Ph.D. holders on the Belgian labour market

In which sector do Ph.D. graduates end up working? What is the minimum and desired education level for their current job? Which skills do they need in their current job, and how does this compare to the skills acquired during the Ph.D. track? These questions are answered by looking at responses of a sample of 4190 doctorate holders in the Belgian Careers of Doctorate Holders Survey 2010 (CDH)

Psychosocial predictors of actual turnover among Belgian health care workers

Background: Turnover of nursing staff is a major challenge for healthcare settings and for healthcare in general, urging the need to improve retention. Aim: The aim was to explore the prospective relations between personal and psychosocial work-related factors and actual turnover among Belgian healthcare workers. Methods: Predictors of actual turnover were assessed using the longitudinal Belgian data from the Nurses Early Exit Study (NEXT). Two self-administered questionnaires with a time lag of one year were distributed, covering physical and psychosocial work-related factors, private life, turnover intentions and future perspectives. During follow-up, 90 employees who left the organization voluntary (leavers) and who had a complete data set were identified. These subjects were each matched with two stayers based on gender, age and organization type. Multiple logistic analyses were performed. Results: The first model adjusting for education level showed that quantitative job demands, job satisfaction, burnout, work-home interference, commitment to the institution, pay satisfaction, effort-reward imbalance and intent to leave the organization were significantly associated with actual turnover. When additionally adjusting for intent to leave the organization, job satisfaction (OR 0.29; 95% CI 0.13-0.62) and work-home interference (OR 1.35; 95% CI 1.00-1.81) were found to be the most important independent predictors of turnover. Conclusion: To tackle turnover, special attention should be given to turnover intention, work-home interference and job satisfaction because these risk factors were found to be the strongest predictors of actual turnover among nurses and nursing aids

Effects of requested, forced and denied shift schedule change on work ability and health of nurses in Europe: results from the European NEXT-Study

Background: Previous cross-sectional findings from the European Nurses Early Exit Study (NEXT) show that nurses who were dissatisfied with their work schedule tended to consider leaving the nursing profession. Mediating factors in this decision process may be caused by self-perceived poor work ability and/or health. The aim of this paper is to investigate changes in work ability and general health among nurses in relation to requested, forced and denied change of shift schedule. Methods: Longitudinal data from the NEXT Study was used. In total 11,102 nurses from Belgium, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, France and Italy completed both the ‘basic questionnaire’ (t1) and the ’12 month follow-up questionnaire’ (t2). To examine the time-effect (repeated measures) and the group-effect of five defined groups of nurses on the Work Ability Index (WAI) and general health (SF36), an adjusted 2-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed. Results: The nurses who wanted to, but could not change their shifts during the 12 month follow-up had the lowest initial and follow-up scores for WAI (t1: 37.6, t2: 36.6, p <0.001), lowest general health (t1: 63.9, t2: 59.2, p <0.001) and showed the highest decrease in both outcomes. Shift pattern change in line with the nurses’ wishes was associated with improved work ability and to a lesser comparatively low extent with increased decline in health scores. A forced change of shift against the nurses’ will was significantly associated with a deteriorating work ability and health. Conclusions: The findings would suggest that nurses’ desire to change their shift patterns may be an indicator for perceived low work ability and/or low health. The results also indicate that fulfilling nurses’ wishes with respect to their shift work pattern may improve their personal resources such as work ability and – to somewhat lesser extent – health. Disregarding nurses’ preferences, however, bears the risk for further resource deterioration. The findings imply that shift schedule organization may constitute a valuable preventive tool to promote nurses’ work ability and – to lesser extent – their perceived health, not least in aging nursing work forces

Ph.D. graduates in the humanities and social sciences: what do they do?

In recent years, more and more doctorate holders in Belgium and other OECD countries are employed in jobs outside academia. Particularly little is known about careers of graduates in the social sciences and the humanities (SSH). Therefore, this paper addresses several aspects of their careers. Based on the Belgian CDH data 2010, 919 doctorate holders were surveyed. We found that academia is the largest sector of employment for doctorate holders in humanities and social sciences but there is variation among cohorts and various subdisciplines within SSH. Only for a minority of the doctorate holders working outside higher education, a doctoral degree is required. Compared to other fields of study, doctorate holders in SSH experienced a difficult transition from academia to other sectors of employment. Despite these findings, Ph.D. holders in SSH feel their research experience is an asset for their current job. Future research needs to explore how the training of Ph.D. students can facilitate the transition to the non-academic labour market

Basisindicatoren HRRF: ECOOM-UGent databank 2010

Elk jaar maakt Ecoom-UGent een reeks basisindicatoren aan ter ondersteuning van de beleidsvoering in de organisatie van doctoraatsonderzoek en academische carrières, gebaseerd op de gegevens uit de HRRF-databank (HRRF= Human Resources in Research Flanders). Dit rapport bundelt deze basisindicatoren. In het eerste deel wordt er een algemene toelichting verschaft bij de gehanteerde methodologie, de relevante beslissingsregels bij het aanmaken van bepaalde variabelen en een toelichting bij specifieke berekeningswijzen en terminologie. Het tweede deel bevat tabellen van de analyses op interuniversitair niveau met basisindicatoren omtrent instroom-, populatie- en doctoraatsgegevens van junior onderzoekers die aan de KULeuven, UA, UGent, UHasselt en VUB zijn ingestroomd tussen 1 oktober 1990 en 30 september 2009