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Quality of Work Life among Women Employees Working in RMG

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Article in Global Disclosure of Economics and Business · June 2018

DOI: 10.18034/gdeb.v7i1.106

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Global Disclosure of Economics and Business, Volume 7, No 1/2018 ISSN 2305-9168(print); 2307-9592(online)

Quality of Work Life among Women Employees

Working in RMG Sector of Bangladesh
Tanjela Hossain1*, Hasan Shirazi2
1
Senior Lecturer in HRM, Department of Business Administration, Central Women's University, Dhaka, BANGLADESH
2
Associate Professor and Chairperson, Department of Business Administration, Central Women's University,
Dhaka, BANGLADESH

*Corresponding Contact:
Email: tanjela.hossain@gmail.com

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18034/gdeb.v7i1.106

ABSTRACT
“Quality of work life” has become the buzzword for the contemporary
organization. Employees are more concern about their work environment ever,
which is one of the most important factors to determine the quality of work life
(QWL). It refers to the favorableness or unpleasantness of a job environment for
people. The increased complexity of today’s work environment poses several
challenges, especially for women employees who are working in different
garment factories. It is now the high time for the Ready-made Garment (RMG)
sector to be aware of improving the QWL. Our study focused on the factors
influencing the quality of work life of women employees, their level of job
satisfaction. We have tried to assess the QWL of women employees working in
selected garment factories which are located in Gazipur district. We have
collected data through a semi-structured questionnaire from a sample of 500
women employees. The findings of the study project various indications about
concerned issues where the organization can concentrate to bring about better
QWL life so that they get more satisfied women workforce. For statistical
analysis mean, percentage, hypothesis testing, ranking order method and
weighted average method were calculated. The ultimate findings of the study
reveal that there is a significant relationship between work experience and
participation in decision making for women employees. The survey study also
shows that authority’s willingness is also an influential parameter to improve the
QWL. Another interesting finding of our survey focuses that women employees
have been given the least priority to salary as a measure to enhance QWL.

Key Words: Quality of work life (QWL), Job satisfaction, Work environment, Work
flexibility & Performance, RMG

INTRODUCTION
Human resource is essential to the success of today’s organization. In the present context,
organizations need to be more concerned about the work environment so that they are well
equipped to develop their workforce and enjoy the productivity of the committed
workforce. Therefore, organizations need to develop a strategy to improve the employees

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Hossain and Shirazi: Quality of Work Life among Women Employees Working in RMG Sector of Bangladesh (27-40)

“Quality of Work Life” (QWL) to satisfy both the organizational objectives and employee
needs. There is no generally accepted definition of this term-Quality of Work Life (QWL). It
refers to the favorableness or unpleasantness of a job environment for people. Good quality
of work life not only attracts new talent but also helps to retain the existing talent. Quality of
work life involves job security, good working conditions, adequate and fair compensation
and equal employment opportunity altogether. QWL aims to meet the twin goals of the
enhanced effectiveness of the organization and improved quality of life at the workplace for
employees that means to create a Win-Win situation for both sides. But today’s employees
would not believe in such values of work. Employees work for a salary and continue to
work if the conditions of work are encouraging and pleasant, and terms of employment are
favorable to the individual, the endure with the organization otherwise look for better
opportunities. Women are considered as the major working group in the textile and
garment industries of the country. These industries are more labor-intensive and require the
finest output at the end. QWL consists of opportunities for active involvement in group
working arrangements or problem solving that are of mutual benefit to employees or
employers, based on labor-management cooperation.
Good Quality of work-life is necessary for an organization to attract and to retain skilled
and talented employees. To survive in the competitive market because of liberalization,
privatization, and globalization and to minimize the turnover rate of employees the QWL
initiatives are very important. QWL involves a wide variety of components that are
influenced by the performance of employees. The Bangladesh Ready-Made Garment
industry has grown over the space of a few short decades to become the second largest in
the world. The RMG sector has become a key driver of Bangladesh’s economy and the
nation’s development. Women are considered as the major working group the textile and
Garment Industries of the country.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Meaning of Quality of Work-Life
QWL is described as the favorable working environment that supports and promotes
satisfaction by providing employees with rewards, job security, career growth
opportunities, etc. Hackman (1980) identified that the work environment that can fulfill
employees’ personal needs is considered to provide a positive interaction effect, which leads
to an excellent QWL. Cunningham and Eberle (1990) emphasized the personal needs that is
satisfied when rewards from the organization, such as compensation, promotion,
recognition, and development meet their expectations. Chan and Einstein (1990) explained
QWL as a reflection of concern for employees’ experience at work, their relationship with
other people, their work setting and their effectiveness on the job. It is a complex,
multidimensional, generic concept (Hsu & Kernohan, 2006). Most literature on the QWL
originates from the discipline of Industrial Labor Relationships (Hsu & Kernohan, 2006).
QWL has been defined by researchers in different ways, which has brought about certain
counterparts such as work quality, function of job content, employee’s well-being, the
quality of the relationship between employees, working environment, and the balance
between job demands and decision autonomy or the balance between control need and
control capacity (Korunka, Hoonakker, & Carayon, 2008) QWL is thus recognized as a
multi-dimensional construct and the categorization is neither universal or eternal. Different
researchers have come up with different categories and factors to define and measure the
quality of life. Walton (1980) divided QWL main components into four categories such as

