, to get more grip on the physical, emotional and social challenges in life. And as much as possible, from their own direction, to take responsibility for continued attention to their own employability.

We bring positive health and sustainable employability together by combining the IPH questionnaire and the Mini-DIX (TNO). This allows us to create a unique combination of Positive Health as part of Sustainable Employability. By combining the IPH questionnaire (Positive Health Instrument) and the Mini-DIX (Sustainable Employability Index) from TNO, you can improve the well-being of your employees even more effectively and increase overall job satisfaction and productivity.

What is the power of positive health thinking?

Research by physician and founder Macteld Huber, shows, that we consider health more than "not being sick. To feel healthy, we want a meaningful life, to be able to participate and feel energized. So this is not only about physical health, but also about what gives us resilience. And that is different for each person. That is precisely where the focus of "Positive Health" lies.

Coherence with vitality and sustainability models

You cannot separate Positive Health from factors in the environment, such as organizational culture, the facilities an employer provides and social conditions. These all affect how an employee feels and the extent to which he or she succeeds in taking control. There are several models that show the relationship between individual and organizational factors and how they affect employee health.

That is why we have chosen to include precisely this method in an innovative approach to sustainable employability. With this we bring together the power of 2 (proven) powerful tools. In order, from a positive perspective, to get more grip on the physical, emotional and social challenges in life. And as much as possible, from their own direction, to take responsibility for continued attention to their own employability.

What is the IPH questionnaire?

The IPH questionnaire is a unique tool that captures the concept of positive health. It helps get a holistic picture of your employees' health and well-being by evaluating six dimensions: bodily functions, mental well-being, meaning, quality of life, participation, and daily functioning. This involves asking what strikes you, what do you think is important in this regard, what would you like to change, and what could be a first step?

All of this focuses on increasing and experiencing self-direction. Positive Health finds its elaboration in 6 dimensions (see image below). The broad approach helps people cope with physical, emotional and social challenges in their lives. And to take control as much as possible.

Positive Health includes six dimensions made visible in a spider web model.

The 6 dimensions, on which the IPH elaborates, are:

1. Body functions; here you can think about feeling healthy, fitness, complaints and pain, exercise and fitness, eating and sleeping.
2. Mental well-being; focus on remembering and concentrating, accepting yourself, coping with change and sense of control, communicating and being cheerful.
3. Meaningfulness; consider topics such as meaningful living and zest for life, wanting to achieve ideals, continuing to learn and trust, acceptance and gratitude.
4. Quality of life; this includes enjoyment and the degree of happiness, feeling comfortable in your skin, balance, feeling safe, intimacy, living and financial situation.
5. Participation; how is socializing, being taken seriously, doing fun things together, support from others, belonging, doing meaningful things and interest in society.
6. Daily functioning; succeeding in the areas of taking care of yourself, knowing your limits, knowing your health, managing time, handling money, being able to work and asking for help.

The Mini-DIX

The Mini-DIX clearly shows how your employee experiences work and the environment. Does he or she feel healthy, competent, motivated and does he or she have a good work-life balance? The scores reflect the personal experience at this moment. It is not a diagnosis, but the Mini-DIX provides concrete starting points to work on improvement. All aimed at working on one's own sustainable employability.

The Mini-Dix is an abbreviated questionnaire of the DIX and provides insight into the following items:

1. Work-life balance; this concerns the combination of our work and our private lives. This also includes our financial situation and informal care.
2. Willingness to change; Are we willing to switch to a different position if necessary?
3. Job satisfaction; this concerns motivation, job satisfaction, and level of commitment.
4. Health and Work Ability; this concerns how people perceive their own health and energy levels. It also indicates the extent to which your employee can meet the physical and mental demands of the job.  
5. Knowledge and skills; to what extent does your employee have the right knowledge and skills to make the most of their talents and abilities?
6. Personal leadership; this concerns the responsibility that your employee takes for their own health and development. It involves a willingness to continue learning and developing in their work and the activities they undertake to live healthily.

Why IPH in conjunction with the Mini-DIX?

Integrating sustainable employability into positive health thinking creates a positive approach to monitoring the employee's sustainable employability.

The MINI-DIX is a concise and effective instrument to measure the sustainable employability of employees. It provides insight into factors such as work ability, motivation and commitment, personal leadership and self-direction, health and work-life balance.

By using the Mini DIX in combination with the IPH questionnaire, the emphasis is on increasing self-direction. Increasing self-direction leads to behavioral change to achieve a healthier lifestyle. And thus, it ensures that employees have the right knowledge and conditions to (continue to) function healthily and with pleasure in current and future work.

The benefits of this unique combination:

• Integral Health Insights: Combining the IPH questionnaire with the MINI-DIX gives you a complete picture of the health and employability of your employees. Aimed at increasing self-direction in relation to understanding the resilience and capabilities of the employee.
• Effective Interventions: By using this combination, you identify not only problems or limitations, but rather strengths and opportunities for improvement, so that you can provide highly targeted, appropriate interventions.
• Increased job satisfaction: The insight gained helps your employees to be able to focus on the possibilities from their own direction, leading to increased autonomy, increased self-confidence and higher job satisfaction and productivity.
• Strategic HR Decisions: The insights and data gained allow you to make targeted strategic decisions and develop policies that contribute to a healthy and sustainable work environment.

Employees who believe that health is part of the organizational culture score better on self-management than employees for whom this is not the case within the organization.

Simple Check has developed both a training and an individual coaching program aimed at having the effective conversation about positive health and self-direction. Not only for managers and employers, but also at the team and individual level. The focus is on building the right skills and knowledge to effectively support employees and increase self-direction. It takes trust on the part of the employee to have "the other conversation. After all, the line between work and private life in such a conversation is wafer-thin. As a discussion partner, you are aware of this. You also have the skills to be able to have the conversation. More information about this can be found here!