QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AS HR STARTEGY – AN ANALYSIS

Today’s workforce consists of literate workers who expect more than just money from their work.

            In the modern scenario, QWL as a strategy of Human Resource Management is being recognised as the ultimate key for development among all the work systems, not merely as a concession. This is integral to any organisation towards its wholesome growth. This is attempted on par with strategies of Customer Relation Management.

Strategy and Tactics

Over the years, since industrial revolution, much experimentation has gone into exploiting potential of human capital in work areas either explicitly or implicitly. Thanks to the revolution in advanced technology, the imperative need to look into QWL in a new perspective is felt and deliberated upon. Major companies are tirelessly implementing this paradigm in Human Resources Development (some call it People’s Excellence).          

 Globalisation has lowered national boundaries, creating a knowledge-based economy that spins and spans the world. Major economies are converging technologically and economically, and are highly connected at present moment. The new global workplace demands certain prerequisites such as higher order of thinking skills like abstraction system thinking and experimental inquiry, problem-solving and team work. The needs are greater in the new systems, which are participative ventures involving workers managed by so-called fictional proprietors.

Men Counted

In simple terms, all the above requirements can be easily achieved by providing improved quality of work life to the workers available on rolls.  Workers are often referred to as teams or groups in general parlance and whatever the do go to the credit of the teamwork.

The concept of teamwork has evolved from the organised toil that has its own social dimensions.  Good teams can hardly be imported from outside.  They usually occur as an indigenous incidence at the workplace and nurturing the same over time is the responsibility of management.  Here, it may also be discerned that the composition of available workers in no more a local phenomenon as in the past.  Mobility is caused by migration beyond culture barriers and isolation, relocation and globalised deployment.  This phenomenon has become universal and is causing great changes in the work environment at factories as well as offices.  The new influx of skilled workers seeking greener pastures is even questioning the skills of new employers and thereby restructuring the new environs on par with those of best in the world, unwittingly though.

Money Matters

For good QWL, cash is not the only answer.  Today, the workers are aware of the job requirements of job as also the fact that the performance of the same is measured against the basic goals and objectives of the organisation and more importantly, wages are paid according to the larger picture specific to the industry and the employer’s place in the same.

            The increased share of workers in wages and benefits through legislation as well as competitive interplay of superior managements in various fields of industry and business on extensive levels has reshaped the worker’s idea of quality of work life.  Moreover, other things being equal, the employers are increasingly vying with their rivals in providing better working conditions and emoluments.  This may be owing to many reasons besides the concern for the human angle of workers, like the employer’s tendency to climb on the bandwagon, to reap to the desired dividends or to woo better talent into their fold as skill base addition and other non-economic inputs like knowledge bases.  Doubtlessly, the increased tendency of recruiting knowledge bases is giving the modern managements payoffs in myriad ways.  Some of them are intended potentials for product innovations and cost cuttings.  Talking of product, it may appear far-fetched to some that product is being assessed in the market for its quality and price by the environment created in the areas where workers and customers are dealt and transact, like ambience in facilities / amenities as also the company’s pay scales.  This goes to prove that QWL of manufacturer / service provider is synonymous with the quality of product.

Non economic – ‘Job Security’

The changing workforce consists of literate workers who expect more than just money from their work life.  Their idea of salvation lies in the respect they obtain in the work environment, like how they are individually dealt and communicated with by other members in the team as well as the employer, what kind of work he is entrusted with, etc.  Some of these non-economic aspect are: Self respect, satisfaction, recognition, merit compensation in job allocation, incompatibility of work conditions affecting health, bullying by older peers and boss, physical constraints like distance to work, lack of flexible working hours, work-life imbalances, invasion of privacy in case of certain cultural groups and gender discrimination and drug addiction.  One or more of the problems like above can cast a ‘job-insecurity’ question, for no direct and visible fault of the employer.  Yet, the employer has to identify the source of workers problems and try to mitigate the conditions and take supportive steps in the organisation so that the workers will be easily retained and motivated and earn ROI.  The loss of man-hours to the national income due to the above factors is simply overwhelming.