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work meaningfulness, work social and organizational equilibrium, work challenge and
richness. Klatt, Murdick, and Schuster (1985) have identified eleven dimensions of QWL in
the year. They are pay, occupational stress, organizational health programs, alternative
work schedule, participate management and control of work, recognition, superior-
subordinate relations, grievance procedure, adequacy of resources, seniority and merit in
promotion and development and employment on a permanent basis.
Quality of work life refers to the relationship between employees and their total working
environment. It considers people as an asset to the organization rather than cost. This
approach believes that people can perform to their best if they are given enough autonomy
in managing their work and make a decision. And, so the quality of work life is viewed as
an alternative to the control approach to managing people. Warret al. (1979) defined the
quality of working life as indicative of a variety of apparently relevant factors, including
work involvement, intrinsic job motivation, the higher order need strength, perceived
intrinsic job characteristics, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, happiness, and self-rated
anxiety. Zare, Hamid, Haghgooyan, Zolfa and Asl, Zahra Karimi (2012) undertook a study
on quality of work life to identify its dimensions Library method was used to gather
information on theoretical basics, literature and to identify aspects and scales. Field study
method was used to gather information through questionnaires distributed among 30
experts. The data so collected was analyzed using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP); it is
found that QWL can be explained by four factors as given under.
 Work-life balance - Fair working hours, Work-life atmosphere, Opportunity for doing
religious ceremonies, Ergonomics, No physical and mental damages, Distance between
workplace and home
 Social factors - The importance of work in the society, social integration in an
organization, Social networks in work, respecting employees, Self-esteem feeling in the
organization, Good colleagues
 Economic factors - Salary, Health service, Insurance, Retirement, Job security
 Job content - Team working, independence, meaningful work, rich and challenging
work, ownership feeling in work, the need for creativity in work, growth opportunity.

Dimensions in QWL
When it comes to categorization, the following classifications can be found - (i) the mental and
objective aspects of work life (Casio, 1998), (ii) lower- and higher order needs (Sirgy et al.,
2001) and (iii) job characteristics, and supervisory, structural and social characteristics (Winter
et al., 2000). The factors that were stated by different researchers are grouped and stated in
Table -. The key concepts captured and discussed in the existing literature include job security,
better reward systems, higher pay, the opportunity for growth, and participative groups,
among others (Havlovic, 1991; Straw and Heckscher, 1984; Scobel, 1975).
Table 1: Dimension and factors of quality of life
Dimension Factors
Job design Job content, work meaningfulness, work challenges, work richness,
meaningful job and autonomy in the job, work restructuring, and
job/role clarity.
Work environment Improving the work environment, social and welfare facilities, etc.
and facilities

