Better at work: Activation of partially disabled workers in the Netherlands

AbstractThis article presents a unique analysis of how activation agencies in the Netherlands cope with partially disabled employees on the basis of tailor-made individual assessments, representing and executing the shift towards a policy paradigm in activation to work–a synchronic instead of diachronic approach to disability and employability. We focus on two aspects of the administrative process of implementing the new policy: transparency and conditionality. Questions are: do individualised, customised assessments of disability benefits, in contrast to standardised ones, contribute to transparency in assessing partly disabled employees, and how do these workers experience and cope with the conditionality of the benefits? The experienced reality of the targeted partially disabled workers is elaborated upon to understand the implementation of an individualised system. We conclude that the gap between social policy and its implementation needs reconsideration