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Faculty of Nursing
Quality of work life
Supervisors
Prof.Dr/ Safaa Mohamed Abd Elrahman Dr/ Ebtesam Ahmed Bashandy
Prepared by
Doctoral student: Samar Hussien Khalaf Alah
2019-2020
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Objectives:
At the end of lecture the students will be able to
Define quality of work life
Identify origin of QWL
Discuss importance of QWL for nurses
Enumerate indications of quality of work life
List factors affecting QWL
Explain dimensions of quality of work life
Discuss dimensions of quality of work selected by the European for improvement of living and working condition.
Determine barriers to QWL
Explain how to improvement QWL
Enumerate nurse manager role in enhancing quality of work life in healthcare settings
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Outlines:
Introduction
Definition of quality of work life
Origin of QWL
Importance of QWL for nurses
Indications of quality of work life
Factors affecting QWL
Dimensions of quality of work life
Dimensions of quality of work selected by the European for improvement of living and working condition.
Barriers to QWL
Improvement of QWL
Nurse manager role in enhancing quality of work life in healthcare settings
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Introduction
Nurses stay and work overnight, their job is very critical and complicated and they normally face a variety of difficulties such as sleep deprivation, stress, workload and fatigue, which could have negative effects on their behavior, communication, learning ability decision making and quality of life. So, hospital director should explore and promote the quality of nurses' working life by assessing their work environment and identifying their possible shortcomings.
Improvement in quality of work life of nurses is critically important to ensure good nursing performance and quality patient care. Nurses with a good quality of work life have high job satisfaction and motivation levels are more attached to their organizations and experience less burnout. Quality of Working Life (QWL) is critical for healthcare organizations to continue attract and retain qualified, committed and motivated nurse
Quality of work life (QWL) is a concern not only to improve life at work, but also life outside work. It is nothing but having a work environment where an employee’s activities become more important. This means implementing procedures or policies that make the work less routine and more rewarding for nurses. These procedures or policies include autonomy, recognition, belongingness, development and external rewards.
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Definition
Quality of work life is defined as it is a comprehensive, department- wide program designated to improve nurse satisfaction, and improved sense of well-being for nurses as well as improved results for both patients and health care personnel
QWL is a combination of strategies, procedures and ambiances related to a workplace that enhances and sustain the nurse satisfaction by aiming at improving work conditions for nurses in the organizations
Goal
QWL has two goals:
Improving the quality of the work experience of nurses
Improving the overall performance and good quality of care Origin of QWL
Quality of work life is a concept which was developed in the early 1930’s that showing its importance in the productivity. The concept of quality of work life has gained interest and importance across the globe.
Employers are considering work life as a critical factor for personal as well as career development. The famous Hawthorne studies by Mayo in 1930 were considered to be the first to explain the impact of workplace illumination on productivity which specified the importance of QWL on worker productivity.The concept of QWL was used in the industrial labor relationships and management before it was recognized in other fields (e.g.
health organization).
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Importance of QWL for nurses
QWL enhances nurses' dignity through job satisfaction and humanizing the work by:
o Assigning meaningful jobs.
o Giving opportunities to develop human capacity to perform well, ensuring job security and adequate pay and benefits.
o Providing safe, healthy, participative and supportive working conditions.
QWL provides nurses with the motivation and the opportunity to perform well.
Strengthening organizational commitment
Improving quality of care
Increasing the performance of both the individual and the organization
High QWL help organizations to achieve better performance and become highly competitive
Indications of quality of work life
Indications of poor work life quality include
Work absenteeism
Work turnover rate
Employer-employee conflict
Number of work accidents and overtime
Excessive workload
Long working hours
Dissatisfaction with management
Poor work conditions
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High work-related stress
Inadequate educational and professional development opportunities and tasks other than nursing
Quality of work life can be measured by the feelings that nurses have toward their jobs and colleagues would ignite a chain effect leading to an organization's growth and increase performance in the end
Factors affecting QWL
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Dimensions of Quality of Work Life (QWL)
The eight dimensional constructs of Walton’S QWL 1. Adequate and fair compensation
Compensation and rewards are motivational factors, the best performer is given the rewards, and this builds the competitions among the employees to work hard and to achieve both organizational and individual goals.
2. Safe and healthy working conditions
Existence of suitable work conditions is one of the necessities for the nurses to work in the organizations. Working conditions that allow a balance between work and life improve nurses' satisfaction and motivation. It prevents separation from employment, and it promotes retention, also the relationships between colleagues are important to the workplace quality,
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which improve the mutual understanding and good communications between the staff.
3. Opportunity for continued growth and security
When nurses are offered opportunities to grow in an organization by providing promotion ladder, it helps in improving the QWL.
4. Opportunity to use and develop human capacities
The Quality of Work Life will be better if the jobs allow sufficient autonomy and control to its employees. The nurses must be given an opportunity to use their skills, abilities and initiative in planning and implementing the work.
5. Social integration in the work organization
Nurses develop self-respect as a result of social integration and it leads to Social coherent and feeling of belongingness and improve the quality of their work life.
6. Constitutionalism in the work organization
Every nurse should be entitled to some privileges such as personal privacy, right to expression, right to equitable treatment, etc. These should be governed by certain rules and regulations. In short, there should be the
‘Rule of Law’ as per the constitution of the enterprise 7. Work and total life space
Major component of quality of work life, which is important for nurses, is the relationship between work and home life. It is difficult to separate home and work life. Some nurses are required to work for late hours or are frequently transferred or have to do a lot of travelling as a part
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of their duty. This definitely affects their QWL as they remain away from their families for a long period of time.
