Developing and testing a methodological approach to assess the QWL in retail banks

Abstract

The banking sector has been facing several changes related to the characteristics of the respective activities and the technological advances. The increasing use of new technology has led to a reduction in the number of jobs, flattening of hierarchies and the assignment of multiple functions and intensification of workload for employees who remained in the companies. In this context, this work proposes a methodological approach to assess the quality of work life (QWL) in order to identify the factors that must be prioritized to improve the QWL in retail banks. A study was conducted in 33 Brazilian branches and a 55-item questionnaire was designed to obtain the respondents’ satisfaction degree with the QWL. Factor analysis was used to identify relationships between the dimensions and the items. One-way ANOVA was conducted to examine the difference in the QWL according to male and female employees and Quartile analysis was used to identify the most critical items. Professional growth and stability, work characteristics and remuneration policies are the factors that most influence on the QWL in banks. The bank activities are stressful to bank employees. Some differences between the QWL of male and female employees are perceived. The questionnaire is valid and reliable.