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Dimension Factors
Job security Employment on the permanent basis.
Health, stress, Health and safety of working conditions, protection against disease
and safety and injury within and outside the workplace; occupational stress,
organizational health programs, job stress, and lack of job burnout.
Wages and Fair and adequate pay, fair and proper payment for good
rewards performance, Innovative rewards systems, the circumstances and
procedures relating to promotion policies, seniority and merit in
promotion and development.
Work-life balance Working hours and alternative work schedule.
Aesthetics and General aesthetics, free time in the workplaces, creativity workplace
creativity and personal creativity.
Conflict Cooperative work between colleagues, adequacy of resources, work,
and organizational equilibrium, and grievance procedure.
Learning and Increased emphasis on employee skill development, possibility of
development learning and using new skills, training to improve job skills, creating
opportunities to learn, growth in the professionalism path, job
growth and career progress
Leadership and Superior-subordinate relations, Participatory supervision,
employee Communication, desire and motivation to work, creating work and
empowerment organizational commitment, employee involvement, participation,
and power, Increased autonomy for action and decision making at the
worker level, access to relevant information and participative problem
solving,
Job satisfaction Recognition and appreciation of the work inside and outside the
organization, membership in successful teams, proud of the job, and
lack of turnover intentions.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Low Quality of work-life conflict hampers the happiness of female employees in the
workplace that leads to lower productivity, absenteeism, high turnover rate, etc to the
organization. While many studies find deleterious effects of low quality of work-life on
growth, human development, some papers remain ambiguous.
Bangladesh is an interesting case to study the level of Quality of work-life and its effects
especially in the field of RMG where maximum employees are female. This raises several
questions:
 Whether Female Employees of RMG sector are happy with their work environment or
not?
 Are Women Employees satisfied regarding various measures taken by the organization
for improving Quality of Work life?
 Do they have any persistent problems that they don’t seem to be able to solve?
 What kinds of solutions do Female Employees of RMG sector can come up with for the
problems that they have identified?
The paper intends to answer these questions.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

General Objective: The main objective of this paper is to investigate the level of Quality of
Work-life for Female Employees of RMG sector in Bangladesh
Specific Objectives: The specific objectives are:
 To assess the quality of work life for women employees in RMG Sector.
 To analyze the association among different issues related to Quality of Work Life.
 To assess Women Employee’s level of satisfaction regarding various measures to be
taken by the organization for improving Quality of Work life
 To get reflection about women employee’s expectations regarding different issues to
improve their QWL

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Research design: The research is descriptive analytical and empirical.
Study Place: Gazipur, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Study Period: February 2017 – November 2017
Study Target Population: Garment factories located in Dhaka and near Dhaka City were
selected purposively as the target population of the study. It is to be noted that about 500
female employees of different garment factories who are in operation in Dhaka and near
Dhaka city are targeted for the study. The universe of the study comprises of Women
employees working in Garment factories in Dhaka.
Sampling Technique: The sample was chosen using the snowball method (Singeton and
Straits, 1999), source: Singleton, R. A. & Straits, B. C. (1999). Approach as to Social Research,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, whereby each respondent was asked to introduce two
colleagues or friends.
Sample & Sample Size: Total samples of 500 female employees of different garment
factories. First, we selected 75 Female employees who are working at the different position
in different garment factories randomly and then each of 75 female employees was
requested to introduce two colleagues or friends and so on. The sample was restricted to
mainly female workers. From the survey response, a total of 500 fully completed
questionnaire were considered for analysis.
Data Collection Technique and List of variables for preparing a Questionnaire
Data were obtained by using a day long, face-to-face or telephone interviews with 75 female
employees of 3 different garment factories.
They were asked to give opinions on the five-point scale extending from strongly significant to not
at all significant, strongly satisfied to strongly dissatisfied, strongly agree to strongly disagree. They
are interviewed by using a semi-structured questionnaire. After that, we give our questionnaire to
other female workers. Though some findings are extracted from our observations.
List of Key Variables for preparing a Questionnaire
To understand Quality of work life and level of satisfaction of female employees a
questionnaire has been prepared based on the following items:
 Perceptions of respondents toward various factors influencing Quality of work life

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 Various parameters regarding Quality of work life

