The Contribution of Quality of Work Life towards Health-related Quality of Life

Objective: This study investigated the association between quality of work life, measured by work environment factors, such as job satisfaction, and worker Health-related Quality of Life (HRQL). We were interested in the positive effects of work environment factors on HRQL. 

Methodology: The study used Gallup data from 2014. Gallup Inc. conducts a daily survey that collects responses from 1,000 U.S. adults about various political, economic, and well-being topics. Details on the data and survey methodology are available on the Gallup website (www.gallup.com). Gallup Healthways, under the well-being track of the overall survey, asks respondents about their perceived job satisfaction, role conflict at work, supervisory support, and learning opportunities, among other exposures to work environment factors. Role conflict at work is experienced when the role of a worker does not fit the scope of the work as promised or originally contracted. The study examined the relationship between work environment factors, and in particular job satisfaction, on individual worker combined emotional and physical health. Based on metrics from the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), we constructed a simple metric of HRQL from Gallup Healthways survey responses. We controlled for confounders that included age, gender, race, marital status, having children at home (yes/no), having a working spouse, household income, years of schooling, overall health status, and 23 categories of occupation. We compared HRQL scores between two response categories to the job satisfaction question (satisfied and not satisfied), in order to understand whether there was a statistically significant difference between job satisfaction and HRQL, and if there was, to assess the differences in HRQL scores that could be attributed to job satisfaction. Different models were used to regress HRQL scores upon work environment factors in order to understand the effective gain in HRQL due to a positive work environment.                  

Results: Our analysis demonstrated a positive relationship between work environment and HRQL. Job-satisfied workers had an average HRQL score difference of 9 points (12% higher) when compared to job-unsatisfied workers, and the difference was statistically significant at the 1% level. Similarly, the contributions of absence of role conflict at work and supervisory support positively affected HRQL and were statistically significant.

Conclusion: We found a positive relationship among work environment factors and perceived HRQL. Since QRQL is one of the components of well-being, the findings suggest an effective contribution of one’s quality of work life towards overall well-being. Future studies will explore the association among work environment factors and overall well-being.