Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
This article was originally published in the AUG/SEPT 2022 Physical Therapy Products Digital Magazine. To view that article “Maintenance is for More Than Machines” and see their amazing magazine, CLICK HERE!
WORK LIFE INFLUENCE ON TOTAL WORKER HEALTH
Quality of work life (QWL) can be defined as the total quality of an employee’s work life at an organization. There are clear benefits to both employees and employers when work supports a healthy and safe lifestyle: Employees are more focused, productivity increases, and error rates and absenteeism are reduced.
More than before, especially notable with today’s tight labor market, full-time employees are spending upwards of 40 hours per week in the workplace—and many spend more time than that. Employees working in areas such as healthcare, distribution, and manufacturing are often pulling double shifts. This impacts an employee’s ability to get adequate rest, proper nutrition, and adequate stress relief, all of which can have a negative impact on health and well-being.
The relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction has been extensively reported on in the literature. Higher job satisfaction has been shown to predict higher life satisfaction. On the flipside, work dissatisfaction and job dissatisfaction are similarly positively correlated. Decades of research point to this fact. Since employees spend such significant amounts of time in their workplaces, positive influences in the workplace should directly benefit employees in terms of overall healthand stress reduction, and employers should directly benefit as well. The positive influence should be evident in performance, attendance, and workforce stability, as well as reduced medical and workers’ compensation costs.
Investments in employees in the form of comfortable break areas, providing adequate nutritious food, and work schedules that allow for adequate worker recovery can go a long way toward maintaining workers’ health and maintaining a stable workforce. Employers that strive to positively influence their workforce during working hours benefit directly and have a substantial impact on the quality of life of their employees’ family members and even on their communities.
A PROPER WORK “FIT”
An important factor to be considered is ensuring that employees are being “well matched” to the work and work environment in order to enhance an employee’s ability to be successful, productive, and safe. Determining if someone is “well matched” requires considering a combination of factors including education, training, tools, equipment, and even the physical capacity needed to be safe and successful. A subset of this factor, as it relates to physically demanding work, is for an employee to be provided with all of the resources necessary to maintain the ability to sustain work over time.
APPLYING MAINTENANCE CONCEPTS TO A WORKFORCE
Employers are very familiar with what it takes to maintain the tools and equipment necessary to produce their products and deliver their services. There are even entire departments dedicated to this, such as housekeeping and maintenance. Applying maintenance concepts to human beings is not an easy task, but it can provide substantial results.
TO READ ON, AND VISIT THE PUBLISHED PAGE CLICK HERE!
The Article starts on Page 6 of the published Magazine by Physical Therapy Products
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