 Women Employee’s level of satisfaction regarding various measures to be taken by
organization for improving Quality of Work life
 Women employee’s level of satisfaction with work-life interactions.
 Women employee’s level of satisfaction with work flexibility, autonomy, etc
Analytical tools used
By analyzing the level of Quality of work life and level of satisfaction of the surveyed
organizations, we tried to conclude by using our own analytical and cognitive abilities.
Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS version 22 software have been used to process survey data.
Hypothesis testing through Chi-square test, Simple average method or percentage method
has been used to calculate quantitative data converted from qualitative data collected
through semi-structured questionnaire.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Respondents were asked a series of open questions, semi-open questions, multiple choice
questions, dichotomous questions. Findings and Analysis are presented below based on the
questions of the questionnaire used in this study:
The demographic profile of the respondents
At the very beginning of our data collection, we classify the respondents based on their age,
monthly family income, qualification, experience, and marital status for their responses
regarding the quality of work life.
Table 2: Demographic factors of the respondents
Demographic factors No. of Respondents Percentage (%)
Age:
a) Below 20 years 112 22.4%
b) 20-30 years 183 36.6%
c) 30-40 years 96 19.2%
d) 40-50 years 78 15.6%
e) 50 and above 31 6.2%
Educational Qualification:
No Formal Education 86 17.2%
School Level 189 37.8%
Diploma or Equivalent 84 16.8%
Graduation 59 11.8%
Post-Graduation 82 16.4%
Experience:
Less than a year 124 24.8%
1 year – 3 years 196 39.2%
3 years -5 Years 83 16.6%
5 years -7 Years 64 12.8%
More than 7 years 33 6.6%
Marital Status:
a) Unmarried 128 25.6%
b) Married 187 37.4%
c) Divorced 98 19.6%

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d) Single Parent 87 17.4%

Income in Tk. (per month):
a) Less than 10000 153 30.6%
b) 10000-20000 146 29.2%
c) 20000-30000 112 22.4%
d) 30000-40000 49 9.8%
e) 40000+ 40 8%
Table 2 highlights that the age range of majority (36.6%) of female employees is between 20 to 30
years, 22.4% were in below 20 years age group, 19.2% is between 30 to 40 years age group. 15.6%,
and 6.2% respondents were in age group of between 40 to 50 years and above 50 years
respectively. The table also indicates that most female employees (37.8%) have only school level
educations, 17.2% are uneducated, 16.8% have Diploma. Only 11.8% are graduates and 16.4% are
postgraduates. It is also clear from the table that 24.8% of the respondents had experienced less
than one year, 39.2% had experience between 1-3 years, 16.6% of the respondents had 3-5 years
of experience, 12.8% of the respondents had 5-7 years of experiences and only 6.6% hold more
than 7 years of experience. In this study, most of the female employees (37.4%) are married,
25.6% are unmarried, 19.6% are divorced and 17.4% are single parents.
Only 8% of the respondents have a monthly income of above Tk.40,000, 9.8% are in the
income category of Tk.30,000-40,000, 22.4% are in the income category of Tk.20,000-30,000,
29.2% are in the income category of Tk.10,000-20,000 and 30.6% are in the income category
of below Tk.10,000.
Perceptions of respondents toward various factors influencing Quality of work life
Influencing Factors in Quality of Work Life: RMG sector is highly Labor-intensive sector
that is why we must measure the women employee’s perception of their working
environment first. What women employees are expecting from the workplace and which
factors are most influential & important to them were identified in the following table. There
are many factors regarding the quality of work life. The respondents were asked to rate nine
influential factors on five-point Likert-scales.
Table 3: Perception of respondents towards various Factors regarding QWL
Sl. Various Parameters regarding Quality of work Mean Variance Standard
No. life (“Highly Satisfied to Highly Dissatisfied”) Score Deviation
1. Health and safety measures 3.568 1.272 1.128
2. Opinion about working hours 2.948 2.037 1.427
3. Opinion about workload 2.756 2.261 1.504
4. Opinion about Respect at workplace 3.436 1.585 1.259
5. Relationship with co-worker 3.828 1.445 1.202
6. Training programs are given by the 3.124 1.776 1.333
organization
7. Grievance handling procedure 3.108 1.471 1.213
8. Satisfaction about feedback given on Job 2.46 1.6 1.265
Performance
Table 3 shows the responses towards Influential Parameters regarding the quality of work
life. The mean scores infer (as the scale is taken from highly satisfied=5 to highly
dissatisfied=1) that the women employees of Garments are highly satisfied with the
working relationship with their co-workers (3.828) and Health & safety measures taken by

