Job carving and job crafting : a review of practices.
Date: 2019-07-04
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: European Social Fund, fight against unemployment, job access, job creation, labour market, reintegration into working life, unemployment

Job Carving and Job Crafting 

A review of practices 

Written by Annete Scoppetta, Eamonn Davern and Leonard Geyer 
May – 2019 

Social 
Europe 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion 
Directorate B — Employment 
Unit B1 — Employment Strategy 

Contact: Marianna Georgallis 

E-mail:  EMPL-B1-UNIT@ec.europa.eu  

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Job Carving and Job Crafting 

A review of practices

European Commission 
Directorate-General for Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion 
Directorate B 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The European Social Fund (ESF) Transnational Platform is managed by AEIDL on behalf of the European 
Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.  

The paper was drafted as an output of the ESF Employment Thematic Network, a network of the ESF 
Transnational Platform. The content, analysis, opinions and policy recommendations contained in this 
publication do not necessarily reﬂect the views of the contractor and funding authority.  

LEGAL NOTICE 

Manuscript completed in May 2019 

Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the European Commission is 
responsible for the use that might be made of the following information. More information on the European 
Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu). 

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019 

PDF   ISBN 978-92-76-08750-2

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Job Carving and Job Crafting 

Table of Contents 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................... 6 

1. 

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 7 

2.  SETTING THE SCENE ................................................................................. 8 

3.  STATUS QUO AND GOOD PRACTICE ........................................................... 15 

4.  RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................ 17 

5.  CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 19 

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ........................................................................ 20 

REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 20 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Job  carving  and  job  crafting  can  be  effective  strategies  to  overcome  the  challenges  of 

labour market (re)integration of people facing barriers and to keep workers employed by 

creating meaningful and productive employment. This paper was produced as an  output 

of the ESF Employment Thematic Network, a network of the European Social Fund (ESF) 

Transnational  Platform  (on  behalf  of  AEIDL)  by  order  of  the  European  Commission,  DG 

Employment,  Social  Affairs  and  Inclusion.  It  aims  to  raise  awareness  and  promote  job 

carving and job crafting activities within the EU. It provides insights into current actions 

of  ESF  Managing  Authorities  and  their  partner  organisations  that  aim  to  provide  holistic 

support to  employers,  employees and unemployed people during job carving and/or job 

crafting  activities.  Promising  practices  applied  within  the  EU  are  presented  and 

recommendations  drawn  for  future  activities  within  the  ESF.  Examples  include  the  need 

for  guidance  and  mainstreaming  of  the  approach  within  EU  Member  States  as  a 

promising European Social Fund theme. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1.  INTRODUCTION 

The  integration  of  people  with  barriers  to  entering  the  labour  market  is  a  growing 

challenge  in  Europe.  This  applies  to  low-skilled  people  in  particular,  many  of  whom  are 

long-term  unemployed  (LTU)  as  well  as  to  people  with  disabilities,  amongst  others.  For 

instance,  in  2018,  7.2  million  people  or  43%  of  all  unemployed  people  in  the  EU  were 

unemployed  for  more  than  a  year  (Eurostat,  2019).  As  is  well  known,  LTU  can  reduce 

productivity  (Edin  &  Gustavsson,  2008).  The  2016  Council  Recommendation  on  the 

integration  of  long-term  unemployed  into  the  labour  market  aims  to  promote  measures 

that can support this group into work, through holistic, individualised support provided by 

a single point of contact, and with the involvement of employers.1  

Job  carving  and  job  crafting  can  be  effective  strategies  to  overcome  the  challenges  of 

labour market (re)integration of people facing barriers and to keep workers employed by 

creating meaningful and productive employment. Strategies of this kind can contribute to 

the  humanisation  of  work  and  may  gain  importance  due  to  digitalisation  and 

automatisation  processes  that  drive  the  changes  in  the  world  of  work.  The  aim  of  this 

paper is to enhance awareness amongst ESF-Managing Authorities (MA) and their partner 

organisations  of  the  opportunities  and  challenges  faced  when  implementing  job  carving 

and job crafting. The ESF can support practices of this kind by helping employers identify 

possible areas for carving, by assisting employees in their crafting processes, by offering 

preparatory  training  to  vulnerable  people,  and  by  accompanying  the  processes  of 

placement and after-care.  

To  further  improve  the  role  of  the  ESF  in  promoting  job  carving  and  job  crafting 

activities,  the  Employment  Thematic  Network  (ETN)  dedicated  a  2-day  meeting  to  this 

topic  on  14-15  May  2019  in  Malta.  The  meeting  was  a  result  of  discussions  held  during 

other ETN meetings, especially at the ETN meeting on 28-29 September 2017 in Athens. 

