This project was commissioned by the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) in and is related to the 'Skills Pay' series of projects, supported by SSDA and a number of government departments and agencies. IES was asked to carry out a review of current knowledge and approaches to the measurement of Quality of Working Life (QWL), and to design and pilot a survey that could be developed for future national use. Chapter 1 describes the context and rationale for this QWL project and the original research objectives. These were to improve understanding on how employees feel about the quality of their working lives and to develop a robust survey tool to provide a nationally representative picture of the QWL in the UK that could serve as the foundation to monitor and measure trends over time. Chapter 2 explores the QWL and QWL-related literature to outline the various elements which impact on the QWL such as the way work is organised; policies and practice in the workplace; relations with colleagues and managers; working conditions, pay and job security; and so forth. Elements which impact on QWL were found to be social and individual, objective and subjective, and related to both work and life. Overall, the literature was found to be limited and not without weaknesses. Chapter 3 contains a conceptualisation and visual model of the dimensions of QWL. Eight broad dimensions (leadership; management; working conditions; rewards; skills and prospects; relations at work; the nature of work; and the organisation of work) were identified and visually represented on a QWL wheel. Chapter 4 provides a brief overview of the QWL evidence base-ranging from company-level assessments to large EU-wide surveys. These surveys were seen to vary greatly in scope, quality and orientation. Although a number of UK sources provide good evidence on dimensions of QWL and related concepts, few provide a comprehensive picture. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the operationalising and piloting of the IES QWL questionnaire and the headline results of this pilot. This bespoke questionnaire was vii administered by telephone and completed by 100 respondents. These respondents were asked to provide information about themselves and their work (including age, gender, salary level, occupation, sector, length of service, hours of work, leave, absence and so forth) and also to evaluate a series of attitudinal statements about their managers, leaders, working conditions, pay, relationships with colleagues, work tasks, and ways of working. Respondents reported good levels of satisfaction across all dimensions of QWL and seemed to be most positive about relations at work with colleagues and managers and least positive about pay and benefits, skill development and utilisation, work conditions and the quality of their working environment. A relatively higher level of satisfaction was perceived amongst women, those on higher salaries, those not in trade unions and those in smaller organisations. 1 Chapter 7 provides some conclusions regarding the impact of the results of ...