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authority (3.568). It also infers that women workers are highly dissatisfied with the given
feedback on their job performance (2.46).
Perception of women employees about the organizational requirement to take part in the
decision-making process: Here we tried to find out the perception of women employees
about the organizational requirement to participate in decision-making process. A simple
percentage analysis was administered in the following table 4 (a).
Table 4(a): Perception of women employees
Factors No. of Respondents Percentage (%)
Job Experiences 52 10.4
Outstanding Performance 94 18.8
The Willingness of Management 354 70.8
Total 500 100
From table 4 (a) depicts that 70.8% of 500 women employees believe that participation in
decision making depends on the willingness of management. So, it can easily be said that
women employee’s participation in decision making does not depend on job performance or
job experiences rather on the willingness of authority.
Analysis of Relationship between work experience and participation in decision making
Here we try to find out the relationship between total work experience of the women
workers and their participation in decision making by using Chi-Square analysis.
Null Hypothesis: There is no significant relationship between the total work experience of
the women employees and their participation in decision making.
Alternate Hypothesis: There is a significant relationship between the total work experience
of the women employees and their participation in decision making.
Table 4(b): Scenario between the total work experience of the women employees and their
participation in decision making
No. of Respondents
Total Work Experience
yes No Total
Less than a year 1 123 124
1 year – 3 years 19 177 196
3 years – 5 years 10 73 83
5 years – 7 years 13 51 64
7 years and above 9 24 33
TOTAL 52 448 500
Table 4(c): Calculated Chi-Square value and Table Value
Sl. Factor Calculated χ2 Degrees of Table Remarks
No Value Freedom Value
Work Experience & Calculated χ2 value is
Employee’s more than the Table value
1. 29.4245 4 9.488
participation in and the null hypothesis is
Decision Making rejected
Table 4(b) and Table 4(c) shows the calculated value 29.4245 is more than the table value at 5%
level of significance. So, the null hypothesis is rejected. Hence there is a relationship between the
total work experience of the women employees and their participation in decision making.

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Women Employee’s level of Priority regarding various measures to be taken by the

organization for improving Quality of Work life
Here we tried to rank the Priority of women employees regarding different measures to be
taken by garment factories through weighted average method.
Table 5: Priority ranks given by the women employees regarding the QWL factors of the
garment factories
No Factors SDA DA N A SA Weighted Weighted Rank
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Average Score
1. Salary 52 191 81 102 74 1455 97 7
2. Empowerment 75 84 97 131 113 1623 108.2 5
3. Health & Safety 75 122 63 147 93 1561 104.07 6
4. Job Security 48 109 51 209 83 1670 111.33 4
5. Work environment 12 45 63 186 194 2005 133.67 1
6. Leave & holidays 5 93 59 245 98 1838 122.53 2
7. Work time flexibility 22 128 43 223 84 1719 114.6 3
(SDA=Strongly Disagree, DA=Disagree, N=Neutral, A=Agree, SA=Strongly Agree)
Table 5 shows the priority given by the women employees to reflect their expectation from
the organization for the improvement of the quality of life. The ranking shows that work
environment has given the most priority to improve the quality of work life. Entitled Leave
and holidays are also addressed as a priority. Interestingly table reveals the least priority to
salary as a measure to improve the quality of work life.
Work-life Interaction
Work-life Interaction indicates the relationship between work of female employees and their
responsibilities or activities outside of work with family or friends. Work-life Interaction
also refers to the relationship between work or job of female employees and the ability to
develop or maintain connections and friendships in their community.
Table 6: Interference between work responsibilities and activities outside of work
Scale of Attitude Almost always Often Sometimes Rarely Never Total
Frequency 43 246 109 70 22 500
Percentage 8.6% 49.2% 21.8% 14% 4.4% 100%
The table 6 shows that interference between work responsibilities and activities outside of
work is occurred more often (49.2%). From the above table, it can easily be said that the
interference between work responsibilities and activities outside of work is obvious, in fact
almost indispensable as only 4.4% of 500 women employees addressed never.
Table 7: How often does your work interfere with your ability to develop connections in
your community?
Scale of Attitude Almost always Often Sometimes Rarely Never Total
Frequency 143 113 77 102 65 500
Percentage 28.6% 22.6% 15.4% 20.4% 13% 100%
The table 7 shows that 28.6% of 500 women respondents addressed that their work
responsibility interferes almost always their ability to develop a connection with the
community. Whereas 13% said that there is no interference between work and the ability to
develop connections.

