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Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Function Researcher “Next Generation Work”, professor Organizational behavior & HR, professor Global Leadership

Email kathleen.vangronsvelt@ams.ac.be

Discover our publications

Expertise

Wellbeing at Work
Human Resource Management
Leadership
Diversity & Inclusion
Workplace values

References:

Elia
Bpost
Baloise
Mensura
Etex
Claeys & Engels

Prof. dr. Kathleen Vangronsvelt combines a broad business experience as HR Professional (DHL Aviation, AB Inbev, H.Essers, Belfius) with academic skills (PhD in Business Economics “Values at work” – KU Leuven). Her work was published in both top-ranked academic and practitioners’ journals and presented at national and international conferences. She taught at Rotterdam School of Management, IESEG Paris and – up until today - Antwerp Management School.

At AMS, she is professor “Global Leadership Skills” and “Organizational Behavior & HRM” and senior researcher in "Next Generation Work" research team. She also teaches, facilitates and consults customer specific program.

The combination of business and academia enables her to translate a wealth of scientific knowledge into hands-on insights and workable solutions. Her domain of expertise focuses on realizing individuals’ potential in a work context and spans topics such as well-being and values at work, leadership, enabling diversity in teams and strategic HRM.

Her background in psychology (Master - KU Leuven) and mediation (Post Graduate – KU Leuven) empowers her to optimize the learning experience for a group, and to understand the deeper motivations and processes behind some questions and events.

Programs

Master Class Welzijnsbeleid

Master Class Sustainable HR

Master in People and Change Management

Master in Management

Discover our programs

Recent publications

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How to restore stolen career pride?

On career pride, identity, and subjective success

AMS Telewerk

Five years after COVID: Three-quarters of employers see the benefits of remote work

Five years after the first lockdown, Belgian CEOs and executives embrace remote work as a boost for motivation, satisfaction, and talent retention. What is your organization's take on this?

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Talent & labor organization

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Investing more in well-being, yet more burnouts?

From fruit baskets to yoga workshops and resilience sessions—companies are increasingly investing in initiatives to promote employee well-being. After all, happy employees are more productive. These perks also seem to help attract and retain new talent. Yet, they don’t appear to be effective in preventing burnout. While the number of workplace well-being initiatives is rising sharply, the number of people on long-term sick leave due to burnout continues to grow unabated.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

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4 tips for enhancing workplace well-being

Investing in a healthy work environment leads to happier and more productive employees. With a few structural changes, you can create a sustainable well-being policy.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

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How bpost uses science to create a better work environment

The pandemic brought a new insight: appreciation works. The Well-being Works research chair provides bpost with the tools to foster greater employee engagement.

Regeerakkoord

What does the coalition agreement mean for the labor market? Our experts share their vision

What does the new coalition agreement mean for your career? Our experts from Next Generation Work share their first insights on longer careers, training, and the impact on the labor market.

Talent & labor organization

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IGLO – Four levels where resources can be found

To enable employees to reach their full potential, the basic needs of autonomy, connection, and competence must be fulfilled. Leaders can facilitate this by providing support, stability, and resources at the individual, team, leadership, and organizational levels. Using frameworks such as IGLO, they can create an environment that fosters motivation, collaboration, and sustainable performance.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Human Resources

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Is motivation as simple as ABC?

Motivating employees requires more than external incentives, fostering autonomous motivation is key to lasting engagement. Self-Determination Theory highlights the importance of meeting three basic psychological needs, autonomy, belongingness, and competence, to enhance well-being and performance.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Human Resources

The Igloo model 1

3 pitfalls of wellbeing interventions: Do you ensure a multi-level approach?

