QWL Week (QVCT): dates, activity ideas and how to organise it

Written by Tony Demeulemeester, Co-founder & COO @ Eli

February 17, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026 · 14 min read

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A poster in the lift, a lunchtime webinar, a fruit basket on Monday morning. Then nothing. Plenty of QWL weeks look like that. France's Quality of Working Life and Working Conditions Week (Semaine de la QVCT, or SQVCT) deserves better: it is the one week a year when the whole company can talk about real work, and change something by the following Monday.
This guide covers everything you need to run it: the QVCT Week dates, the national theme, who does what, a 5-step method, activity ideas grouped by topic, the budget to plan and answers to the questions HR, health and safety and internal comms teams ask most.


Key takeaways

  • Dates: the 2026 edition ran from 15 to 19 June 2026. Anact has not announced the 2027 dates yet.
  • 2026 theme: "Managing is real work!" ("Manager, c'est tout un travail !"), focused on the role managers play in quality of working life and working conditions.
  • Not mandatory: taking part in the national week is optional. Your own QWL week can run on other dates.
  • The method: diagnose, pick a theme, build a 5-day programme, communicate, then measure and keep it going.
  • The trap: a week of activities with no link to how work is actually organised. People remember it for a week, no longer.

QWL Week, QVCT, SQVCT: what are we talking about?

The Week for Quality of Working Life and Working Conditions is an annual national event in France. It is run by the Anact-Aract network (France's national agency for the improvement of working conditions and its regional branches), together with the Ministry of Labour.
The name has changed. It used to be "QWL Week" (Semaine de la QVT). Since the national cross-industry agreement (ANI) of 9 December 2020, the French term is QVCT: quality of working life and working conditions. That extra "C" widens the scope. The approach is no longer only about how people feel. It also covers the objective conditions of work: organisation, workload, physical environment, risk prevention. You will also see SQVT, SQVCT or "workplace wellbeing week": they all refer to the same event.
The week is open to every sector and every company size, public and private. HR, internal comms and health and safety teams usually lead it, together with employee representatives.

QVCT Week dates: 2026 and 2027

QVCT Week 2026: 15 to 19 June

QVCT Week 2026 ran from Monday 15 to Friday 19 June 2026, all over France. Its theme: "Managing is real work!". Anact put the spotlight on the work of managers: regulating workload, talking about work to improve it, supporting the people who lead teams.
The national programme included a launch event at the Ministry of Labour in Paris on 15 June, practical webinars and regional meetings run by the Aract agencies.
Previous editions set the tone:
  • 2024 (17 to 21 June): "Anticipating tomorrow's work"
  • 2025 (16 to 20 June): "Talking about work is productive!"
  • 2026 (15 to 19 June): "Managing is real work!"

QVCT Week 2027: dates to come

Anact will announce the dates and theme of QVCT Week 2027. They have not been published yet. Recent editions have all taken place in mid-June, so you can pencil in a provisional slot now. We will update this article as soon as the official dates are out.
Good to know: nothing ties your QWL week to the national dates. Many companies move it to avoid a peak in activity, a closing period or high season. Your own week, or even two well-prepared themed days, beats a national week your teams have no time for.


Why run a QWL week?

Because it gives you an official reason to talk about work. Not the ideal work of the strategy slides: real work, with its overrunning meetings, its 10 pm emails and the same movement repeated eight hours a day.
In practice, a well-run QWL week helps you:
  • Launch or relaunch a QWL approach: share a diagnosis with employees and their representatives, then announce an action plan.
  • Meet your prevention duties: French labour law (articles L4121-1 and following of the Code du travail) requires employers to protect their employees' physical and mental health. The week does not replace that work. It makes it visible.
  • Bring everyone on board: head office, sites, frontline teams, remote workers. It is often the only week when the night-shift operator and the CFO join the same programme.
  • Surface pain points: workload, tools, schedules. And fix two or three straight away, to prove the approach is not cosmetic.
  • Strengthen your employer brand: a sincere QWL approach shows, inside and outside the company.
Quality of working life rarely improves in a week. But a week can kick off what improves it all year. For the deeper levers, see our guide to improving working conditions.

Who runs the QWL week?