The  paper  builds  on  findings  of  the  ETN  meeting  in  Malta  and  was  further  enriched  by 

results  of  the  workshop  “Investing  in  Careers:  Job  Carving  for  inclusive  Employment” 

held in  Brussels/Belgium  during  the  ESF  Transnational  Platform  Annual  Conference  (21-

22  May  2019).  It  provides  background  information  and  informs  of  advantages  and 

potential risks when implementing these approaches. The target audience for this paper 

are  ETN  members,  namely  ESF-MAs  and  their  partner  organisations,  such  as  social 

partners,  NGOs  and  their  umbrella  organisations,  as  well  as  EU  institutions  (e.g. 

European Commission, etc.). 

Key questions discussed at the aforementioned events were:  

• 

• 

• 

What  are  the  most  widespread  forms  of  job  carving  and  job  crafting  within 

Europe? Which target groups are most frequently addressed? 

Which  sectors  or  industries  are  most  open  to  job  carving  and/or  job  crafting 

for the employment of specific target groups? 

How can the ESF support effective job carving and job crafting? 

1 Council recommendation of 15 February 2016 on the integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market, 2016/C 
67/01 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

The paper is structured as follows: following the introduction (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 sets 

the  scene  by  describing  the  concepts,  their  relevance  and  the  challenges  and 

opportunities of job carving and job crafting. Chapter 3 informs about the status quo of 

current  activities  implemented  by  ESF  MAs  in  this  field  and  provides  examples  of 

promising  practices.  Recommendations  developed  during  the  meetings,  especially 

addressed  at  public  administrations  are  summarised  in  Chapter  4.  Finally,  Chapter  5 

concludes by highlighting key lessons learned. 

2.  SETTING THE SCENE 

Job  carving  and  job  crafting  aim  to  match  the  needs  of  enterprises  with  peoples’ 

individual  talents,  needs  and  interests.  Activities  of  this  kind  can  benefit  the  individuals 

concerned,  the  companies,  and  society  in  general.  As  such,  humanising  job  design  is 

consistent with efficiency and sustainability.  

More recently, these activities have also been discussed under the headings “Job design”, 

“Job  enrichment”,  “Job  satisfaction”  and  “Work  customisation”.  Ideas  of  this  kind  are 

grounded in the recognition of legitimate needs and interests of both the worker and the 

employer.  They  are  strongly  linked  to  the  concept  of  humanising  work  by  action  to  re-

size the job so that it suits the capacity of the worker. This is of particular concern with 

regard  to  the  intensification  of  work,  the  pace  of  work,  and  the  fact  that  many  jobs 

become  burdensome  and  physically  demanding  or  cause  workers  to  work  under  acute 

pressure with consequent risks to health and well-being. 

Job carving refers to the practice of rearranging work tasks within a company to create 

tailor-made  employment  opportunities  for  all  people,  but  especially  for  people  with 

reduced work capacities or for people who for other reasons are constrained in the tasks 

they  carry  out  (Griffin  et  al.,  2007;  LWL-Integrationsamt  Westfalen,  2017).  Not  all 

carving  activities  thus  have  to  lead  to  customised  employment  opportunities  for  new 

employees.  

Usually, carving is done by managers together with specialised consultants who help the 

managers to identify areas in which tasks and processes can be rearranged to create new 

positions  within  firms.  The  carving  process  can  be  accompanied  by  complementary 

training  for  filling  a  new  position,  ongoing  support  measures  to  advance  people  in  their 

further careers and by offers to the enterprises, such as workplace adjustments. 

Job  crafting  refers  to  the  practice  of  employees  designing  their  tasks  and  work 
processes themselves. It can be regarded as a specific form of workplace innovation.2 Job 

crafting is defined as "the physical and cognitive changes individuals make in the task or 

relational boundaries of their work" (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001, p.179). In contrast to 

carving, job crafting describes a bottom-up process: employees are granted the freedom 

to  decide  on  how  they  work,  which  allows  them  to  change  their  work  identity  and  its 

meaning. This can help employees increase their job satisfaction and decrease the risk of 

burnout  (Tims  et  al.,  2013).  Bart  Moens,  who  presented  the  job  enrichment  approach 

2 Workplace innovation improves motivation and working conditions for employees, which leads to increased labour 
productivity, innovation capability, market resilience, and overall business competitiveness (See: 
https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/innovation/policy/workplace_en ) 

8 

 
 
                                                 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

taken  by  Mooi  Werk  Makers  in  Flanders  (Belgium)  at  the  ETN  meeting,  distinguishes 

between: 

  Task  Crafting:  Taking  on  more  or  fewer  tasks,  expanding  or  diminishing  their 

scope, changing the way they are performed, adjusting time and effort devoted to 

different tasks; 

  Relational Crafting: Changing how, when, or with whom employees interact in the 

process of performing their job duties; 

  Cognitive  Crafting:  Changing  the  way  employees  perceive  the  tasks  and 

relationships in their jobs; and 

  Time-spatial  Crafting:  Actively  selecting  and/or  adapting  workplaces,  work 

locations and working hours. 