Workplace happiness requires a multi-level approach, yet many wellbeing interventions fail because they focus solely on the individual and lack an evidence-based foundation. The IGLO model (Individual, Group, Leader, Organization) provides an effective framework for implementing wellbeing strategies across all levels.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

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The Secret of the Blue Zones: Health and happiness in the workplace

Professor Kathleen Vangronsvelt opened the first session of the learning network on workplace well-being with a unique perspective, drawing inspiration from the Blue Zones, regions where people live healthier and happier lives. Innovations often arise by applying knowledge from one domain to another.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Fruit en yoga wellbeing

Fruit and yoga should not just be ticks on a checklist in well-being policy

It is crucial that well-being policy is approached holistically, with fruit and yoga being just a part of a broader culture of well-being and care for employees.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Human Resources

Wellbeing impact

Trends Impact Podcast: On employee well-being and workability Elia and De Groote De Man

After the COVID-19 pandemic, many well-being initiatives have emerged in companies, but work-related stress and burnout remain high in Flanders. In this episode, companies Elia and De Groote De Man share their approach to employee well-being.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Human Resources

Werkcontext welzijn op het werk werkgever

How can I, as an employer, determine what is truly effective for workplace well-being?

Four domains influence employee well-being: societal context, private context, personality factors, and work context. Employers can primarily influence the work context, which encompasses energy, essential needs, potential, and reciprocity. This provides opportunities to enhance employee well-being by reducing adverse factors and creating stimulating environments.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Human Resources

How Proximus makes the company and society more resilient with #inspire2022.

This is episode 4 of the series 'Trends Gamechangers'. The Trends Impact Podcast takes you on an exciting journey through the environmental and societal achievements of companies making a positive impact on our planet. Over nine episodes, winners and nominees of the Trends Impact Awards 2022 share their stories. The host is Britt Buseyne, a Trends columnist and founder of the podcast Sustainababbels. In each episode, an expert from Antwerp Management School provides analysis and background. In this episode, Britt Buseyne engages in a conversation with Catherine Bals from Proximus and Kathleen Vangronsvelt from Antwerp Management School. In 2020, Proximus launched its corporate strategy #inspire2022. The telecommunications leader outlined several priorities in order to enhance the resilience of both the company and the surrounding society. Proximus demonstrated its capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring a stable network and affordable connectivity when our (work)world was forced to digitize. The company aims to continue this mission in the future, with a strong emphasis on both digitalization and sustainability. The Trends Impact Podcast is an initiative by Trends and Antwerp Management School. The Trends Impact Awards are organized by Trends and PWC, in collaboration with Antwerp Management School. This podcast is in Dutch.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

The Castaar Foundation supports charitable causes through its own merchandise.

This is episode 1 of the series 'Trends Gamechangers'. The Trends Impact Podcast takes you on an exciting journey through the environmental and societal achievements of companies making a positive impact on our planet. Over nine episodes, winners and nominees of the Trends Impact Awards 2022 share their stories. The host is Britt Buseyne, a Trends columnist and founder of the podcast Sustainababbels. In each episode, an expert from Antwerp Management School provides analysis and background. In this episode, Britt Buseyne engages in a conversation with Christophe Dedoncker from Castaar and Kathleen Vangronsvelt from Antwerp Management School. As rebellious advertising professionals, the team at creative agency Castaar understands that small things can have a significant impact. The popularity of their work attire, even among those not affiliated with the company, sparked an idea. Under the name Castaar Foundation, Castaar produces and sells limited edition merchandise, the proceeds of which are used to support charitable causes and projects with societal impact. The Trends Impact Podcast is an initiative by Trends and Antwerp Management School. The Trends Impact Awards are organized by Trends and PWC, in collaboration with Antwerp Management School. This podcast is in Dutch.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

1 in 3 people come to work sick. What message are you giving your employees?

Don’t want your employees to come to work sick? Then check your organization’s absenteeism culture: what (implicit) message are you giving your employees about being sick and working?

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Blog ambiguity

Ambiguity as the only certainty. How do we deal with it?

