Quality of work life (QWL)

Meaning:

Quality of work life (QWL) refers to the favourableness or unfavourableness of a job

environment for the people working in an organisation. The period of scientific management
which focused solely on specialisation and efficiency, has undergone a revolutionary change.

The traditional management (like scientific management) gave inadequate attention to human
values. In the present scenario, needs and aspirations of the employees are changing.
Employers are now redesigning jobs for better QWL.

Quality of Work Life – 5 Main Constituents

The quality of work life attempts to fulfill the following needs of the workers:

1. Safer Working Conditions:

Walton considers QWL deeply concerned with provision of a work environment absolutely free
from various hazards arising out of natural and unnatural things. He further encompasses the
need for reasonable hours of work, favourable physical conditions of work, age restrictions, etc.
to be followed by the organizations.

In India, the Factories Act, 1948 and several other labour laws provide the various rules and
regulation of protecting the workers from the health hazards at the working site.

2. Equitable and Fair Pay:

The QWL requires that employees must be paid their due share in the progress of the firm.
Compensation system should create a favourable environment whereby the organization
utilizes the human resources to the maximum extent and should help the employee to maintain
himself and his family with a standard in the society.

3. Job Satisfaction:
The workers, as they are living beings, desire to work on the job that will utilize their abilities
and talents and provide them satisfaction. The management must enrich the jobs and redesign
the jobs in such a way that workers feel satisfied.

4. Job Security:

Employees strongly desire stability of their jobs. The workplace should offer security of
employment. Layoffs and retrenchment are opposed by all categories of employees these days.

5. Autonomy and Control:

As the work has become highly monotonous today, the worker becomes more mechanical
towards the machines and lacks controls on them. Walton observes, when sufficient autonomy
as well as control are given to workers, who in turn will use their innate skill and abilities for
developing the organization, it will lead to improvement of QWL in the organization.