Determinants of good or excellent work ability in a branch of the dutch military

TL;DR

This study explores factors that contribute to good or excellent work ability among personnel in a branch of the Dutch military.

Contribution

The study identifies specific personal and work-related factors influencing work ability in a military context.

Findings

Good or excellent work ability was associated with older age, lower physical workload, and no shift work.

Factors like autonomy, task clarity, and social support were linked to better work ability.

Forty percent of respondents rated their work ability as poor or moderate.

Abstract

The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, a branch of the Dutch Military, is characterised by a diverse range of mentally and physically demanding occupational tasks. The employability of the personnel depends on the balance between occupational demands and personal resources, which can be measured through the work ability score. Therefore, this study investigates personal and work-related determinants of work ability in a branch of the Dutch Military.

We gathered cross-sectional data through a survey distributed among all operational Royal Netherlands Marechaussee personnel (n: 7,658). We used binomial logistic regression analysis to estimate the relationship between determinants in four domains (i.e., personal, workload, work characteristics, and work experience) and the dichotomised work ability scores (poor to moderate vs. good to excellent).

The survey had a 20% response rate with 1538 respondents. Our study included a slightly higher percentage of reservists and civilians than the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee’s workforce. Forty per cent of participants rated their work ability as poor or moderate. Good or excellent work ability was related to older age (> 50 years compared to < 29 years), lower physical workload, no shift work, less fatigue, more autonomy, task clarity, and social support.

We found that 40% of survey respondents rated their work ability as low or moderate. In the future, factors like shift work, autonomy, task clarity, and social support may be used to improve work ability in this population.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00420-025-02128-9.