Stamina or stress? Sustainable and flexible employability

Roland Pepermans is the Dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the VUB. He is ordinary professor in work and organizational psychology and human resources management. His research covers areas such as career management, motivation and the psychological contract in profit and nonprofit organizations.

Els Vanbelle recently launched her career in practice as well-being consultant at Attentia. She obtained the degree of Doctor in Psychology in July 2017 at KU Leuven, Research Group of Occupational & Organisational Psychology and Professional Learning. Her PhD research tapped into the fascinating topic of job crafting, e.g. altering one's job in order to optimize one’s functioning. Her work fitted her broader interests in occupational healthy psychology topics including job design and the importance of job as well as personal resources, leadership, person-job fit, autonomous motivation, work-life balance, work engagement, work-related well-being and well-being in general. She strongly believes in the merits of an integrated approach and multi- and interdisciplinary collaboration in striving for optimal functioning. Therefore, at Attentia as external partner in HR and well-being, Els is able to work on bridging and translating her academic expertise to the daily practice of occupational health psychology. Through thorough analysis and tailored advise, Els and her colleagues aim to support, coach and stimulate employees, managers, teams and organisations in establishing a healthy work environment, work engagement and sustainable functioning.

Manon Antoine started law school at the Namur University in 2011 where she obtained a bachelor's degree. In June 2016, she has been graduated from the Louvain-la-Neuve University with a Master's degree in ‘Civil and Criminal Justice’. During her studies, she has always been very interested in labour law and has taken a number of related classes. In November 2016, Manon Antoine joined the Vulnerability and Society (V&S) Center of the Namur University as a researcher. Since her arrival, she has been working on several projects (single parent families, PROGRESS, precarious work) and  published several papers. Manon also participated in several conferences including one on international labour law in Pontignano, Italy. Since September 2017, she is also a teaching assistant in the class of Social law given by the Professor Valérie Flohimont at the Namur University. In November 2016, Manon Antoine also joined the Brabant Wallon Bar. She is currently a trainee-lawyer and practices mostly social law, family and patrimonial law and law of civil liability.

Na haar opleiding tot wiskundige en actuaris deed Elke Aelbrecht haar eerste werkervaring op in de productontwikkeling van levens- en autoverzekeringen bij AXA. De samenwerking in die jobs met de vele andere diensten wakkerden haar HR-vlammetje aan, en na een leerrijke passage als verantwoordelijke voor interne communicatie hadden strategie, people management en – uiteraard - communicatie geen geheimen meer voor haar. Ze volgde ondertussen een opleiding tot gezondheidsconsulente en kort erna was AXA een Well-being Manager rijker. In deze rol kon ik al haar dromen waarmaken: een beleid uittekenen, authenticiteit en integriteit bevorderen, mensen gezonder maken en houden door hun veerkracht te verhogen op vlak van Body, Mind en Heart. Daarnaast is ze ook oprichter van 94Joy, zodat ze ook de ‘buitenwereld’ kan inspireren naar een gezond en gelukkig leven – want wie wil er nu niet oud worden (94 bijvoorbeeld) op een fitte, plezante (full of joy) manier?

After his studies (Executive Master Class HR Management at the Vlerick Management School) Koen Laenens started his career as a staff member at the legal department and later as Trade Union Offical at LBC-NVK (Landelijke Bedienden Centrale – Nationaal Verbond voor Kaderpersoneel). From 2001 to 2006 he worked HR Manager at LU Benelux, Group Danone). Since 2006 he is director Social Affairs and Secretary General at essenscia (Belgian Federation for Chemistry and Life Sciences Industries – rebranding of Fedichem).

Brigitte Schröder is a self-made women with a full time contract at AGC Automotive Europe since 2003 but also self-employed as a consultant since October 2017. Before joining AGC, she worked in different fields of activities such as: managing a store with 17 employees, Secretary for different companies but also as part of a consulting office to manage experts contracts for the European Commission in the frame of food security programs. At AGC, she has had 2 main positions; she entered as executive assistant and then moved to the quotation team as quotation manager. In this team, she is in charge of the production costs calculation of all their products, by, among other things, analyzing the complexity of the request and the customer requirements. In 2013, AGC launched the Well-being@AGC program in which Brigitte Schröder is very active.

Anouck Van Hoydonck is director Workforce Development and Solutions at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies. Together with local ambassadors and the business leaders she builds a future strategy towards agile careers for today's and future employees – based on the House of Work Ability (Huis van Werkvermogen) – enhancing ownership and leadership to people’s work and career, based on their talents and diverse experiences. She leads the flexible workforce models in both the Admin area, as well as in the Lab and Operator environment.