Comparative study of the components of the quality of working life

Abstract

Our line of research in 17 years has been Total Quality and its problems in SMEs in Córdoba. Until now, we had not studied the concept of Quality of Working Life (QWL). This project is part of a larger one that integrates the Current Population Challenges Program, where we have included the QWL, since we understand that a current population challenge is to study the factors that affect it: unemployment, underemployment, labor precariousness, economic crisis, gender issues that have not been overcome in years, preconceptions about the lower capacity of female versus male decision making, among others. In recent months, an additional factor, unthinkable and serious, as is the quarantine by the Covid-19, has made the work of people and therefore this concept even more complex. The study of QWL is a young field, where the authors do not agree on identical dimensions and variables for its measurement. As a first stage, we have compared updated studies and added factors by impact of Total Quality and Covid-19 quarantine, to build a superior model useful for decision making and a questionnaire, which we have tested in some organizations.