At both the individual and organizational levels, dealing with ambiguity is becoming increasingly crucial in a rapidly changing world. This competence, the ability to navigate in gray areas and reconcile different perspectives, is considered essential for future success. Competence Center Next Generation Work emphasizes this importance by combining scientific insights with the exchange of experiences from leading partners such as SD Worx, Johnson & Johnson, and others.

Human Resources

Wellbeing impact

Only 4 out of 10 employees find work pressure reasonable.

Since the pandemic, we have been looking at work differently. Job satisfaction and work pressure are receiving increasing attention, as evidenced by research from Antwerp Management School. At the same time, the survey highlights differences in the perception of what employers and employees consider as reasons for stress-related absenteeism.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Human Resources

What makes an absenteeism intervention work?

Human Resources

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4 mechanisms that play a role in absenteeism

Absenteeism is defined as a "failure to show up for scheduled work" (Johns, 1997). Whether involuntary or voluntary, legitimized or not, white or black or grey… Many researchers don't make the difference. The line is often thin, and as a manager or HR professional, you will rarely know for sure. That is why it is important to always keep a dual focus: a focus on health promotion and illness prevention (~involuntary absence) and a focus on employee motivation and mindset (~voluntary absence) (Lokke, 2022). Image credit: Total Shape

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Human Resources

Mental health 1

Preventing sick leave, burnout and psychosocial distress in the workplace: what does work?

Over the past decades, the focus on mental well-being in the workplace has been growing slowly but steadily. After the acceleration that covid brought on, and with the tight labor market in mind, more and more organizations are launching initiatives to give their employees a mental boost. Unfortunately, they are usually organized from a (well-meaning) gut feeling, rather than opting for avenues with scientifically proven effect.

Human Resources

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HR in 2030: Let leaders primarily create 'holding spaces'

In 2030, what will our jobs look like? What skills will be "hot"? How will employees and employers engage with each other? What will leaders do? How do team members connect? And what about 'employee experience'? How do people build their careers sustainably in 2030? Are we evolving toward more flex workers? Our knowledge partner Janssen Pharmaceutica presented these questions and many others to us as part of a strategic talent exercise 2030. Based on our current insights and storylines, we started working on a future forecast. This resulted in five concrete innovation slopes, based on 5 central themes within our Competence Center 'Next Generation Work'.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Talent & labor organization

Results corona

Research results after two years of working in times of Corona

After lockdowns, vaccinations and boosters, it is clear: we have been quietly learning to live (and work) with COVID. But what lasting impact did the pandemic have on the role work plays in our lives? And what about that impending burnout wave? AMS professors Kathleen Vangronsvelt and Ans De Vos conducted research over the past two years into the impact of the pandemic on employers and employees, interviewing (in collaboration with Ghent University) 8848 employees. Employees indicate that they are increasingly confident and expect more from their employer, but do not always find ways to engage in dialogue. People in their twenties form a special vulnerable target group. Let's guide you to the results.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Impact COVID-19 on human capital in organizations

Kathleen Vangronsvelt

Human Resources

Mental health thuiswerkers

How leaders can help home workers stay mentally healthy

Many of us have been working from home in an effort to slow down the coronavirus and ensure business continuity. At the same time, we've been taking care of our family, distracted by news updates, worried about the future, checking our smartphone 100 times a day. And at the end of the day, we've been tired, but not always satisfied. Because hey, did our work make sense today? Was what we did adequate? Gabriel García Márquez has already showed us how to keep love in times of cholera, but how can leaders help their employees stay mentally healthy and productive in times of corona? As extraordinary as our situation has been, in essence it's been about motivation. How do you keep your employees motivated in a context that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous? Science offers the answer. Decades of research in psychology show that you need to fulfill three fundamental psychological needs to achieve autonomous motivation and psychological well-being (Self-Determination Theory; Deci & Ryan, 2000). In other words, you need three elements (the "ABC needs") to create well-being and productivity. Let's take a closer look at these three elements.

Kathleen Vangronsvelt