Though job carving and job crafting describe similar processes they are therefore driven 

by different actors: as  shown in Figure 1, job  carving is a top-down process driven 

by management to adapts tasks, processes or workplaces based on the talents, needs 

and interest  of current  or future  employees. By contrast,  job crafting  is a bottom-up 

process driven by employees. Both concepts, however, show clear economic benefits 

for  the  companies.  They  enhance  productivity  and  increase  the  health  of  workers  and 

their job satisfaction (Tims et al., 2013). 

Figure 1: Understanding job carving and job crafting 

Source: Own illustration 

Key  features  of  the  concepts  are  outlined  in  Table  1  below.  As  a  result  of  the  differing 

drivers  of  the  process,  the  target  group  varies:  while  employees  are  the  primary 

target group of crafting, job carving can be conducted with and for both the unemployed 

AND the employed. Although both concepts can create new positions, roles  or jobs, the 

adaptation  of  job  tasks  to  an  individual’s  needs  is  focussed  within  job  crafting.  Finally, 

there are differences observed regarding the role of public funding: to date, the ESF has 

mainly  contributed  to  job  carving  activities  in  some  countries  (see  Chapter  3).  Public 

financial support for crafting activities, however, seems to be  very limited or  simply not 

named as such.  

9 

 
 
 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

Table 1:  

Key features of the concepts 

Field of 
Activities / 
Features 

Job Crafting 

Job Carving 

Drivers 

Employees (Bottom-up) 

Management driven (Top-down)  

Target 
group 

Focus of 
the 
approach 

Employed 

Unemployed 

Adapt job tasks to individual needs 

Create new positions/roles/jobs 

Funding 

Little/no public funding 

Partly ESF-funded (trainings, consultancy, 
etc.) 

Source: Own illustration 

Sheltered employment and activities within the social economy are related to job carving, 

because  they  also  provide  employment  opportunities  for  people  who  otherwise  have 

difficulties  in  finding  a  job.  However,  the  entities  implementing  job  carving  in  these 

sectors can be clearly distinguished from others:  

  Sheltered employment refers to employment within definite companies that are 

specifically set up for the employment of people with disabilities or other working 

limitations  (European  Commission,  2018a).  Usually,  this  specific  type  of 

employment is subsidised by public funds.  

  Social  economy  activities  aim  at  the  social  and  economic  integration  of 

disadvantaged  workers.  Different  types  of  organisations  are  key  actors,  such  as 

cooperatives,  non-for-profits  and  social  enterprises  (European  Commission, 

2016).  

In contrast to sheltered employment and activities within the social economy, job carving 

is implemented together with and for employers on the regular labour market. 

2.1  Relevance 

Hagner  et  al.  (2002)  emphasised  that  every  job  involves  some  degree  of  adaptation  as 

everyone modifies a job to highlight their abilities and get around their limitations. In this 

regard, managers understanding job carving and gaining insight into why and how their 

employees craft jobs can enable the process to be beneficial for the individual employees 

and their organisations. 

Research,  moreover,  confirms  that  people  with  significant  barriers  to  employment  have 

often  been  excluded  from  labour  market  integration.  Condon  et  al.  (2004)  found 

members of this group as often “unable to successfully complete the complex variety of 

responsibilities associated with existing jobs” (p. 1). Studies, especially Callahan (2002), 

have noted that services and programmes relying on traditional methods do not result in 

sustainable  employment  outcomes  for  people  with  complex  support  needs.  Individuals 

10 

 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

can often be placed into an existing job based upon the employer’s need to hire and the 

support  services  they  need  for  a  placement,  rather  than  considering  how  best  to  make 

use of the competencies of the job seeker.     

Griffin et al. (2007) have challenged the view that one must be ‘close to perfect’ before 

entering  the  world  of  work.  Professional  integration  with  permanent  subsidies  typically 

involves enterprises organising sheltered workplaces, outside of the open labour market. 

Some  clients  are  people  with  disabilities.  Davister  et  al.  (2004)  found  sheltered 

workplaces in Portugal, Sweden and Ireland were offering productive activities that allow 

clients to establish a social identity and acquire professional competencies. However, few 

workers  found  employment  in  the  open  labour  market.  They  also  noted  that  several 

adapted work enterprises in Belgium sought to offer an experience more akin to an open 

market (i.e. non-sheltered) environment. In an environment of continuing skill shortages 

and  bottleneck  occupations,  employers  have  an  incentive  to  consider  more  flexible  and 

creative  hiring  processes  including  job  carving  and  job  crafting.  They  (are  forced  to) 

accept  a  diversified  workforce,  providing  bespoke  training  and  individual  support  which 

can create opportunities for job seekers and meet companies’ needs.  

