Quality of life in the workplace has long been denied the attention it deserves as a key issue.
And yet the current health crisis has shown how important it is for employees to find fulfillment in their work and to maintain a healthy work-life balance. In this respect, quality of life in the workplace is an essential component of a company’s economic performance.
Patricia Delaux, Health & Personal Protection Director at AXA Santé et Collectives, is well aware of this connection and shares her thoughts with us.

Could you start by explaining what the term Quality of Life at Work means for French companies?

Quality of Life at Work encompasses all the measures that improve working conditions for employees and also drive a company’s overall performance.

Quality of Life at Work aims to make the workplace an inclusive environment where employees can find fulfillment.

In French law, the Rebsamen Act reinforced the provisions of the ANI agreement of 19 June 2013 to improve quality of life at work and workplace equality. The Act requires all companies with more than 50 employees to hold yearly negotiations on quality of life at work issues – these include facilitating work-life balance, fighting discrimination, supporting the employment of people with disabilities, ensuring the right to individual and collective expression, promoting gender equality and preventing occupational risks and physical strain.

So the scope is vast, ranging from labor relations to work-life balance. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance became a hot topic during the pandemic with the massive shift to remote working.

This singular period we are living through has demonstrated why quality of life at work measures must be taken to help employees stay motivated, promote their well-being and contribute to companies’ continued growth.

What best practices for quality of life at work have you observed in these past months, whether in very small or multinational companies?

In very small companies it can be hard to implement a coordinated quality of life at work policy. It is necessary for employees and employers to engage in direct dialogue, but this may also lead to faster results.

For companies of all sizes, a first step is to update their occupational risk assessment document(“DUERP“).
AXA has developed a service to help companies fill out this document easily and securely. We recognized a need for this support because according to our estimate, only about one in two companies have completed this mandatory step.

In order to effectively manage risks, they need to be accurately assessed. That is why we have set up indicators to track changes in quality of life at work. They enable us to identify needs so we can develop targeted prevention plans.

For example, how can employers protect the health of remote workers, which is just as important as that of on-site employees, while also being impacted by the physical distance and by blurred boundaries between work and personal lives?

We provide companies with tools to help them detect their specific issues, using tracked indicators and an analysis of absenteeism numbers from DSN (DSN) employment data reports, so that they can implement the most effective preventive measures.

The DSN is a valuable source of anonymized data, from which we can develop indicators enabling our customers to compare their situation to that of other companies and their industry sector. We know this is very useful to our customers, so they can see where they stand and choose their priorities.
We also support companies by providing hotline assistance, remote training and stress management programs (yoga, meditation, etc.), all with the guidance of occupational physicians.
But there is no “one size fits all” approach. Companies must adapt solutions to the specific needs of their employees.