Enhancing Quality of

Work Life
Presented By
Gavin Jude D’souza
• Quality of work life (QWL) is viewed as an
alternative to the control approach of
managing people.

• The QWL approach considers people as an

‘assets’ to the organization rather than as
‘costs’.

• It believes that people perform better when

they are allowed to participate in
managing their work and make decisions.
• This approach motivates people by
satisfying not only their economic needs but
also their social and psychological ones.
• To satisfy the new generation workforce,
organizations need to concentrate on job
designs and organization of work.
• Further, today’s workforce is realizing the
importance of relationships and is trying to
strike a balance between career and
personal lives.
 “QWL” means different things to
different persons
• to a clerk in dispatch

• To a mineworker

• Shop floor workers

• A probationary officer
Video 1
Determinants
• Employee pay
• Benefits
• Schedule flexibility
• Working conditions

Fact
• Johnson & Johnson, for example, reported that
its employees who used flextime and family leave
were absent 50 % fewer days than its regular
workforce.
• Moreover, 71 % of those workers using benefits
said that the policies were "very important" to their
decision to stay with the company
Employee Involvement
Practices
• Quality Circle
• Suggestion System
• Employee Participation in Management
• Empowerment
• Survey Feedback
• Autonomous Work Teams
• Flexible Organization Structure
 Other Tools
• Flextime
• Flexi place
• Part-time Employment
• Job Enrichment
• Job Rotation
• Job Enlargement
QC in India
• The Ramchandrapuram unit of BHEL at
Hyderabad is perhaps the first to have
pioneered the quality circle movement in
India.
• The company today has nearly 1700 quality
circles involving about 17,000 workers who
have tackled over 6000 problems
• Some others are J.K. Jute, Bharat
Electronics & HMT
 Quality Circles Advantages
1.It is a voluntary forum of workers

2. It makes full use of a worker’s potential.

3. It provides the worker autonomy and sense of achievement.

4. It ensures greater participation and involvement of a worker in

the day-to-day functioning of his department.

5. It helps in finding solutions to several problems and in

removing cobwebs and bottlenecks in daily functioning.

6. It helps in creating cohesive groups with improved morale.

Suggestion System
Direct benefits of a suggestion scheme are the
following:
• It can make work more easy
• It can make-work more safe
• It can remove mistakes
• It can improve quality
• It can increase efficiency
• It can decrease rejects
• It can reduce costs
• It can give more satisfaction to customers
through better service
Suggestion System
Indirect benefits of a suggestion scheme are as
follows:
• It increases employees’ work morale
• It develops their capabilities
• It activates communication
• It improves human relations
• It identifies work-related problems
• It raises the level of group activities.
SS in India
• Hindustan Aircraft Ltd
• Hindustan Steel Ltd
• Hindustan Unilever
• Larsen and Toubro
• Maruti Udyog Ltd
SS in Maruti Udyog Ltd
Prize (Rs) Benefit to Company
10 0
25 <500
50 >or =500
100 >or =1000
200 >or =2000
300 >or =3000
500 >or =5000
1000 >or =10000
1500 >or =15000
2000 >or =20000
Employee Participation in
Management
• Subject matter of participation.

• Level of participation.

• Personal characteristics.

• Extent of participation.
Employee Participation in
Management
• TISCO in India provides an example of the type
of partnership which needs to exist between
management and workers’ union
in any organization.
• Here the Tata Workers’ Union is involved in
almost every institutional matter and the union
president is treated as part of the top level of the
company.
 Empowerment
Merits
• Speed in Decision Making
• Morale
• Compensation for limited career paths.

Demerits
• Greater potential for chaos
• Breakdown of hierarchical control
• Demoralization
Video 2
 Quality of work life -
IBM
• Wages & benefits
• Working Hours
• Nondiscrimination & harassment
• Respect & dignity
• Freedom of association
• Health & safety
• Communications
• Support for employees & community
involvement
 Quality of Work Life –
TATA Group
• Gifts & donations
• Health, safety & environment
• Ethical conduct
• Concurrent employment
• Citizenship
• Integrity of data furnished
• Reporting concerns
 Quality of Work Life –
ING Mutual Funds
• CSR-Pratham-orphanage
• Regular Offsite
• Lunch with CEO
• Interdepartmental Lunches
• Ideation Box (Suggestions)
• Product Champions (SWOT of product)
• Skip level meetings
• QC-Implementing
• Health Safety and Environment
 Quality of Work Life –
Principal India AMC
• Family Day- Wednesdays
• 5 Days working week
• Annual Rejuvenation with families
• Monthly Birthday Celebrations
• In House Gym
• Paternity Leave, Wedding Leave, Bereavement
Leave
• Yoga
• Gymnasium Reimbursements
• Health Safety and Environment
 New Methods QWL
Prayer and Meditation in the Workplace

• The American Stock Exchange has a Torah Study Group

• Boeing has Christian, Jewish and Muslim prayer groups

• Apple Computers office has a meditation room and employees

are given 30 minutes to meditate or pray.

• Prentice-Hall Publishing has a quiet room for employees where

they can take mental retreats
 New Methods QWL
Worldwide

• Marriott International’s 10,000 workers dedicate a day of

service to their local communities each year
• IBM funds childcare centers at 60 of its locations
• Intel offers 22 weeks of maternity leave
• SAS has low absenteeism and only 3% turnover due to no-lay-
off policy, 35-hour workweeks, flexitime and on site amenities
like Gym, medical clinic and message therapists.
• Volvo Changed its assembly line system which led to greater
job satisfaction-low absenteeism and turnover
Video 3
 Checklist of quality-work goals
• Decent living standard & economic security
• Mutual trust among employers & workers
• Participation in decision making
• Healthy & safe work environment
• Work-life balance
• Encourages initiative & creativity
• Building commitment to high quality work
environment
• Negotiate clear roles & responsibilities for mgt, govt,
unions, professional associations
• Benchmark job quality, analyzing impact on employees
& results
• Diagnose areas of strength & weakness, develop
strategies to address latter, track progress
• Evaluate impact of organizational change on employees
& results
• Build quality work environment goals into business
plans, showing links to results
• Provide incentives for managers to contribute to
specific job quality goals
Special Thanks to
Ms. Nidhi Mishra
Sr Manager Hr- Principal India

Mr. Jonathan D’souza

Manager Hr- ING

&
Prof. Carlos Luis
For Valuable Guidance
Thank You