Work  customisation  generally,  whether  through  job  carving  or  job  crafting,  can  be  of 

special  benefit  in  creating  opportunities  for  all  people,  especially  for  people  with  some 

shortfalls  in  capability,  and  can  help  overcome  employers’  recruitment  difficulties. 

Traditional employment models are changing with the increasing focus on service sector 

employment.  This  can  present  opportunities  to  promote  work  customisation.  In  many 

advanced  economies,  an  ageing  workforce  is  contributing  to  certain  sectors  that  face 

increasing  recruitment  difficulties.  As  competition  for  workers  increases,  employers  are 

recognising the need to be more flexible.  

Employers can benefit from help to address current employment dynamics such as labour 

shortages  and  high  turnover  rates.  They  can  also  enhance  business  organisation  and 

increase  efficiency  and  productivity  by  using  the  skills  of  all  employees  to  their  best 

advantage.  This  can  be  done  through  re-assigning  jobs  to  match  skills,  re-organising 

workflows  to  increase  productivity,  identifying  unmet  needs  in  the  workplace  through 

negotiating customized jobs, increasing customer  satisfaction, and helping employers to 

better reflect the existing diversity in their communities. Griffin (n.d.) has concluded that 

employment  specialists  and  job  developers  are  key  to  job  redesign  and  need  to  be 

prepared  to  identify  and  develop  these  opportunities  and  to  work  effectively  with  job 

seekers and employers to address their mutual goals and needs. 

In conclusion, job carving and job crafting can be a promising strategy for all groups of 

society. The rearrangement of work tasks that takes place within job carving and 

job crafting can lead to new job opportunities and add value to all involved: the 

enterprises as well as the employees and the people re-entering the labour market (men 

and  women  LTU,  people  with  disabilities,  older  male  and  female  workers,  migrants, 

carers, etc.). The ESF already supports these practices (see Chapter 3). 

11 

 
 
 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

2.2 

Challenges and Opportunities 

There  are  different  views  on  the  opportunities  and  challenges  for  job  carving  and  job 

crafting, as we will see in the following:  

On  the  pessimists’  side,  scholars  underline  the  prevalence  of  negative  stereotypes. 

For  example,  one  challenge  to  the  employment  of  people  who  are  not  ‘close  to  perfect’ 

(see Griffin et al., 2007) is what has been called the “vicious circle of low expectations” 

(Rinaldi  &  Perkins,  2005):  employers  believe  that,  for  example,  people  with  disabilities 

cannot work and therefore do not employ them. The low employment rate of members of 

this  group  confirms  that  they  are  unlikely  to  find  work.  Consequently,  they  are 
disheartened  and  do  not  apply  for  jobs.3  As  the  length  of  time  people  are  unemployed 

increases,  they  can  lose  self-confidence  and  become  self-depreciating,  which  often 

results  in  poor  health.  This  further  reduces  the  number  of  these  people  in  employment 

and  reinforces  employers’  perception  that  they  are  unable  to  work  because  they  do  not 

see  evidence  to  the  contrary.  The  core  challenge  is  therefore  to  outreach  to  employers 

and to convince them to give all people a chance in the first place. This can be achieved 

by focussing on the talents of people. 

Job carving may easily lead to a downgrading of salaries when identifying and carving 

out easy or elementary tasks. To avoid developing positions of lower value4, consultants 

should  ensure  that  the  talents  and  the  benefits  the  new  employees  will  bring  to  the 

companies  are  highlighted  and  support  the  engagement  of  and  dialogue  with  social 

partners.  Practical  guides  to  job  carving  stress  the  win-win  aspect  of  carving  for  both 

employers and the new employees (Griffin et al., 2007; LWL-Integrationsamt Westfalen, 

2017).  However,  given  the  evidence  that  employers  have  a  vested  interest  in  reducing 

turnover  for  all  (Devins  et  al.,  2011),  and  that  lower  skilled  jobs  can  be  satisfying  for 

workers  in  the  right  environment,  there  are  opportunities  to  engage  businesses  in  job 

carving activities.  

In  addition, there are  several  practical challenges associated with job  carving. Target 

group-specific  approaches  are  required  to  be  successful.  These  approaches  must  reflect 

the  talents,  needs  and  interests  of  the  individuals  of  specific  groups  such  as  migrants, 

people with disabilities or older workers, as described below. 

Success factors 

Some  evaluations  and  practical  guides  stress  the  importance  of  the  discovery  (or 

assessment)  phase  which  served  to  ensure  that  individual’s  needs  were  understood 

and their skills, talents and interests identified (Griffin et al., 2007).  

Griffin et al. (2007) also identified  the level of professional  skill of support workers 

as a crucial factor in the success of customised employment initiatives.  

