oa Werkgeversbetrokkenheid

Employer commitment

This article deals with 'employer commitment' (EC): the commitment an employer has towards its employees. To find out what EC means, we did semi-structured interviews with fire-fighters, metalworkers, and socio-therapists. According to these employee groups, employer commitment has little to do with excellent all-round Human Resource Management (HRM). This means: employees do not perceive all aspects of HRM as important for perceived commitment and different employees attach value to different aspects. Furthermore, fair HRM seems more important than excellent HRM. Next to HRM, employees expect that the employer meets social needs for attention and respect (interpersonal justice). Both dimensions of EC – (aspects of) HRM and interpersonal justice – result in perceived valuation, the true cornerstone of EC. Employees personify the employer: employees attribute behaviour of employer representatives to the abstract employer and perceived employer commitment depends on their behaviour.