Developing the Quality of Working Life
Strategic Action Area: Access to Opportunities in the Workplace
Introduction
The final strategic area highlighted in the National Workplace Strategy is the improvement of the quality of working life for employees.
The issue is obviously important, in the first instance, in terms of the personal health and well-being of individual workers. However, the fact that quality of working life is now a major policy priority for many EU Member States underlines the fact that the issue impinges fundamentally on competitiveness both at the enterprise level and at the national level.
At the level of the enterprise, the quality of working life that an organisation can provide affects the ability of the organisation to successfully attract and retain staff with the right skill sets, and to harness the talents, abilities and commitment of its workforce. These are the driving forces behind an organisation’s competitiveness, particularly in a knowledge-based environment. Productivity and competitiveness can be undermined by a poor quality of working life where it affects: industrial relations; the organisation’s ability to recruit and retain the right staff; safety in the workplace; physical and psychological health and well-being; employee absenteeism; employee turnover; and employee engagement in organisational change and innovation through lifelong learning, information and consultation, and so on.
At the level of the national economy, quality of working life can affect Ireland’s competitiveness for better or worse by impacting on issues including labour force management issues such as the attractiveness of Ireland as a destination of choice for skilled migrant workers and the ability to support older workers in the workforce; the marketability of Ireland’s workforce to foreign multinationals as dynamic, flexible and innovative; labour productivity; and the impact of work-related illness on population health trends.
Statistics show that the further Ireland progresses as a knowledge-based economy, the more important these issues are set to become. New challenges are emerging for the management of the health and well-being of Ireland’s labour force, including catering for an ageing workforce, catering for dramatic increases in worker commuting times, facilitating improved access to the labour market for women and men with caring responsibilities, and providing for the needs of older workers seeking to remain longer in the workforce.
Research on Quality of Working Life
In March 2007 the European Foundation for the Improvement in Living and Working Conditions published its Fourth European Working Conditions Survey. The survey shows a number of key findings relating Ireland’s position to the EU27. These include:
- high levels of job satisfaction among the Irish workforce
- increasing levels of Job intensification
- relatively low levels of health-related work absences in Ireland
- relatively high levels of bullying and harassment in Irish workplaces, particularly of women, and particularly in the healthcare and education sectors
- Irish workplaces are about average in terms of work autonomy and use of functional flexibility and teamwork.
Points of Contact
5.2. Workplace Bullying
In March 2007, the Minister for Labour Affairs published the results of two national surveys relating to workplace bullying, which highlighted a number of areas of concern. In April 2007, the Minister launched a new Code of Practice from the Health and Safety Authority. The new Code was completed at the end of a comprehensive consultation process, and comes into effect on 1st May 2007.
Points of Contact
National Employment Rights Authority
The new National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) has been established on an interim basis following the appointment of the Director, who took up duty in February 2007. For the remainder of 2007, work will progress on staffing the Office, with the headquarters and regional offices being put in place. NERA will also commence a publicity campaign targeting vulnerable workers including workers from overseas.
Points of Contact
- Office of the Director of Employment Rights Compliance, www.oderc.ie
Work Life Balance
The National Framework Committee for Work Life Balance continues its work aimed at assisting in the reconciliation of work and family life at the level of the enterprise.
Points of Contact
