Quality of Work Life: Tips for Effective Organizational Practices

• We often observe a mismatch between what leaders do and what they say, which can demotivate work teams. Values and goals that underpin the organization’s strategic planning are not converted and operationalized into compatible organizational actions and managerial practices. Therefore, leaders must avoid this dissonance by remembering that example is the most powerful teaching instrument available.
• Well-being at work is linked to the emotions we experience and to conditions present within the organization. It depends on personal characteristics and workplace factors such as communication, autonomy, and recognition. Many QWL programs ignore these antecedents of well-being and ill-being at work and limit themselves to compensatory, palliative actions that provide momentary stress relief, isolated and exclusively focused on the individual. They do not consider the micro and macro causes of well-being/ill-being experiences at work nor what QWL truly means in that organization. The term “corporate hot tub,” coined by Professor Mário César Ferreira of the University of Brasília, illustrates this reality and organizational trend.
• 72% of Brazilians suffer from stress and 32% of Brazilians suffer from burnout.

Shall we adopt effective QWL practices in organizations? Always remember that QWL is everyone’s responsibility within the organization.

10 Effective QWL Practices in Organizations

1. Consider your organization’s culture: Avoid hiring ready-made services and products that do not consider the organization’s specificities, such as its culture, processes, organizational and managerial practices, and employees’ experiences.
2. Conduct a thorough diagnosis: Assess how people evaluate their work context (physical and technological conditions, workload, performance management practices, communication quality, interpersonal relationships, recognition practices, etc.) and, most importantly, how they feel at work, since they are the protagonists of organizational results. Promoting a sustainable relationship between well-being and productivity should be the primary objective of any organization. Results are a consequence of a healthier and more humanized work environment.
3. Establish QWL principles: Based on the diagnosis, define the normative foundations and principles of QWL to be adopted. This initiative helps prevent the impacts of possible managerial disruptions common in the public sector.
4. Establish indicators: Define indicators to guide the design and monitoring of a QWL program based on the diagnosis.
5. Identify root causes: Propose actions that identify the causes of well-being/ill-being at work and intervene accordingly.
6. Avoid “corporate hot tub” practices: Such practices are limited and disconnected from the real sources of well-being/ill-being at work. They may be trendy and attractive at first, but participation tends to decline, and financial and structural investments may fail to deliver desired results.
7. Select practices carefully: Stress management programs, career guidance and mentoring, as well as psychological and medical support services, are welcome, but they should not be the only QWL practices offered.
8. Create a QWL team: QWL promotion is not solely the responsibility of HR or health teams. Create and formalize a multidisciplinary team composed of professionals from different organizational areas. This team should coordinate decisions and actions and build bridges between HR, health teams, and other departments. QWL promotion involves professional support and intervention in the work context and must be strategically aligned with organizational and managerial practices.
9. Emphasize participatory management: Encourage participatory and shared management practices. When people collectively participate in decision-making, they feel involved, committed, and engaged, especially regarding QWL programs.
10. Strengthen your network: Share successful experiences, learn from best practices of other organizations, and discuss knowledge, doubts, and challenges related to QWL in the Brazilian public sector.

Access additional materials and references on Quality of Work Life in the public sector.