Having quality of work life is crucial to a healthy and happy life, after all, what you do professionally is a big and important part of your life.
Certainly, this point is even more important during that period of your life when you are economically active, that is, when working is not an option or luxury, but a necessity. Unless you have inherited a large sum or married to a wealthy person, you will need to work to build your estate, conquer material assets, and support your family.
And the benefits of leading a life with good quality at work go beyond a cool performance and professional fulfillment. They also include the sense of career success and personal growth, radiating positively to other aspects of your daily life.
Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. A life without quality at work makes your days miserable, sad, with lack of energy, health and performance, leading to unhappiness. If the problems were confined to the professional aspect, it would be bad already, but it also influences the rest of your life, impacting on relationships and family.
The quality of work life is interconnected with the relationship between you, your career and the professional environment in which you are inserted. If this relationship is positive, the quality is good; if it´s negative, the quality is poor.
A good job or work occurs when, in addition to looking after your basic needs, you are proud of what you do. You get the feeling that your day to day life is aligned with your values and purpose. In addition, you feel surrounded by people you trust and can establish good professional and personal relationships with them.
The quality of work life involves the human aspects of work and is closely linked to your motivation and professional satisfaction.
Woman smiling at work (Photo: Pekic / iStock)
It improves your job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation. The work gets lighter, more pleasurable and fun. You do things without dragging; or better yet, without feeling it is “work”!
It increases the engagement with your profession. Your willingness to dedicate yourself more, to work harder, and to spend more time with it grows. You are stimulated and prone to invest more in the career, seeking new knowledge and taking more risks.
It benefits your family and community. A positive state of mind and good humor return with you home every day and impacts your relationships with your family and people outside of work very nicely.
It increases your state of well-being. A thorough feeling of satisfaction, joy, and the will to do more invades your daily life.
It reduces the risk of chronic illnesses. A poor quality of life at work carries a number of risk factors for your health. If left untreated, these factors can cause chronic illnesses such as depression and panic, further reducing the quality of your life as a whole.
It improves your performance and productivity. More motivated and satisfied, you produce more! A lot more!
It broadens your career chances. A better performance creates prominence and opens new and interesting possibilities inside and outside the organization where you work.
It increases the feeling of control over your career and job. With a high self-esteem, you take ownership of your career and the decisions you have to make in your day-to-day work. Everything gets lighter and you feel safer.
Team ready for work (Photo: Andresr / iStock)
Below are a few suggestions, and at the end of this article I’ve put some links to other related texts. This, after all, is one of the central themes of my own work. Helping to improve your quality of work life is part of the professional mission that I began to dedicate myself.
Let yourself be guided by your purpose in life. It serves as a compass that keeps you on track. Basing your career and professional choices on your purpose will provide you with much brighter days.
Focus your professional choices on your qualities, that is, on what you have best to offer. If you truly do this, you will not only be more successful in your career, you will spend most of your time happier, more fulfilled, with a high self-esteem, and feeling much more useful.
Improve your motivation at work. Even if this seems impossible in the short term, you should not abandon this quest. Yes, it is possible to improve motivation at work, regardless of your organization, boss or context in which you´re inserted. Improvement can take time to come through and it´s up to you to want and to commit. I guarantee that if you do, you will reap very positive results.
Lead a healthy life outside of your work environment. What you do out of work affects your life within it. Thus, you should lead a healthier life, taking care of your health and making the right choices in your relationships, your eating habits and practicing a physical activity you enjoy.
Recognize problems between work and personal life and look for help. If either the volume of work is excessive, or the quality of your work life is poor – and this has begun to negatively interfere with your family life – look for help to re-establish the balance between them. Talk to your spouse, your family, friends or, even a doctor or a therapist. You are not alone and there are good people who can help you out.
Increase your autonomy at work. Having a lot to do and having no control over it is lousy for your quality of work life. Talk to your boss, ask to participate in decisions about your work and seek more autonomy. The result will bring you great relief.
Teammates (Photo: Yuri_Arcurs / iStock)
Build good relationships in the work environment. By far, having bad relationships at work is one of the biggest sources of stress at work. You can be sure that this will consume a lot of your energy! Try to remedy bad situations, avoid degrading relationships with people, and cultivate healthy relationships. By doing this, you will surround yourself with nice people and everyday life will become much more interesting, even if the work itself is dull!
Invest in jobs that provide more flexibility in your schedule. It sounds silly, but it isn´t. Being able to work in flexible hours not only improves your professional performance, but also allows you to take advantage of opportunities outside of work. This is critical to your personal balance.
I have a friend who worked for many years in a company that used a time card. Every day, she had to punch it with the predetermined time of arrival and departure. The flexibility of time was zero. This was very stressful for her, as she was a mother of two. Even years after she quit her job, until today, she has nightmares about that situation, remembering that she needed to rush to “punch the card.”
As much as you are instilled in improving your quality of work life by following the steps listed above, be very alert and aware of the ones listed below. Certainly, they are part of your routine and will sabotage your efforts. My suggestion is to identify them, face them and deal with each one as they show up.
Bad working environment. Even if you are committed to improving, a bad environment will consume a lot of your energy and hinder your efforts. Sometimes, when the situation is very toxic, you´ll need to quit your job first and only then find your career path.
Poor relationships with people surrounding you. Very similar to the previous point, this can become even more serious if the problem is between you and your boss. This, by the way, is the main factor of people resigning: a poor relationship with the immediate boss.
Resigning (Photo: Zinkevych / iStock)
Work or career that leads nowhere. This is the number two reason for dismissal requests: total lack of career growth perspective in an organization or context. This is also a great villain to destroy the will to work, to strive and to give your best.
Lack of security at work or with your profession. This can be either physical, emotional or financial security. If you are constantly afraid at your job, it will be difficult to live a life with quality, right?
Purpose of life and personal values misaligned with your work or organization. Here I´m not talking about a slight misalignment, but rather when it is incompatible. An example is you being honest and working in an environment where you´ll only thrive if you lie all the time. Another example is you being against killing animals and working in a slaughterhouse. In these cases, the solution is to look for another job or even another profession.
Victimization. A little is normal, after all you’re human, and moaning with friends can be the first sign of issues. However, maintaining that attitude and behavior over time will compromise any chance of improving your quality of life.
Lack of professional recognition. This point is mortal. If you dedicate yourself a lot and you do not get laurels for your work, it’s frustrating. If this is the case, fight for your recognition, talk to your boss, organization, understand the reasons, and, above all, value yourself. Do not let this overwhelm your self-esteem. If you can´t solve it, go after a change – be it from area, organization or career – and find who values you for what you are and for what you do.
Honestly, I don´t believe it’s worth it to live without quality of life, whether at home or at work. The mission of my professional activity is precisely this: to help you understand, accept and live with that in mind. You deserve to carry out a professional activity that brings you satisfaction, fulfillment, motivation and happiness.
I see a lot of good people forgetting about this in their career decisions and reap the negative consequences afterwards. To make matters worse, I know that not many people will talk and guide you through your professional life with this in mind. Maybe, my provocations, articles, videos and lectures help you to pursue and lead such a life. If that happens, there will be at least two happier people: you and me.
Cover photo credit – Happy people (Photo: bowie15 / iStock)
