The Relationship Between Strategic Human Resource Management Practices and the Employment of Vulnerable Workers: A Two-Wave Study Among Employers.

PURPOSE: To improve the inclusion of vulnerable workers in the labor market, employer behavior is key. However, little is known about the effectiveness of strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) practices that employers use to employ vulnerable workers. Therefore, this exploratory study investigates the association between strategic HRM practices (based on social legitimacy, economic rationality and employee well-being) and the actual and intended employment of vulnerable workers in the future. METHODS: In total, 438 organizations included in the Netherlands Employers Work Survey participated in a two-wave study with a nine-month follow-up period. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the relationship between strategic HRM practices (T0) with the employment of vulnerable workers (T1) and intentions to hire vulnerable workers (T1), while controlling for organizational size, sector, and employment of vulnerable workers at baseline. RESULTS: Employers who applied strategic HRM practices based on social legitimacy (e.g., inclusive mission statement or inclusive recruitment) or economic rationality (e.g., making use of reimbursements, trial placements, or subsidies) at T0 were more likely to employ vulnerable workers and to intend to hire additional vulnerable workers at T1. No significant results were found for practices related to employee well-being. CONCLUSION: Since different types of strategic HRM practices contribute to the inclusion of vulnerable workers, employers can build on their strategic priorities and strengths to create inclusive HRM approaches. Future research is needed to study whether these strategic HRM domains also relate to sustainable employment of vulnerable workers.

A classification of human resource management bundles for the inclusion of vulnerable workers.

BACKGROUND: Despite the societal importance to improve understanding of the role of employers in the inclusion of workers with a distance to the labor market, scant knowledge is available on the effectiveness of human resource management (HRM) bundles for the inclusion of vulnerable workers. OBJECTIVE: This paper studies which HRM bundles are applied by employers that hired people with a distance to the labor market, and to what extent these different bundles of HRM practices are related to employment of workers with specific vulnerabilities, such as people with disabilities or people with a migration background. METHODS: A latent class analysis of 1,665 inclusive employers was used to identify HRM bundles based on seven HRM practices: financial support practices, specialized recruitment, promotion and career opportunities, training opportunities, part-time work, job crafting, and adaptations to the workplace. RESULTS: Six bundles were identified: a recruitment and development bundle (34.4% of employers), a development bundle (24.8%), maintenance-focused practices (16.5%), a recruitment bundle (9.4%), a sustainable employment bundle (8.9%), and passive HRM (6.0%). Post-hoc analyses showed the probability of hiring specific vulnerable groups for each bundle (e.g., sustainable employment bundles showed the highest overall probability to hire people with a physical disability). CONCLUSION: Nuancing what is suggested in strategic HRM literature, we conclude that both extensive HRM and focused HRM bundles can be successful for the employment of vulnerable workers. In conclusion, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to inclusive employment and employers, large or small, can tailor their HRM systems to include vulnerable workers.