Evidence  from  Germany  underlined  the  importance  of  good  and  uninterrupted 

relations  between  job  carving  consultants  and  employers  (LWL-Integrationsamt 

3 Such views on disabled persons can be reinforced by traditional gender stereotypes and prejudices that consider that female 
disabled persons should not work (European Parliament, 2017). 
4  This  is  a  particular  risk  for  women  who  are  generally  facing  a  process  of  devaluation  on  the  labour  market,  explaining  the 
persisting gender pay gap between women and men (European Commission, 2019).  

12 

 
 
                                                 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

Westfalen,  2017).  Fesko  et  al.  (2008),  moreover,  emphasised  the  importance  of 

successful  collaboration  between  supporting  actors,  especially  those  specialising  in 

designing customised tasks, as key to success. 

Similarly,  Nicholas  et  al.  (2006)  noted  the  need 

for  ongoing  support  for 

disadvantaged  jobseekers  who  found  employment,  resources  to  fund  services 

arranging  work  customisation  and  business  leaders  willing  to  support  customised 

employment initiatives.  

Elinson et al. (2008) however found that customised employment programmes frequently 

ceased in the absence of funding for support systems for employees.  

Studies,  including  Corden  &  Thornton  (2002)  and  Beyer  et  al.  (1996),  have  found  that 

the  quality  of  employment  opportunities  available  has  been  an  important 

consideration in integration outcomes from customised work approaches.   

As already stated, the main opportunities from job carving and job crafting comprise the 

development  of  new  roles,  positions  and  jobs  within  (regular)  enterprises  that  fit  to 

employees’  talents,  needs  and  interests.  Benefits  of  the  approach  therefore  include  the 

prospect  of  providing  meaningful  work,  increasing  the  productivity  and  health  of 

individual workers, increased engagement, job satisfaction and decreased burnout (Tims 

et  al.,  2013),  and  improved  employer-employee  relations.  Job  crafting  thus  can  be 

regarded as an important strategy for improving workers’ health. 

Since  there  is  also  clear  evidence  that  job  crafting  can  have  positive  effects  for 

employees and companies (Tims et al., 2013; Van Wingerden & Poell, 2017), the ESF can 

play an important role in promoting this approach. There is however little evidence that 

public actors like ESF-MAs promote job crafting. Most crafting activities seem to be based 

on  the  initiatives  of  companies  or  their  employees.  Yet,  the  openness  of  employers  to 

supporting  job  crafting  confirms  the  value  added  for  companies.  To  achieve  results  to 

benefit the company, scholars suggest employees are informed about the overall goals of 

the  organisation  (Wrzesniewski  &  Dutton,  2001).  Further  to  this,  the  nature  of  crafting 

requires  that  employees  are  given  autonomy  on  how  to  achieve  their  tasks,  as  job 

crafting  activities  are  related  to  the  perceived  level  of  crafting  opportunities  (Van 

Wingerden & Poell, 2017). Hence one challenge for the ESF-MAs is to convince managers 

to  alter  their  management  style  and/or  their  organisational  culture  and  grant  more 

operational  freedoms  to  their  workers,  whilst  also  ensuring  that  the  crafting  processes 

are successful. 

Gender perspective 

According  to  Nathalie  Wuiame  (2019),  gender  expert  of  the  ETN,  job  carving  and  job 

crafting intersect with gender, since gender aspects are linked to employment (horizontal 

and vertical segregation), and expected competences and skills., They also relate to roles 

and responsibilities in the private sphere (parental burnout).  

Opportunities  and  challenges  as  well  as  risks  of  crafting  are  listed  in  Table  2  (below). 

Opportunities related to the gender perspective include, for instance, detection of gender 

discrimination  during  the  process  of  job  carving.  This  must  be  dealt  with,  in  parallel, 

facing the challenge that gender identity is recognised as an important part of work and 

13 

 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

organisational  culture.  It  has  therefore  to  be  addressed  in  order  to  avoid  reinforcing 

segregation.  

Table 2: 

Gender perspective on opportunities and challenges of job crafting 

Opportunities 

Challenges / risks 

Supports individuals in crafting their job 
to get more satisfaction. 

Shifting (managing) responsibilities to 
individuals without adapting work 
organisation. 

Detect gender discrimination, e.g. more 
routine tasks for female employees, or 
different expectations etc. 

Recognising that gender identity is an 
important part of work and organisation 
culture and avoid reinforcing segregation 
in work redesign. 

More participatory management and 
greater flexibility. 

Gender stereotypes and biases in both 
aspects should be taken into account. 

Source: Nathalie Wuiame, 2019 

Opportunities and challenges of job carving from a gender perspective are in Table 3. In 

this area,  opportunities encompass, for example, a targeted approach for  women facing 

barriers  to  entering  employment.  Consequently,  the  challenges  are  reducing  barriers 

without  reinforcing  stereotypes  associated  with  target  groups,  such  as  concentrating  on 

offering  low  paid  or  part-time  jobs.  It  also  requires  that  attention  be  paid  to 

intersectionality aspects (e.g. offering jobs on care for the elderly to female migrants). 

