Quality of working life of the employed population: measurement experience in the Vologda region

In order to stimulate economic development and increase labor productivity, it is essential to improve the quality of work life. Sociological methods of its assessment have great research potential, as they allow to identify the content and specific pain points in the current employment of workers. The level of satisfaction being a traditional sociological tool is one of the generalizing indicators of the quality of working life. The aim of this study is to investigate changes in the perceptions of regional employees regarding the quality of their working lives during a period of significant socio-economic changes from 2020 to 2024, which were caused by external factors. The information base was formed by the data of the monitoring of the labor potential of the population, conducted by Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2018-2024. The methodological toolkit of the study is based on the measurement of the quality of working life by the degree of job satisfaction. Frequency distribution and correlation analysis tools are used. Integral indices of satisfaction with components of working life and composite index of quality of working life are calculated. It is shown that the composite index of the quality of working life gradually increases and in 2024 reaches the highest values for the entire observation period. The most positive assessments were obtained with regard to the psychological climate, the social significance of work, the possibility of maintaining a balance between work and private life, job security, safety and technical equipment of the workplace. The problematic aspects of the quality of working life which have been stable for several years include the system of work remuneration, trade union activity, work with personnel (career, training, labor rights observance). The conclusions about socio-demographic, professional and territorial peculiarities of the perception of the quality of working life by the workers of the region are drawn. The research contributes to the expansion of scientific ideas about the transformation of the working population’s perception of the quality of working life against the background of the growing influence of external challenges.