Achieving Decent Work: Improving Quality of Life in the Workplace

Achieving Decent Work: A Comprehensive Approach

Decent work is a concept that refers to a goal to be achieved within the capabilities of each country. It refers to good working conditions and is synonymous with productive work, in which rights are protected and adequate income is generated with good social protection. For the above, it requires the participation of 3 key players: experts, workers, and the state.

The Human Factor and Quality of Life at Work

Marta Espinosa (Quality of life at work): The quality of work life is an issue that we must supplement, not only with labor laws and reforms, but with a dimension constantly delayed by the economic crisis: the human factor. This refers to a culture change that allows us to humanize the work environment, relocating humans as the ultimate resource and not merely as productive units. This proposal considers, as a goal, apart from productivity and competitiveness, quality of life at work. In simple terms, it means the way people live everyday life in their work environment, involving objective and subjective aspects, such as physical conditions, contract terms, remuneration, attitudes, values, and perceptions of subject satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Why Consider the Human Factor?

It is important and worthwhile to consider the human factor for several reasons. Among the costs of not considering it are risks to health, job dissatisfaction, and stress. According to the ILO, work stress is a threat to industrialized economies since it reduces productivity. It may also be associated with an increase in mental illness, absenteeism, and social spending involving these situations.

Advantages of Prioritizing Quality of Life at Work

One can say that when in an open economic model oriented toward the external market, it helps people to access a security framework on employment and income and ensure a stable demand. Furthermore, there is a global trend to modernize human resources management and training (not only the incorporation of new technologies).

How to Improve Quality of Life at Work

How to improve the quality of life at work and incorporate the human factor? It requires a comprehensive policy for a new type of company, a company that is human scale. Some possible improvements are:

• Promote the creation of autonomous work teams to give rise to creativity.
• Promote open and horizontal communications.
• Use a coupon system to recognize effort, considering that past a threshold of work effort, performance decreases.

This approach would contribute to the conception of citizenship work, which is to go beyond labor laws, recognizing the other as a legitimate interlocutor.