Table 3: 

Gender perspective on opportunities and challenges of job carving 

Opportunities 

Challenges / risks 

Assessment of different aspects of the 
job (human and technical). 

Assessment by independent intermediary, 
coach and employer of individual 
competences based on supposed “natural” 
competences of women and men. 

Targeted approach for people facing 
barriers to enter employment, e.g. 
people with reduced capacities. 

Reducing barriers without reinforcing 
stereotypes associated to target groups, 
e.g. offering low paid or part-time jobs to 
women. 

Adapt the work and organisation culture 
to newcomers (more flexibility) and 
enhance diversity management. 

Work with employed staff to support 
integration of newcomers and employ an 
inclusive working culture. 

Source: Nathalie Wuiame, 2019 

14 

 
 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

The  ESF  can  contribute  to  reducing  gender  inequalities  at  the  workplace,  in  society 

generally, and within job carving and job crafting processes, for instance, by: 

  Providing gender training on gender stereotypes and biases, and also gender 

roles/responsibilities and identity, and their influence on work organisation; 

  Monitoring crafting and placement (carving) not just in terms of volumes  but also 
by sector and types of job (no downgrading of jobs) satisfaction level, (data by 
sex) etc.; and by 

  Offering the same rights for newly created jobs and avoiding downgrading new 

jobs created through job carving. 

The challenges and opportunities of job carving and job crafting can be summarised  as 

follows: people not (yet) fitting into new roles, positions and jobs, as  well as people no 

longer being able to perform the tasks required, can receive new chances via job carving 

and  job  crafting.  Win-win  situations  are  created  where  enterprises  benefit  from  the 

talents of people and  where people add value to firms  and  society at  large. Awareness, 

however,  still  needs  to  increase  not  only  amongst  enterprises  but  also  within  public 

authorities  supporting  the  approaches.  There  is  an  identified  need  for  sensitising 

employers and creating a mind-shift towards enhanced humanisation of work. Collective 

rights need to be strengthened and persons supported in carving or crafting job tasks so 

that meaningful, productive and sustainable employment can be created. 

3.  STATUS QUO AND GOOD PRACTICE5 

3.1 

Status quo of activities implemented by ESF-MAs 

EU-Member  States  (MSs)  vary  regarding  their  implementation  of  job  carving  and  job 

crafting  approaches.  Some  MSs  report  that  individual  elements  of  job  carving,  such  as 

job coaching, are applied in their countries, and other activities resemble job carving but 

are not named as such. Other MSs clearly state that job carving and job crafting is a new 

practice  that  has  still  to  be  elaborated  in  their  countries.  Amongst  the  EU  front-runners 

for job carving implementation co-funded by the ESF are Malta and Belgium. 

3.2 

Case descriptions 

This  section  demonstrates  key  features  of  selected  approaches  applied  in  the  EU  and 

includes examples presented during the ETN meeting in Malta AND during the workshop 

in Brussels, both of which took place in May 2019. The selected promising practices are 

“Job-carving for jobseekers with disabilities” (Malta) and “Web+” (Belgium). Please find a 

brief description of the examples in the following. 

5 This chapter describes ESF-activities in the countries present at the ETN meeting in Malta (14-15 May 2019) and was further 
enriched by findings from the workshop “Investing in Careers: Job Carving for inclusive Employment” held in Brussels/Belgium 
during the ESF Transnational Platform Annual Conference (21-22 May 2019). Please note that information on activities in this 
chapter is not exhaustive and builds on the knowledge of attending participants only. 

15 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

Table 4:  

Promising practice implemented in Malta  

Job-carving for jobseekers with disabilities 

Country  

Malta  

Rationale  

As a consequence of the enforcement of the 2% employment quota for 
persons with disabilities in Maltese enterprises, a substantial number of 
enterprises wanted to integrate persons with disabilities. Due to the gap 
between the “requirements” of existing vacancies and the “preparedness” 
of the disabled jobseeker, job-carving was adopted. 

Specificities 
of  
the 
approach  

Jobsplus, the Maltese Public Employment Service, entered into a 
partnership with the Lino Spiteri Foundation (LSF), which is an entity 
specialising in the labour market integration of job seekers with disabilities. 
LSF set up a corporate relations unit to support enterprises in the 
recruitment of persons with disabilities. The corporate relations executive 
identifies existing occupations within the enterprise which are potentially 
suitable for jobseekers with disabilities. The “carving” exercise is driven by 
the enterprise requirements and the existing competencies and skills of the 
registered jobseekers with disabilities. This is coupled with pre-employment 
efforts such as training and work exposure schemes offered by Jobsplus to 
improve the employability and preparedness of the registered disabled 
jobseeker. 

