The Quality of Working Life questionnaire is an interesting and practical tool for increasing employee productivity and commitment to work. It focuses on their satisfaction and fulfillment within the company.
Thanks to this HR tool, company managers can identify the difficulties their employees encounter on a daily basis. They can then implement appropriate solutions to improve their well-being.
In this guide to the QWL approach, you’ll gain a better understanding of the usefulness of a Quality of Working Life questionnaire, and at the same time discover the steps to follow to create one, as well as the mistakes to avoid when using it.
What is a QWL questionnaire?
The Quality of Life at Work questionnaire is a document that collects data on employee feelings and satisfaction. It is a useful HR tool for assessing the fulfillment and well-being of a company’s employees, and consequently its performance.
The QWL questionnaire is used periodically to redefine and improve various aspects of workers’ daily lives. It influences factors such as the working environment, professional equality, physical and mental health at work, training and workplace relations.
It can be used to integrate new employees (onboarding) or to support employees who are leaving (offboarding). To make the most of it, it’s important to everything you need to know about QWL and what’s at stake for the company.
Why use such a tool in an organization?
A company’s QWL approach aims to create a pleasant working environment for employees. It contributes to providing a framework conducive to mission success, notably through the prevention of psychosocial problems and work-life balance.
Today, companies have a strong interest in improve QWL if they are to promote professional excellence, retain talent and, above all, improve productivity.
The Quality of Working Life questionnaire is a practical way of achieving this triple objective. Its use offers the following advantages:
- Reducing the risk of bad decisions: the QWL questionnaire sheds light on employee problems that management cannot see. This will enable them to make better-informed decisions to ensure employee fulfillment and, by extension, the company’s success;
- Contributing to team development: The Quality of Life at Work questionnaire provides useful information for improving team cohesion, mutual trust, employee well-being, autonomy and sense of responsibility;
- Increasing employee confidence: by integrating their suggestions into the organization’s operations, employees feel they are being heard. As a result, they have more confidence in their managers and are more committed to their work;
- Identifying employee needs: By asking the right questions in a Quality of Life at Work questionnaire, the company invites employees to express their expectations and needs for improving their working conditions;
- Reducing absenteeism: data obtained from a Quality of Life at Work questionnaire will enable us to offer employees greater comfort by improving office logistics or giving them greater autonomy at work. These actions can help reduce absenteeism.
How do I create a Quality of Life at Work questionnaire?
The questionnaire is the key element in any QWL approach. It therefore needs to be well thought out. More specifically, the questionnaire must be the fruit of collaborative work between management, human resources and the heads of the various teams.
Here are the steps to follow to develop a relevant Quality of Working Life questionnaire.
Clearly defining objectives
The first step in designing a QWL questionnaire is to define its objectives. These objectives vary from company to company.
This may involve measuring and determining the image that workers have of the company, the satisfaction of team leaders, the working atmosphere, or even identifying points for improvement that will make it possible to offer working conditions working conditions.
The objectives of the QWL questionnaire must be defined in line with the company’s various internal policies and geared towards employee satisfaction. These considerations will help you to formulate the questions.
Determining the questionnaire format
Let’s talk about the second step. This involves defining the form your Quality of Working Life questionnaire will take. The form can also vary according to the objectives pursued and the financial resources available.
Typically, a QWL questionnaire takes the form of an online or paper survey. This survey can be created using a free tool like Google Forms, SaaS software or simply from the company’s HR software.
In some cases, the format of the Quality of Life at Work questionnaire is self-evident, depending on the issues addressed and the questions asked.
However, whatever form you choose, don’t forget to provide employees with a complete roadmap so that they understand exactly how to complete it.
To find out how your employees really feel, opt for open-ended questions. This maneuver gives them more freedom to express themselves and provide detailed answers.
Another possibility is to use a scale to gather their different opinions. The Likert scale is a good example. It enables employees to better express their level of satisfaction.
Organize the anonymous transmission of questions
Anonymity is the best way to obtain reliable answers to a Quality of Life at Work questionnaire. This approach guarantees the confidentiality of participants’ answers. Employees do not feel threatened, and can express themselves without restraint.
Software is recommended for this purpose. However, if you want to resolve a conflict situation or highlight the malaise suffered by a particular team, you’ll have to dispense with anonymity when drawing up the questionnaire.
Identify the QWL dimensions to be assessed
The Quality of Life at Work questionnaire encompasses six different dimensions, each of which contributes to employee well-being. These are as follows:
- Improving working conditions These include flexible working hours, workplace safety and work-life balance. These elements are among the factors that the company prioritizes in order to build employee loyalty over the long term;
- Work organization This dimension includes time management, employee empowerment and employee participation;
- The promotion This dimension is linked to professional relations and climate. It promotes values such as respect, trust and internal communication;
- Employee satisfaction policy Employee satisfaction policy: this takes into account training, benefits and those related to the configuration of employees’ workspaces;
- Recognition of work accomplished This dimension aims to reward employees’ efforts fairly;
- Quality of working life Quality of working life: this includes employee commitment and the sense of a job well done, which stems from the well-being and fulfillment provided by the company.
What are the mistakes to avoid when creating a good questionnaire?
To obtain relevant responses from your employees, you need to avoid certain mistakes when designing your Quality of Working Life questionnaire. Discover them by reading the following points.
Failure to keep questions clear and simple
Be careful with the words you choose. A respondent to your questionnaire will waste a lot of time filling it in if the questions are poorly constructed or difficult to understand.
To avoid this, you need to keep your language simple and accessible to all, with straightforward sentences and no complicated turns of phrase.
Use leading or biased questions in the questionnaire
Formulating biased questions will annoy respondents and affect the results you obtain. So be direct in your approach and ask questions that will increase employee commitment in the Quality of Life at Work questionnaire.
In other words, get your employees excited about answering the questions.
Consider a single dimension
Whether in the context of theonboarding and offboarding or talent management, a company’s QWL approach takes six distinct dimensions into account.
If you focus your questionnaire on the dimensions that interest you only, your work will be incomplete. You won’t be able to assess your employees’ satisfaction without taking into account all the factors linked to their Quality of Life at Work.
What can we learn from the creation of the Quality of Life at Work questionnaire?
The QWL questionnaire is an essential tool for assessing the well-being and fulfillment of your employees. To get it right, define a clear, concise objective. Then determine the form of your questionnaire according to the type of responses you want.
Finally, don’t forget to include the six dimensions of QWL in your questionnaire. By designing a comprehensive, easy-to-understand Quality of Working Life questionnaire, you’ll obtain relevant answers that will enable you to improve your organization’s performance.
