Quality of work life and productivity among Iranian nurses

Nurses are amongst the employees whose lives are fully affected by the quality of work life (QWL) as a consequence of dynamic changes in work environment. Excessive workload and poor work conditions are focal issues in nursing. The QWL assessment is an important and basic effort to deal with this issue. Moreover, staff productivity is a worthy goal of organizations tending to grow. If the relationship between the QWL and productivity becomes apparent, managers can provide conditions for promoting the QWL for personnel to be productive. To our knowledge, these variables and their relationships have not been studied yet among Iranian nurses. This descriptive study was carried out to investigate the relationship between the QWL and productivity among 360 clinical nurses working in the hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Findings showed that the QWL is at a moderate level among 61.4% of the participants. Only 3.6% of the nurses reported that they were satisfied with their works. None of those who reported the productivity as low reported their work life quality to be desirable. Spearman-rho test showed a significant relationship between productivity and one's QWL (p < 0.001). Considering the results, managers should adopt appropriate policies to promote the QWL and productivity.