Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

tear. However, the externalisation policy is uniform towards all work-incapacitated
employees, which again supports hypothesis 2B.
Box 3 presents ´good practice´ in health and integration management. Other examples
(not presented here) are Firm DE-3 (job switching, ´dual careers´) and Firm DE-13 (ageadequate
workplaces).
Box 3: Good practice in health and integration management in Firm DE-10
Firm DE-10 pursues the goal of preservation of workability and prevention of early work incapacity and
combines the focus on behavioural and relational prevention. The firm has developed measures for the reintegration
of work-incapacitated and long-term ill workers instead of externalising them via a disability
pension or another form of publicly funded early exit pathway. It empowers workers to participate in the
improvement of occupational safety and health and workplace health promotion via a health circle. Other
innovative measures in health management include:
- Computer-based simulations of body movements and health risks occurring during those movements.
They show how assembly workers can alternate between different body postures so as to minimise burdens.
- Assembly workers are regularly ´visited´ by a mobile training centre on which they perform exercises
for ten minutes every day. That way, the firm takes care that workers utilise the given opportunities for
workout and to not reject it for lack of time or perseverance.
The way how the motor vehicle manufacturer treats workers with impaired health likewise deserves attention.
Sheltered workplaces are provided only as last resort; before, the firm tries to deploy those workers in valueadding
jobs:
„A worker with a damaged left hand can work with his right hand, a worker with impaired bending capacity
can perform a standing job, a worker with impairments in his trunk and with difficulties in turning his body
will be assigned a workplace where he is exempted from turning movements, a blind worker can work with his
hands and with his organs of touch“ (2_Firm DE-10_HRM).
The chairman of the works council regards those measures as positive. In his discourse, he represented similar
opinions and ascriptions (e.g. on adequate deployment of incapacitated workers) to those held by the
personnel manager (and which I regard as the official line of the company). However, the WCM complained
about the problematic negotations on ergonomic improvements which were led by the management under the
heading of „economic viability“ (2_Firm DE-10_WCM).
To sum up: There are only few examples of firms with comprehensive health
management approaches, in most firms, the focus on occupational safety and/or behavioural
prevention prevails. That confirms results of a representative survey (Ahlers/Brussig 2004).
Cost-benefit considerations may be both a driver and a inhibitor of health management.
There were differences of opinion between the firm experts as to whether working
conditions were suitable for work until the standard retirement age. Whereas the managers
more often regarded them as suitable, the employee representatives argued otherwise.
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