8. Social relevance of work life
Organizations acting in socially irresponsible manner enhance numbers of their employees to depreciate the value of their work. Socially responsible behaviors include a wide range of actions such as behaving ethically and treating employee fairly
Quality of work life dimensions that selected by the European for improvement of living and working condition.
1. Health and well-being
Quality of the work life of nurses reflects the mental and physical well-being of nurses as the customers are not just external entity, but the nurses in the organization are also considered internal customers. Job demands and job control are essential job characteristics influencing well- being, the work situations, which are high demands, low control, and low social support, to be most harmful for workers’ well-being. So there is agreement of the importance of job demand, control, and support as predictors of general well-being
2. Job security
Job security is another factor that is important for nurses. Permanent employment provides security to the nurses and improves their QWL.
Nurses want stability of employment, they do not like to be the victims of personal policies and stay at the mercy of employers. Organization change such as downsizing, rightsizing and outsourcing have adversely affected employees’ loyalty, morale, motivation and perceived job security.
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3. Job satisfaction
Job satisfaction refers to how far the nurses are satisfied with their position of employment. Factors such as workplace environment, peers, income and work duties influence how satisfied a nurse is with their job.
When job satisfaction is positive, this contributes to a better quality of working life.
4. Competence development
Training and development is an organizational activity aimed at improving the performance of individual and groups. Quality of work life is ensured by the opportunities provided by the job for the development of the nurse and encouragement given by the management to perform the job and having good conditions to increase personal empowerment and skills.
5. Work and non-work life Balance
Nurses who have inability to balance work with their family needs because of rotating shifts negatively affected their lives.
Barriers to Quality of work life
There are some barriers which hinder reaching good quality of work life which includes;
Resistance to change by top management and employees.
Poor perception about Quality of work life implementation will cost much and Continuous increase in QWL may result in decrease performance.
Widespread unhappiness is due to comparison with colleagues and Regional prejudice about the performance appraisal system and promotion criteria.
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Improvement of QWL 1) Job Enrichment
Job enrichment involves deliberate upgrading of responsibility and challenges at work. job enrichment includes giving nurses responsibility for the planning and control of work and operations
2) Job Rotation
When an organization has a series of routine jobs that cannot be combined or enriched, the nurse may be shifted from one job to another in order to provide some variety so as to minimize the monotony and boredom.
3) Nurse Involvement
One of the most common methods used to improve QWL is nurse involvement. Nurse involvement consists of a variety of systematic methods that empower nurse to participate in the decisions that affect them and their relationship with the hospital. Nurses feel a sense of responsibility, even ownership of decisions in which they participate
4) Quality circles programs
Quality circles are small groups of employees who meet regularly with their common leader to identify and solve work-related problems, seek solutions and cooperate with management in implementation of these solutions. Quality circles operate on principles that employee participation in problem solving and decision making improve quality of work life
5) Socio- Technical system
Socio-technical systems are interventions in the work situation that restructure the work, the work groups, and the relationship between nurse and the technologies they use to do their jobs. More than just enlarging or
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enriching a job, these approaches may result in more radical changes in the work environment
6) Role intervention
People are linked with the organization through their roles. This linkage increase organizational effectiveness by integrating nurse with the organization. Such integration increases mental well- being and personal effectiveness. The purpose of role based intervention is to increase the mutuality of roles in organizations. Role- based intervention increase creativity, team spirit and quality of work life
7) Organizational development
Organizational development is an effective approach that can be used by extension organizations to bring about planned changes and to increase interpersonal relationships among the employees
Nurse manager role in enhancing quality of work life in healthcare settings:
Nursing managers need to consider the family aspect of their registered nurses. Childcare facilities, convenient working hours, and sufficient vacations should be made available for nurses. These advantages will help nurses to balance work with their family requirements.
Equitable distribution of nurse’s workforce is needed to reduce workload, and to ensure adequate nursing services for patients, families and the community.
Managers and nursing leaders should consider partnerships with relevant departments and educational organizations to offer part-time
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and distance-learning opportunities to enable nurses to further their education and develop their nursing knowledge and skills
Hospitals managers and policy makers should encourage the professional growth of nurses through the provision of a systematic career ladder.
For the comfort of nurses, they should be provided with a furnished break area where they can rest and be able to place their private belongings securely.
Hospitals must be supported with the required materials and equipment for health care services.
Hospitals managers should work with the media to demonstrate the vital role of nurses in the care of the community, in the provision of health care services and in the advancement of the health of the population.
The salary of nurses should be increased commensurate with the tasks performed..
Nurse managers/supervisors should be provided with short training programs on the art of management, leadership and communication skills.
More social, managerial, professional and organizational support should be directed to young and novice nurses who were found in this study to be less satisfied than experienced nurses. Older nurses may require more sense of appreciation, valuation and respect.
Nurse Mangers should assess the structures at their organizations to identify barriers of staff nurses to feel job satisfaction.
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Conduct periodic meeting and discussion between nursing managers and staff nurses.
Mangers are accountable for work redesign by identifying factors that can attract and retain highly empowered nurses.
Staff nurses should participate in developing organization's mission, philosophy, policies, vision, goals, including personal goals.
Share staff nurses in conferences, training courses, and decision making in the organization
Nurse Manager should provide ongoing support through feedback and positive reinforcement and encouragement of innovative ideas also are the ways of improving nurses' empowerment.
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