In short:
- QVCT stands for quality of life and working conditions.
- The concept comes from the French national interprofessional agreement of 9 December 2020 on occupational health.
- It extends QVT, defined by the national interprofessional agreement of 19 June 2013.
- The agreement describes a four-phase method, from strategic framing to making actions permanent.
QVCT: definition
QVCT, or quality of life and working conditions, refers to an approach that links quality of working life to the quality of the conditions in which work is carried out.
The term appears in the national interprofessional agreement of 9 December 2020 on strengthened prevention and a renewed offer in occupational health and working conditions. According to this agreement, quality of working life and quality of working conditions together contribute to the quality of work and to primary prevention.
From QVT to QVCT
Quality of working life (QVT) was defined by the national interprofessional agreement of 19 June 2013. It covers several dimensions:
- working conditions and the work environment;
- working relationships;
- the balance between private and working life;
- mobility conditions;
- recognition and professional equality.
The 2020 agreement proposes to revise this approach to explicitly include working conditions and go beyond a reading focused solely on occupational risk.
Topics covered by QVCT
| Topic | Examples mentioned in the agreement |
|---|---|
| Balance between spheres of life | Work-life balance, right to disconnect |
| Conditions in which work is carried out | Management, resources, working relationships |
| Usefulness and meaning of work | Content and purpose of work |
| Employee expression | Participation and dialogue about work |
| Prevention | Prevention of psychosocial risks |
The steps of a QVCT approach
The agreement describes a four-phase method:
- Strategic design of the approach.
- A shared diagnosis.
- Targeted experiments.
- Making the actions permanent.
Several HR tools can feed this approach: the career path review for career wishes, the thinking on fairness opened up by pay transparency, or everyday benefits such as meal vouchers.
What QVCT is not
The concept is sometimes reduced to peripheral actions. The INRS, on a page about wellbeing at work updated on 5 January 2018, gives three examples of actions that have little effect on the actual organisation of work: providing sports facilities, massage sessions and dietary advice.
The institute contrasts these actions with an approach focused on organisational factors:
- the definition of tasks;
- the meaning of work;
- the distribution of workload;
- relationships within teams.
This reading is consistent with the 2020 agreement, which puts the conditions in which work is carried out at the centre of the approach.
Questions to ask when starting
- Which topics come up most often from the field: workload, resources, relationships, meaning?
- Who takes part in the diagnosis: management, staff representatives, employees?
- Which experiment can be launched on a limited scope?
- How will what has changed be measured before rolling it out?
Frequently asked questions
What does QVCT mean?
QVCT stands for qualité de vie et des conditions de travail, or quality of life and working conditions. The concept comes from the French national interprofessional agreement of 9 December 2020 on occupational health, which builds on the quality of working life (QVT) approach defined by the agreement of 19 June 2013 by explicitly including working conditions.
What is the difference between QVT and QVCT?
QVCT extends QVT. The agreement of 9 December 2020 proposes to revise the traditional approach to quality of working life to include the quality of working conditions, seen as a lever for quality of work and primary prevention.
Which topics does QVCT cover?
The agreement mentions in particular the balance between spheres of life and the right to disconnect, the conditions in which work is carried out, the usefulness and meaning of work, employee expression and participation, and the prevention of psychosocial risks.
Sources
- Légifrance, Accord national interprofessionnel du 9 décembre 2020 relatif à la prévention renforcée et à une offre renouvelée en matière de santé au travail et conditions de travail, consulted on 4 October 2026.
- Légifrance, Accord national interprofessionnel du 19 juin 2013 relatif à une politique d’amélioration de la qualité de vie au travail et de l’égalité professionnelle.
- INRS, Bien-être au travail : ce qu’il faut retenir, page updated on 5 January 2018, consulted on 7 October 2026.