Aims 

  Increase the labour market integration of jobseekers with disabilities; 

and  

  Change the perspective of employers on the employment of people 

with disabilities. 

Challenges  Corporate Relations Executives encountered difficulties in finding suitable 

jobs for jobseekers with disabilities given that enterprises willing to 
integrate persons with disabilities often offer jobs requesting complex 
qualifications, competences and/or tasks that overall cannot be met by 
disabled jobseekers. By carefully analysing the enterprise requirements 
and operation/workflow, the Corporate Relations identify elements, tasks 
and outcomes from existing jobs in the enterprise to design a new job or a 
workflow that can integrate a person with disability or a mixed-ability 
group of persons with disabilities.  

Impact 

As of April 2018, it was possible to create 278 jobs suitable to the 
jobseekers with disabilities by making use of the job-carving approach. 

Source: European Commission, 2018b 

Table 5:  

Promising practice implemented in Flanders (Belgium) 

WEB+ 

Country  

Belgium 

Rationale  

WEB is a social economy organisation focussing on the open labour market 
integration of vulnerable LTU. Support is provided for people who need 
intensive coaching in finding sustainable employment. Meaningful 
employment opportunities are offered by the organisation to those 
jobseekers with difficulties in functioning in the open labour market even 
after intensive assistance. WEB offers advice to employers, helping them to 
develop customised job design which aids them in incorporating people 
from vulnerable groups into their workforce.   

16 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

Specificities 
of  
the 
approach  

The target recipients of the programme are people with low work 
motivation, limited capability and poor labour market knowledge. After 
initial orientation and labour market exploration a variety of support 
options are available for clients, including individual coaching, support with 
job hunting and matching, internships  and workplace learning. Different 
integration approaches are offered for non-native  speakers, people in 
poverty and vulnerable young people. Individualised learning through 
practice for the clients combined with provision of advice and guidance on 
job carving and continuing HR support for employers assists in securing 
sustainable jobs. Whether directly employed within WEB or in external 
companies a philosophy of “one step at a time” is applied. This seeks to 
encourage greater autonomy to optimise opportunities for vulnerable 
people through designing jobs enabling them to make the best use of their 
competencies and where possible increase these, whilst maintaining a 
safety net as necessary.    

Aims 

To provide a bridge to employment providing step by step labour market 
integration for LTU. This is achieved through stimulating empowerment, 
improving their soft skills and general competencies, and improving their 
technical competencies.   

Challenges  A key lesson learned has been how to develop a model balancing 

individualised tailor-made support whilst maintaining a core routeway for 
clients. A common methodological framework was subsequently adopted. It 
has been important to ensure coaching remains focused on external 
employers’ requirements, whilst ensuring a two-way approach, client and 
employer, is maintained. Significant effort has been applied to developing 
measures to assess the results of coaching.  

Impact 

In 2017, 138 clients out of a total of 370 received workplace actions. 140 
clients completed a pathway to a job in the regular open labour market.  

Other  examples  presented,  discussed  or  identified  in  the  literature  comprise  the  project 

“Road  67”  implemented  by  Trendhuis/Belgium  (see  Scoppetta  &  Aparicio  Jodar, 

forthcoming), the ESF-funded project “Active and Needed” implemented in Lithuania, and 

actions taken by Mooi Werk Makers in Flanders (Belgium). 

4.  RECOMMENDATIONS 

Job  carving  and  job  crafting  is  regarded  by  ETN  members  as  a  useful  and  successful 

approach. Participants see potential for mainstreaming, not only across EU countries but 

also for different target groups: in addition to the target group of people with disabilities, 

job  carving  should  increasingly  be  applied  for  older  people,  migrants,  women,  etc.  In 

order to enable widespread implementation, participants identify a need for guidance and 

EU-wide exchange on promising practices.  

Guidance  should  be  provided  not  only  to  employers  (e.g.  guidance  on  how  to  better 

connect companies’ resources with potential workers; see Griffin (n.d.) and Griffin et al., 

2007)  and  unemployed  and  their  families,  but  also  to  labour  market  institutions  (ESF-

MAs,  Public  Employment  Services,  NGOs,  etc.).  Advice  should  be  offered  based  on 

findings from practices already implemented such as those applied in Malta.  

17 

 
 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

Moreover, there is an identified need for coaching of both employers and employees. 

Rather than the nature of disability, the job carving examples presented have shown that 

the  level  of  skills  is  the  core  issue  determining  employers’  decisions  when  hiring 

personnel.  Thus,  outreach  activities  to  employers  are  as  important  as  continuous 

training for the unemployed/employed and offers for accompanying support for both 

the  employer  and  the  employee  after  a  job  has  been  carved.  Job  carving  should  be 

regarded  as  a  process,  which  helps  the  individuals  to  advance  during  employment. 

