The impact of quality of work life on the perfomance of employees of a South African Revenue Services branch

Abstract

The pursuit for improved productivity through human resources has its beginning in the early 1900's. Taylor's scientific management principles created an awareness regarding human resources. It was earlier considered as a mere instrument of production ready to work from dawn to dusk under whatever conditions and being motivated by the lure of money. From then onwards research and experiments have been undertaken to understand human beings at work and the ways to improve their job satisfaction, balanced with the aim of the organizations to combine better productivity with job and employee satisfaction. The concept of QWL (quality of work life) has originated from the continuous research process. The term QWL was introduced by Dav is (1972) at the first International QWL conference held in Toronto. The focus of this research concerns a study of the quality of work life for the employees at SARS in the Mmabatho Branch in the North West province. The aim of this paper was to determine whether and how quality of work life affects the satisfaction level of the employees and the implications of these findings suggest that the quality of work life at SARS can be enhanced by factors such as adequate income and fair compensation, safe and healthy working conditions, opportunities for career growth and development of human capabilities and social integration in the workforce. A convenience or accidental sampling was used for this study, out of93 questionnaires sent out, a total of 77 usable questionnaires were returned, representing an overall response rate of (82,8%). The study reveals that a clear and consistent communication of the organisational goals and objectives is essential to both employer and employees. The study also recommends that an establishment of new policies and practices that promote a workplace culture that stimulates employees with the aim of reducing stress, poor performance and low morale of employees. Alignments of organisational goals to day-to-day work by maintaining healthy working conditions: reduce high absenteeism levels and occupational burnout and fair remuneration of employees. The study also recommends that maintenance and open dialogue among the middle and junior employees.