Combining wellbeing and performance with the QWL Approach

Nowadays, for Swiss employees, the definition of professional success and happiness ultimately comes down to work-life balance and experiencing a sense of fulfilment from one's job; as opposed to taking on more responsibilities or having a higher salary.

Proof of this lies in our "Talent trends" study*, where 52% of employees said that they would be willing to refuse a promotion if they believed that it would have a negative effect on their overall wellbeing; while 54% said that they consider work-life balance to be more important than their salary as the main indicator of job satisfaction.

In this context, where recruitment difficulties are an increasingly significant concern, organisations can no longer fail to acknowledge the importance of issues surrounding Quality of Work Life (QWL). Here is some of our advice for those looking to implement a successful QWL / QLWC approach.

What is Quality of Work Life (QWL) and Quality of Life and Working Conditions (QLWC)?

Quality of Work Life refers to all actions that serve to improve both the working conditions of employees and the overall performance of companies.

QWL therefore revolves around several elements relating to wellbeing at work such as:

Working atmosphere
Company culture
Interest in one’s work
Working conditions
Having a sense of involvement
Enjoying a degree of autonomy and accountability
Equality
Recognising an individual's right to make mistakes
Recognition and appreciation of the work carried out

While Switzerland does not have specific laws or regulations that are explicitly dedicated to Quality of Work Life (QWL) or Quality of Work Life Conditions (QWLC), there are various labor laws, regulations, and practices in the country that indirectly contribute to promoting a positive work environment and employee well-being. Additionally, each Swiss canton has its own labor laws that can complement federal laws and regulations, aimed at addressing specific work-life balance aspects relevant to the local context.

For example:

Article 9 of the Swiss Employment Law Act mandates that employees may work a maximum of 45 or 50 hours per week depending on their sector of activity. The daily rest time must be at least 11 consecutive hours, which contributes to maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
The Swiss Maternity Protection Act provides for maternity and paternity leave and protection of pregnant and breastfeeding employees, supporting work-life balance during this important phase.
The Swiss Federal Law on Accident Insurance (LAA/UVG) outlines regulations related to occupational health and safety, including measures to prevent accidents and ensure employees' well-being in the workplace.

What are the advantages of a QWL / QLWC policy?

Given that QWL covers both wellbeing and performance, it logically involves issues which are critical for both employees and organisations.

First of all, a well-thought-out QWL policy aims to take care of employees' physical and mental health by focusing specifically on the prevention of psychosocial risk (PSR) factors. This involves all elements that can affect the physical and mental health of employees within their professional environment. The most common of these risks are the following:

Stress. This is one of the most well-known forms of PSR and is characterised by an imbalance (perceived or real) between the constraints of an employee's professional activity (work overload, reduced hours, etc.) and the resources available to the employee to help deal with them.
Internal violence committed within the company by employees. This can include issues such as psychological or sexual harassment or any other kind of increased conflict between colleagues.
External violence committed against employees by persons from outside the company (insults, threats, attacks, etc.).

One should always bear in mind that repeated exposure to these kinds of situations at work can have consequences on the mental and/or physical health of employees such as forms of cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, anxiety-depressive disorders and professional burnout.

In addition to protecting the mental and physical health of employees, the implementation of a QWL / QLWC policy makes it possible for workers to achieve better professional development by focusing on several factors such as:

Work content: aligning objectives and the means used to carry them out.
Career path and acquired skills: supporting employees throughout their career (upskilling and reskilling).
Professional equality: ensuring that everyone is carrying out their work under equal conditions.
Participative management: allowing everyone to play their part in the performance of the company.

Companies obviously have their own direct interest in the implementation of a QWL / QLWC approach in view of the factors mentioned above. Firstly, a good QWL policy can help reduce the rates of absenteeism by taking action to avoid PSR risks and also by improving people’s overall happiness at work.

Indeed, a study from Harvard/MIT shows that happy employees are 6 times less likely to be absent than employees who are unhappy. Additionally, and according to a study commissioned by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), absenteeism generates a direct annual cost of more than 4 billion francs to the Swiss economy and represents a considerable challenge for companies in Switzerland.

A good QWL policy also promotes the attraction and retention of talent. Proof of this can be found in our talent attraction index* which measures the influence of the various factors that encourage candidates to join a company.