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Job Autonomy and Job Security

We know job security and autonomy is a vital measure to improve the quality of work life.
So, it needs to be assessed the level of autonomy and security a woman employee enjoying
from her job place. In our survey question about job autonomy and security were given too.
Table 8: Job Autonomy and Job Security
Scale of Attitude Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total
Frequency 31 94 115 87 173 500
Percentage 6.2% 18.8% 23% 17.4% 34.6% 100%
The table 8 shows 6.2% female professionals strongly feel positive that they have complete
job autonomy and job security in their job place. Whereas 34.6 % women strongly feel that
they do not have any job autonomy and job security.
Work Flexibility
Work flexibility means easiness to change the decisions or to get customized benefits or
services from the authority of the organization in respect of selecting the location of work,
scheduling of duties and responsibilities, getting chance to maintain adequate work and
personal and family life balance and having job security at the organization. Work flexibility
gives an employee more comfort to work with. It is often said that the higher the flexibility
in the workplace, the higher the job satisfaction and quality of performance.
Table 9: Level of flexibility having in selecting the location of work
Scale of Attitude Completely Often Sometimes Rarely None Total
Frequency 9 23 43 249 176 500
Percentage 1.8% 4.6% 8.6% 49.8% 35.2% 100%

The table 9 presents 8.6% female employees are neutral in respect of flexibility in selecting
the location of work. 1.8% female employees feel that they have complete flexibility in
selecting the location of work. Interestingly 49.8% near to half of our total respondents said
that authority is rarely flexible in selecting the location. Moreover, 35.2% addressed that
there is no flexibility in selecting the location of work.
Table 10: Level of flexibility having in scheduling work
Scale of Attitude Completely Often Sometimes Rarely None Total
Frequency 14 53 134 167 132 500
Percentage 2.8% 10.6% 26.8% 33.4% 26.4% 100%
Above table 11 quotes that most of the female employees i.e. 33.4% get rarely the flexibility
to schedule their work. Least number of female employees i.e. 2.8% can enjoy the complete
flexibility to schedule their work activities.
Table 11: Level of flexibility to maintain adequate work and personal and family life balance
Scale of Attitude Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total
Frequency 11 39 61 203 186 500
Percentage 2.2% 7.8% 12.2% 40.6% 37.2% 100%
Above table 11 marks that most of the female employees i.e. 40.6% women get rarely the
flexibility to maintain adequate work and personal and family life balance. Whereas only
2.2% working women strongly feel that they have sufficient level of flexibility to maintain
work-life balance.

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FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

