Quality of Work Life: an evolving definition

Remote working offers employees more flexibility and autonomy, which fosters work-life harmony. That is right, we prefer to say “harmony” as opposed to “balance” as the line is drawn differently for all of us, and it can also vary in time and circumstances. Many arrangements had to be made during the lockdown period, for example to allow for a reorganization of parents' work schedules, as schools and daycare centres were temporarily closed. The notion of a work day has become more fluid. This newly acquired flexibility has made a great number of employees not want to lose it. The current scarcity of talent is fuelling this expectation: employees are expressing their desire and, even, have come to demand it more than ever before.

You’re not sure about all the possible avenues and modalities regarding work-life harmony? Sia Partners has a catalogue of ideas, let's discuss them!

As employees are no longer forced to work from the office every day, the work environment has become more than a physical space with a computer: it is now more focused on being a social place to meet, share, bond, innovate and grow.

The current design of your office may no longer be adapted to the needs of your teams, or even to the new hybrid work environment (for example, the layout of conference rooms equipped with video-conferencing). This is on top of new and emerging constraints related to the increased requirements from health regulations, ones that cannot be ignored.

Are you curious about the innovations and possibilities in this area? Our Design Thinking team has all the solutions and ideas to create an experience and environment that fits your desired culture and EVP.

As the "Talent Revolution" has clearly demonstrated, the on-and-off lockdown of the past two years has led to career-related reassessments, resulting in many employees reorienting themselves or changing jobs. In today's market, where the demand for candidates is significantly higher than the supply, employees expect to be offered opportunities for career advancement, professional development, a greater focus on their appetencies (areas of strengths/passions) or they will look for it elsewhere. 

Employees also want fewer barriers, less hierarchy, more transparency, to be heard and to have honest communications with their manager. They want to feel considered and included in the decisions that will impact their daily lives and they hope to see their managers demonstrate authentic leadership. 

Being a manager is not always easy, especially with the constant changes we went through in the last two years. A common and fast-growing practice is to offer coaching in order to help them in this role. Contact us to learn more about how a customised program can meet your needs.

Many lifestyle habits are expressed at work and, conversely, work can influence them. For many, the pandemic has been an opportunity to take a step back from work and realign their priorities, putting their health, both physical and psychological, at the forefront of work. Employees now expect their employer to contribute positively to this, or at least to provide the space or opportunities for them to do so.

Design thinking, data science and behavioral economics are approaches within organizations’ reach to influence lifestyle habits. Your employees often have the answers themselves and many solutions may be hidden in your data - you just need to dig for them and bring them to light.  

In short, QWL should not be one size fits all, services and support should be communicated on a regular basis - to remind employees about their availability. You should also consider how to support managers as “first-aiders”, as they are often the first ones to notice that an employee may require greater support. 

In our next article, Quality of Work Life: An Evolving Definition - Part 2, you will discover our point of view regarding the challenges that you may encounter in trying to meet these new expectations, as well as the conditions for success surrounding such an approach. Stay tuned!

Are you ready to update your quality of work life strategy to meet the expectations of your current and future talent? To that end, you will need to anticipate and respond to the challenges that will arise, and to identify and promote the key success factors of an integrated QWL approach.

The implementation of an integrated quality of work life strategy is based on three key success factors.

QWL is a multifaceted and complex concept, with interdependent dimensions.  It must be approached in a holistic manner in order to identify structural issues, i.e. those that have the greatest impact on the well-being factors you are trying to improve (work relations, role in the organization, career path, organizational culture, etc.). 

The "psychosocial risk" approach should be avoided, as it is based on a risk management posture and reactivity to internal crises. This approach is often used in the wake of an incident; it attempts to eradicate the symptom rather than the cause. In other words, it is good to have a plan to respond to a crisis but even better to proactively set measures to prevent the risks from happening in the first place.

Another key success factor is having an integrated vision of health and well-being at work and adopting a pragmatic, anticipatory and collective approach. Prevention is at the heart of it. It is fueled by proactive management methods, innovative initiatives and dynamic and continuous analysis.

The QWL approach must be supported by all stakeholders: senior management, the Human Resources Department (HRD), managers, teams, affinity groups and employees. The role of first-level managers is particularly important for its implementation. Although managers should rely on HRD experts, they must, above all, develop key management skills, such as planning, communication of objectives, recognition and appreciation, active supervision, coaching and employee engagement. These competencies contribute directly to QWL, but conversely, shortcomings in this area are detrimental to well-being at work. 

Managers will have to be supported in order to adopt and put into practice:

Managers can only succeed with the commitment of their team. Setting up a QWL committee or building a network of champions will help sustain the approach :

Finally, don't overlook the importance of a QWL policy and governance structure to provide a solid framework for the evolution of your QWL practices. 

In conclusion, standing out in today's talent market is far from easy. Talents’ expectations have changed, creating challenges that must be addressed through a holistic and preventative approach, one that involves all the necessary stakeholders, from top management to teams and individuals and their family, to ensure sustainability and effectiveness.

Sia Partners can assist you in this process, regardless of your organization's level of maturity in terms of quality of life at work; the most difficult is to get started after all!