Here are the top ten factors in order of importance:

Salary
Flexibility
The company provides employees with a real sense of purpose when carrying out their tasks
Location of the company’s premises
Opportunities for professional growth and development
Company culture
Trust in the team leader
Software tools
Health benefits
Company reputation

Flexibility, professional development, and a sense of belonging are all elements directly linked to a good QWL policy. On top of this, satisfied employees are not only more likely to join and stay in a company, they are also more efficient; with a Harvard / MIT study showing that happy employees are 31% more productive and 55% more creative than unhappy ones.

In short, as a guarantee of efficiency, performance and attractiveness, choosing to focus on the wellbeing of employees is a win-win situation.

>> Read also: Management: how to take care of your teams’ mental health

What steps should be followed for an effective QWL / QLWC approach?

To set up a QWL / QLWC approach, one can refer to the advice of the French National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (ANACT) which recommends 4 main actions: design, diagnose, experiment, sustain.

Phase 1: Design

This phase involves creating a QLWC committee that is representative of the company as a whole. For example, it can bring together employees, managers, members of the works council, and a QWL manager. The objective of this committee will be to define the issues and problems encountered by employees (workload, fatigue, etc.), teams/departments (communication, lack of staff, etc.) and management (turnover, productivity, etc.) and setting out a common vision.

Phase 2: Diagnose

To reinforce and delve deeper into the major issues identified during the first phase, this second phase will generally consist of carrying out a survey of all the employees. The most straightforward way to do this is through an anonymous questionnaire.

It is estimated that a minimum of 60% participation is needed for the questionnaire to be considered representative of the workforce, hence the importance of raising employee awareness of the process ahead of time.

Other methods that can be used during this phase include individual job analysis, brainstorming, and workshops. The final objective remains to obtain as much feedback as possible in order to implement an action plan that meets the expectations of employees as closely as possible.

Phase 3: Experiment

In this phase, the most important thing is to set up and test specific actions so that employees can begin to perceive a dynamic of change taking place. If necessary, these actions should be modified if the expected results are not being seen. Depending on the problems that have arisen, these actions may range from short to the long term solutions.

Here are a few examples :

Provide feedback on results (short term)
Improve workstations (medium term)
Establish participatory management (long term)

Phase 4: Sustain

Monitoring is the key to a successful QWL approach, especially since certain actions can lead to unexpected consequences. For example, a plan to set up remote working which is poorly implemented can lead to the frustration of certain employees who may find themselves in complex situations should they lack the physical or material means to work from home effectively.

For this reason, it is important to continually ask employees for their feedback. In doing so, you will be able to reconsider certain actions should they not be as effective as expected. Given that there will always be people who are resistant to change, constant care must be taken to promote listening and dialogue during these periods of transition.

Dealing with these questions in a completely objective way is not always an easy task, so one should never hesitate to enlist the help of a professional from outside the organisation. Otherwise, this mission can be entrusted to a CSR Manager, a Chief Happiness Manager or an HR Manager.

>> Read also: How to deal with resistance to change?

What specific QWL measures can we put in place?

The French National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (ANACT) indicates that implementing a QWLT approach revolves around 6 major themes:

Professional and social dialogue
Organisation, content and carrying out of the work
Occupational health
Skills and career paths
Equality in the workplace
Business plan and management

In this context, here are some examples of initiatives that can be implemented as part of a QWL approach:

Flexible hours and/or implementation of remote working
Provision of health and wellbeing services, such as sports and wellbeing subscriptions, contribution to gym membership fees, etc.
Implementation of training courses and individual career plans
Allowing employees to donate leave days to colleagues
Designing ergonomic workstations
Equal pay
Welcoming back employees returning from long-term sick or maternity leave
Presence of comfortable break rooms
Good aligning of the objectives with the means of work
Onboarding and offboarding courses
Consultation of employees regarding new projects
Recruitment based on inclusion and diversity
...

Would you like to learn more about the new expectations of candidates to help you improve recruitment and employee retention? Have a look at our study "Talent Trends"*.

*Talent Trends 2023, a unique global study that uncovered how workers really feel. Around 70,000 professionals from across the world responded to our survey, including 28,009 respondents in 12 European countries, making it the largest talent survey of its kind to date.