            Employer should instill in the worker the feeling of trust and confidence by creating appropriate channels and systems to alleviate the above shortcomings so that the workers use their best mental faculties on the achievement of goals and objectives of the employer.

            To cite some examples, employers in certain software companies have provided infrastructure to train the children of workers in vocational activities including computer education, so that the workers need not engage their attention on this aspect.  Employee care initiatives taken by certain companies include creation of Hobby clubs, Fun and Leisure Clubs for the physical and psychological well-beingness of workers and their families.  After all, the workers are inexorably linked to the welfare of their families, as it is their primary concern.

            Dual income workers, meaning both spouses working are the order of the day.  The work life balance differs in this category and greater understanding and flexibility are required with respect to leave, compensation and working hours in the larger framework.

Teamwork

Teamwork is the new mantra of modern day people’s excellence strategy.  Today’s teams are self-propelled ones.  The modern manager has to strive at the group coherence for common cause of the project.  The ideal team has wider discretion and sense of responsibility than before as how best to go about with its business.  Here, each member can find a new sense of belonging to each other in the unit and concentrate on the group’s new responsibility towards employer’s goals.  This will boost the coziness and morale of members in the positive environment created by each other’s trust.  Positive energies, free of workplace anxiety, will garner better working results.  Involvement in teamwork deters deserters and employer need not bother himself over the detention exercises and save money on motivation and campaigns.

Boss Factor

Gone are the days when employers controlled workers by suppressing the initiative and independence by berating their brilliance and skills, by designing and entrusting arduous and monotonous jobs and offer mere sops in terms of wages and weekly off.  Trust develops when managers pay some attention to the welfare of the workers and treat them well by being honest in their relations.  The employer should keep in mind that every unpaid hour of overtime the worker spends on work is an hour less spent with the family.

            New performance appraisals are put into vogue to assess a worker’s contribution vis-à-vis on employer’s objectives and to find out the training and updating needs and levels of motivation and commitment.  As observed in some advanced companies, the workers themselves are drawing their benefits by filing appraisal forms and drawing simultaneously the appropriate benefits by the click of the mouse directly from their drawing rooms, courtesy e-HR systems.  In addition, there are quite a number of channels for informal reviews.  Feedback on worker’s performance, if well interpreted and analysed, could go a long way in improving ethics at workplace.

Involvement and Communication

Multi-skilling and exposing workers to different lines of activity in the unit indirectly leads to the greater involvement and better job security of worker in the organisation.  The employer too, can make use of the varied skills to any altered situations of restructuring and other market adaptations.  Thus, the monotony of work life can be alleviated.  The employer, armed with the depth of cross-trained human resources, need not go hunting for new talent and thus save on the unspent pay packets, which can be spent usefully on the amenities for workers.  No doubt, rivals should be envying him for this edge.

            The change should be apparent in mutual trust and confidence towards effective understanding of the needs of worker and employer.  The new knowledge-based workers are mostly young in the fields of technology and management.  They are more forthcoming in trusting the boss and older peers.  Now, all modern managements are cognisant of the innate desire of workers to be accepted as part of the organisation for identity and other social reasons.

            Effective dialogue is put into play between management and those who execute through well-organised communication channels paving the way for improved co-operation and participation on emotional level.  The decision making level is nose diving to the floor level manager, where the poor guy has to think of n number of quick decisions on behalf of the organisation.  Unless the team is behind and involved with commitment, the manager cannot implement the new tasks in production, distribution, peoples excellence, customer relations, etc., thanks to the ‘e’ factor prefixed to the names of majority of departments.  Logically, harmony plays its part in cost efficiency.  Successful managers are those who listen to their workers.

Influences

Overwork is tolerated in emerging industries unlike government departments as part of the game and work culture.  This is so, what with the soaring competition among the tightly contested players.  The point is empowerment of workforce in the area of involvement.

            All said and one, the workers are considered as the invisible branch ambassadors and internal customers in certain industries.  It is evident that most of the managements are increasingly realising that quality alone stands to gain in the ultimate analysis.  Restructuring the industrial relations in work area is the key for improving the quality of product and the price of the stock.  Without creating supportive environment in restructured environment, higher quality of work cannot be extracted.  It is already high time the older theories of industrial relations should be unlearnt.