Health care systems play a crucial role in safeguarding the continuous progress and growth of human beings, in which case it is imperative that countries maintain a significantly high level of quality. This study was carried out with the aim of assessing the effects of PWE on the QoL of workers while also determining the factors that could have a bearing on the relationship.
This objective of the study is supported by the Saudi National Transformation Program 2020 and as part of the initiative that aims to elevate the QoL and services standards in Saudi Kingdom health care facilities.
There was an apparent significant association between PWE and QoL. Other characteristics were measured in relation to the PWE and the QoL scores, of which PWE and QoL scores were significantly different between males and females. Additionally, participants who had regular rotation shifts had lower QoL scores compared to those with only day shifts.
After adjusting for individual and job characteristics there remained an association between gender (male or female), type of shift (day only, night only, or rotation shift), and PWE with the quality of workers’ lives.
High pressure at work and adverse psychosocial working conditions have a greater chance to be associated with poor health-related QoL (5). There is a significantly high correlation between PWE and the QoL of hospital employees, which answers the major aim of the study (1). Similar results from studies conducted on municipal schools in Brazil and primary health care employees supports the results of the current study (1, 6). QoL is directly affected by the quality of PWE due to the long time spent at work by the employees, which could also affect other aspects of life if it is not adjusted (e.g., social life, health condition, mental condition, and burnout). Further investigations can be useful to control the factors addressed in this research.
The study shows significant differences in the QoL score and PWE between genders; female respondents had lower QoL and lower PWE than males. Pretty, McCarthy (7) found similar results by presenting the association between job stress and diabetes II among women as being higher than it is among men.
In addition, depression levels in females are significantly higher than males due to high levels of stress and perceived low levels of fulfillment in females compared to males (8). The difference between males and females in QoL and PWE could be due to different factors such as the preciseness in self-reporting, specifically when describing depressive feelings (9). Further, according to Grant, Robinson (10), females’ levels of tolerance for physical and psychosocial stress is lower than it is in males.
Kulwicki, Miller (11) suggested that females in the Arab communities face varying challenges compared to their male counterparts (e.g., transportation difficulties, gender preferences related to embarrassment in exposing female patients to male workers, and problems seeking and accepting health care from male providers). However, some of the challenges have been overcome with the transformation of Saudi Arabia.
Furthermore, the results indicate an association exists between workers’ QoL and the nature of work shifts. Indeed, employees with regular rotation shifts indicated significantly lower QoL scores compared to employees who had day shifts only. Previous studies support our result regarding the relationship of working shift with QoL. For instance, Sorić et al. (2013) found that shift employees have significantly lower levels of QoL compared with nonshift employees, which showed the adverse effect of working shifts on workers’ health and social lives (5). Usually the number of employees working during regular working hours (from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm) exceeds the number of employees working after 3:00 pm. It is noteworthy that the reduction in workers increases the load on them after regular working hours. In this case, employees who work during the night shift have a higher risk of depression, which could be related to the immense pressure and loneliness at the workplace because of fewer employees and quietness at night (12). The persistent modification of the biological clock and adjustment of sleeping time from day to night for rotational shift workers causes sleeping disorder and high levels of anxiety (5).
Retaining employees and motivating them to do their best is major challenge for employers. Most health care workers belonged to generations X (Industrial Revolution) and Y (Information Revolution), and both generations are very similar in job motivations. Chance for promotion and steady employment are main motivators for generations X and Y, but neither with Generation Z (Social Revolution(13). People from Generation X were born in the late 1970s and early 1980s, whereas people from Generation Y were born in the 1980s and 1990s and people from Generation Z were born in the 1990s and raised in the 2000s (14). Dealing with each generation requires special ways to retain them, and nowadays employees are looking for QoL, quality of work environment, quality of role opportunity, learning, and rewards. If employers do not have mechanisms for these factors then retention will be at risk.