Quality is not a product of chance: it is the result of all employees working together. This can only succeed if they find conditions under which they can actively participate in bringing the company's quality standards to life. When asked about working conditions, the first things that come to mind for many people are likely to be issues such as where and when they work, pay or occupational health protection. These aspects are usually defined by employment contracts or laws. Less obvious are conditions such as the corporate culture or – more specifically – the mood in the company. The latter, at least, can hardly be captured by a set of rules. All these factors contribute to employees being satisfied and able to concentrate on their work. It stands to reason that such an environment is more conducive to the high quality of products and processes.
However, it is not enough for employees to be satisfied. They must also be sufficiently qualified so that there are enough capable employees available for each job. They also need to know what to do, why, and in which way. Established processes as well as documents such as process and work instructions, standards or forms contribute to this. Because everyone in the company should contribute to quality, this information is ideally available to everyone to find and understand.
Regardless of the specific implementation, this is ensured on the one hand by process management, in which business processes can be mapped, visualized and made available to everyone in the company. In addition, document control enables the professional management and sharing of documented information.
Since quality also (but by no means only) includes the fulfilment of requirements, these must also be taken into account. Requirementsmanagement helps to identify and interpret relevant requirements – for example from customers, but also from laws or standards – and to document implementation.
Just like working hours or salary, the tools mentioned above (others such as checklists are also conceivable) can also be understood as part of working conditions. The specific design of these tools depends on the framework conditions of the company: For example, very small companies with only one location and without the possibility of mobile working could disseminate their documents with the help of notices, manage requirements and qualifications in paper files or Excel documents.
Similar to quality management via Excel, however, these solutions quickly reach their limits. In many cases, therefore, software designed for the respective purpose is the means of choice. It can be used to develop and manage content in a team. In the case of an integrated software solution, individual company resources are not isolated, but can be linked to each other. With just a few clicks, these are available to all employees or even just selected ones. In this way, important company information is not only documented in a comprehensible way, but also accessible to all parties involved. This is the only way to ensure that they are really known to everyone and are followed by everyone.
Quality is therefore the result of the interplay of a wide variety of factors – one of which is the right working conditions. In order to ensure this, the top management of the company is also and above all required. In short, ideal working conditions, including the right tools, contribute to the higher quality of all products and processes.
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