Approaches taken should not just enable employment, but also advancement in jobs and 

careers.  

While  the  implementation  of  job  carving  was  extensively  discussed  during  the  two 

events,  there  is  still  a  lack  of  information  on  practices  that  assist  in  a  better 

understanding  of  how  ESF-MAs  and  their  partner  organisations  assist  job  crafting 

approaches implemented within the EU. 

Due to the peer approach applied within the ETN recommendations, development focused 

on  two  distinct  governance  levels  only,  namely  the  national/regional  levels  and  the  EU-

level, and comprise the following:  

National/regional levels: 

  ETN members call for a mainstreaming of job carving and job crafting which 
goes beyond the target group of people with disabilities. Under the guidance of 
well-advanced MSs, pilot projects should be established within the ESF in 
those MSs that have not yet worked with job carving and job crafting. Participants 
stressed that job carving should be put on the Agenda of ESF+ in the MSs and 
that calls should be introduced. To mainstream the approach, sharing existing 
know-how and mutual learning between MSs is regarded as key. 

  It is most likely that the implementation of job carving and job crafting will 

increase in importance due to digitalisation and automatisation processes 
that drive changes in the world of work. Challenges faced by all groups in society, 
but especially by vulnerable groups such as the low-skilled, can be proactively 
addressed through job carving and job crafting.  

  ESF-MAs and their partner organisations call for creating partnerships amongst 
relevant stakeholders. A need is identified for enhancing social dialogue and 
placing the social partners in the lead of job carving processes. The role of trade 
unions and building partnerships with civil society is regarded as a key for 
success. Moreover, it is essential to conduct outreach to employers and raise 
awareness of the need for enhanced dialogue between employees and employers 
in crafting job tasks.  

  The added value of the approach should be communicated to all, but especially to 
employers. Participants advocated a mind-set change where talents are placed 
in the centre of all concerns, especially during the recruiting processes. In order to 
reach the goal, support services should be offered to both employers and 
employees/people to be employed before, during and after the placement process. 

18 

 
 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

EU level: 

  The recommendations at EU-level encompass elaborating job carving and job 

crafting as a theme in ESF+ and enhanced mutual learning between Member 
States. EU guidelines for job carving and job crafting should be developed that 
build on the experiences of MSs already extensively implementing the approach, 
such as Malta.  

  Furthermore, the participants stressed the importance of improving the link 

between the ESF and the ERDF to foster job carving approaches in the MS.  

  ETN members also regard as crucial support for training on the development 

of job carving and job crafting schemes at the transnational levels and would 
like to see job carving linked with socially innovative entrepreneurship/social 
innovative actions (see Scoppetta & Geyer, forthcoming). 

To summarise, job carving and job crafting requires holistic support by ESF-MAs and EU-

institutions. Sufficient resources must be made available in order to enable  all people to 

find and realise meaningful and productive employment that matches their talents, needs 

and interests. Support from the ESF is therefore crucial. 

5.  CONCLUSION 

Job carving and job crafting can be effective strategies to overcome the challenges of the 

labour market (re)integration of people facing barriers and to keep workers employed by 

creating meaningful and productive employment. Job carving activities are supported by 

the ESF in some EU-MSs. However, activities of this kind are often not identified as such 

and holistic implementation approaches are frequently absent.  

Nevertheless,  the  ESF  can  fund  activities  of  this  kind  such  as  helping  employers  to 

identify  possible  areas  for  job  carving,  offering  preparatory  training  to  people  with 

disabilities,  matching  the  demands  of  enterprises  and  employees/unemployed,  and 

building well-established cooperation with enterprises next to outreach activities. Target-

group specific approaches are being implemented in Malta and Belgium (Flanders). 

Implementing job carving and job crafting add value to policy implementation within the 

EU because of their potential for achieving enhanced social inclusion, due to the win-win 

situation created for both employers and individuals. To minimise the risk of a potential 

downgrading  of  salaries  for  the  new  jobs,  roles  or  positions  created,  individual’s  talents 

must  be  put  at  the  centre  of  all  policy  concerns.  Job  carving  and  job  crafting  requires 

holistic  support  from  ESF-MAs.  Sufficient  resources  should  be  made  available  with  the 

help  of  the  ESF  to  enable  all  people  to  find  and  realise  meaningful,  productive  and 

sustainable employment. 

19 

 
 
 
 
Job Carving and Job Crafting 

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 

Table 1 
Table 2 
Table 3 
Table 4 
Table 5 
Figure 1  

Key features of the concepts  
Gender perspective on opportunities and challenges of job crafting 
Gender perspective on opportunities and challenges of job carving 
Promising practice implemented in Malta  
Promising practice implemented in Flanders/Belgium 
Understanding job carving and job crafting 

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21 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
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