Quality of life is here!

Mar 13 2008 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HUDDERSFIELD University has been ranked the best in the country by academic staff for the quality of working life.

A survey by research company QoWL Ltd showed that the university was rated by its lecturers and tutors as having “excellent working conditions with modern, well-equipped buildings and facilities”.

They also saw the university as “a flexible employer, promoting a good work-life balance”.

Staff generally reported high levels of job satisfaction and rated as “high” their opportunities for training and development.

The survey of UK universities showed that academics were experiencing higher levels of stress than other workers on campuses across the country.

Alan Bradshaw, QoWL director, said: “We found that, in general, academics are more stressed than other occupational groups such as managers, research, administration and support staff within universities.

“However, the research also clearly demonstrates that working environments and well-being are more important factors than stress levels in determining quality of working life.”

Comments from university employees showed the importance of the working environment – including buildings, temperature, comfort, equipment, transport, travelling time and parking – in determining the quality of working life.

Said Mr Bradshaw: “Overall, the results indicate that general wellbeing, working conditions, support from your manager and relationships with colleagues all tend to be more important than stress in predicting quality of working life in the university staff population.

“Academic staff in the highest scoring universities also report higher levels of autonomy and control and this may be buffering the negative effects of stress.

“People who worked in universities that scored highly on quality of working life felt much better in themselves in terms of their psychological and physical health.”