The findings are presented based on different tools of analysis such as Simple Percentage
analysis, Chi-Square Analysis and Weighted average, and ranking order method. It is
observed that the women employees of the garment factory are highly satisfied with the
working relationship with their co-workers and Health & safety measures taken by the
authority. It is also revealed from the study that women workers are highly dissatisfied
about the feedback is given on their job performance from their superior. There is a
significant relationship between the total work experience of the women employees and
their participation in decision making. That means the experience is a matter of taking
critical decision-making situations. It is also identified that women employee’s participation
in decision making is not only depending on job performance or job experiences but also on
the willingness of authority. Women have given work environment as the most priority to
improve the quality of work life. Entitled Leave and holidays are also addressed as a
priority for better quality of work life. Interestingly our study reveals the least priority to
salary as a measure to improve the quality of women’s working life.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The garment industry has played a pioneering role in the development of industrial sector
of Bangladesh. RMG sector is now one of the main export areas of the country where
maximum employees are women. A good quality of work life not only attracts young and
new talent but also retain the existing experienced talent. The study indicates that increase
in quality of work life results in an increase in job performance & job satisfaction. The study
reveals that only an attractive salary can’t be the measure to improve QWL. A good working
environment, good relationship with co-workers, respect as an employee, on time fair job
evaluation, sense of participation, sense of job security etc. can make a healthy work-life for
women employees. However, Grievance handling procedures, work-time flexibility,
adequate work break & weekends, different training and career counseling programs can be
made at a satisfactory level to ensure a healthy work life. Furthermore, the study
recommends that the experienced and expert women employees could be can be given a
sense of participation in critical decision-making situations.

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Global Disclosure of Economics and Business, Volume 7, No 1/2018 ISSN 2305-9168(print); 2307-9592(online)

APPENDIX

Survey Questionnaire on
Quality of Work Life among Women Employees Working in RMG Sector of Bangladesh

Please put the tick mark into your choices and write your opinions where necessary
1. Personal Demographic Information:
Gender Female
Age a) below 20 b) 20-30 c) 30-40 d) 40-50 e) 50 and above
Education a) Not educated b) School level c) Diploma d) Graduation e)
Post-graduation
Marital Status a) Unmarried, b) Married, c) Divorced, d) Single Parent
Job Experience a) Less than 1-year, b) 1-4 years, c) 4-7 years, d) 7-10 years, e) 10years+
2. Household Demographic Information:
Household Income (In BDT): a) Less than 10000, b) 10000-20000, c) 20000-30000, d) 30000-40000,
e) 40000+
3. Perceptions of respondents toward various factors influencing Quality of work life:
Rate various parameters regarding Quality of work life – (From “Highly Satisfied” to “Highly
Dissatisfied”.)
Various Parameters regarding Quality Highly Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Highly
of work life (Please tick any one) Satisfied (4) (3) (2) Dissatisfied
(5) (1)
1. Health and safety measures
2. Opinion about working hours
3. Opinion about workload
4. Opinion about Respect at workplace
5. Relationship with co-worker
6. Training programs are given by the
organization
7. Grievance handling procedure
8. Satisfaction about feedback given on
Job Performance
4. Employee’s participation in Decision Making:
4.1. What is the organizational requirement to take part in decision making process?
a) Job Experiences b) outstanding Performance c) Own Judgement of Management
4.2. Do you get an opportunity to participate in decision making depending on your job
experiences?
Job Experiences (Please Tick anyone) Yes No
Less than 1 year
1-3 Years
3-4 Years
5-6 Years
7 Years and above

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Hossain and Shirazi: Quality of Work Life among Women Employees Working in RMG Sector of Bangladesh (27-40)

5. Women Employee’s level of satisfaction regarding various measures to be taken by the

organization for improving Quality of Work life:
5.1. Rate Different measures to be taken by the organization for improving Quality of Work Life:
No Factors Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Disagree (1) (2) (3) (4) Agree (5)
1. Salary
2. Empowerment
3. Health & Safety
4. Job Security
5. Work environment
6. Leave & holidays
7. Work time flexibility
5.2. Work-life Interaction:
S.N. Questions Almost Often Sometimes Rarely Never
always
1. How often does your work
interfere with your responsibilities
or activities outside of work?
2. How often does your work
interfere with your ability to
develop or maintain connections
and friendships in your
community?
5.3. Job autonomy &Job security:
You have complete Job security at your organization: Please give your opinion:
Scale of Attitude Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
Please tick any one
5.4. Job flexibility:
S.N. Questions Completely Often Sometimes Rarely Never
1. How much flexibility do
you have in selecting the
location of where you work?
2. How much flexibility do
you have in scheduling
what work you will do?
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
3. I have sufficient flexibility in
my job to maintain adequate
work and personal and
family life balance.

Thank you for helping me and giving me your precious time.

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