In the thoroughly elaborated “Levenslang Leren als een prikkelend refrein”, Christa Van Oostende argues for an honest, pluralistic approach to lifelong learning. Of course, this goes beyond slogans, politicised framing, and statistics stripped out of context. She plays with misplaced war rhetoric one last time. Undoubtedly, after reading this article, you will forever exchange the ‘War for Talent’ chants for tantalising refrains of lifelong learning.

Labour conflicts cost money, they entail tangible and intangible costs and have an impact on those directly involved, the organisation and society. Nevertheless, Leen Van den Abeele notes in “Bemiddeling in arbeidsconflicten, onbekend of onbemind?” that there is little recourse to professionals such as recognised mediators in social affairs to prevent or, if necessary, defuse labour conflicts. With her article, Leen aims to highlight “mediation in employment context”. Indeed, expert mediation can play both a curative and a preventive role, giving the employer the opportunity to work on the “conflict resilience” and “conflict skills” of employees and the company as a whole.

Marijke Van Cauteren states in her captivating article that Diversity, Equality & Inclusion has been high on the agenda of Corporate organisations operating worldwide in recent years. She foresees DE&I becoming a keeper in Belgium too, and this not only because of the changing zeitgeist more also because more and more studies prove the great added value of DE&I for companies.  “Diversity, Equality & Inclusion-Werk aan de winkel?” urges us to think about how diverse and inclusive we find the company we work for and what initiatives we can take to promote this cultural change.

Training is a profit! However, it is not easy to realise this….. In “The value of training – cost or profit”, Peter Buyse first points out the pitfalls that turn training into a cost: training as a menu, training as part of performance and evaluation interviews and training that is determined by short-term thinking. He then elaborates on the conditions that make training a strategic instrument that helps employees to be a crucial factor in realising value for external and internal customers.