A successful QWL week relies on a small, cross-functional steering committee that meets three or four times before the event. A typical line-up:
  • HR: leads the diagnosis, coordinates, signs off content.
  • Internal comms: communication plan, materials, channels.
  • Health and safety: activities tied to occupational risks and the company's risk assessment.
  • Employee representatives: the employees' voice, co-design of the programme, relays on the ground.
  • Frontline managers: free up time for their teams, adjust workload during the week.
  • Volunteer ambassadors: one per site or team, to run challenges and bring feedback back.
Involve managers early. Give them a simple kit: why this week matters, the programme, a script to run a 30-minute QWL huddle with their team. Above all, give them explicit permission to block time. A QWL week nobody has time for does the opposite of what you want.

5 steps to organise your QWL week

Allow 8 to 12 weeks of preparation for a first edition. A lighter version can come together in 4 to 6 weeks if you rely on internal resources.

Step 1: diagnose your employees' needs

Start from what teams actually experience, not from a catalogue of activities. Four to six weeks before the event:
  • Run a short anonymous survey (10 to 15 questions) on workload, stress, ergonomics, recognition and remote work. To keep it from being ignored, see why QWL surveys get so little engagement and how to do better, and borrow from these 20 essential questions for a satisfaction survey.
  • Add one or two discussion groups on pilot sites, with managers and employees.
  • Group the results into broad themes and keep three priorities. They will shape the whole programme.
  • Share a summary with employees. Showing that you read their answers is already a QWL action.


Step 2: pick a theme and measurable goals

Choose a company theme that brings people together, inspired by the national theme and rooted in your priorities. For example: "Talk about work to work better together", "Rebalancing our hybrid rhythms" or "Managing well at a distance".
Then set goals you can check on Friday:
  • the share of employees reached by at least one activity;
  • the number of responses to the end-of-week survey;
  • the number of improvement ideas raised per team;
  • two or three concrete commitments announced at the end of the week.
Have leadership announce the theme, in a few lines or a short video, three weeks before launch.

Step 3: build a balanced 5-day programme

One day, one topic. A sample outline:
  • Monday: management and real work. Opening talk, team quiz.
  • Tuesday: mental health and psychosocial risks. Stress workshop, guided breathing.
  • Wednesday: organisation and remote work. Ergonomics session, team rules on switching off.
  • Thursday: cooperation and dialogue. Work café, feedback workshop.
  • Friday: wrap-up. Results, the week's challenge winners, a social moment.
Mix short formats (15 minutes in the morning) with one-hour workshops. Plan at least one remote-friendly activity per half-day, and early or late slots for shift teams. Got other key dates on your calendar? Disability Week (SEEPH), November 16-22, 2026, works with the same playbook.

Step 4: prepare your internal communication

A QWL week is often won before Monday. A simple countdown to slot into your communication plan:
  • D-21: teaser, theme announcement.
  • D-14: full programme, sign-ups open.
  • D-7: targeted reminders, ambassador stories.
  • D-3: final reminders, manager kit sent.
  • During the week: one message each morning with the day's theme, a nudge mid-week.
Use every channel: email, intranet, posters with QR codes in shared spaces, team meetings, a mobile app for people without a desk. And favour formats where people do something (a quiz, a quick poll, a challenge) over formats where they only read.

Step 5: measure, share, keep it going

Track participation during the week: sign-ups, actual attendance, content viewed, gaps between teams or sites. If a format is not landing, adjust by Wednesday.
Send a short satisfaction survey on Friday or the following Monday: five to ten questions on the activities, the themes and what to improve. To pick your indicators, see these ways to measure the impact of internal communication.
Then share the results and announce two or three quick decisions: an email charter after 7 pm, a meeting-free morning, a workstation redesigned. That is the difference between a week people remember and a week they forget.

QWL week activity ideas

A good QWL activity always links an enjoyable moment to a question about work. Tuesday's yoga will not last if Wednesday's meetings still start at 6 pm. To structure your activities beyond the week, see our method for effective, measurable QWL activities.
One idea that cuts across everything: a team challenge running all week. Each day, one short action tied to the day's theme (move for 10 minutes, ask a colleague a question about their work, try a switch-off rule), a leaderboard by team, a collective result announced on Friday.


Mental health and psychosocial risks

  • A one-hour workshop on stress, sleep or mental load, led by an occupational psychologist.
  • 15-minute breathing or guided meditation sessions, available on replay.
  • A short quiz on the early signs of psychosocial risks and the support available in the company.
  • An anonymous question box to hear what really weighs on people.
Tie every workshop back to how work is organised: overtime, late emails, meetings that overrun. And attach a commitment, such as a right-to-disconnect charter.

Ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders

  • 20 to 30-minute ergonomics sessions at the workstation, on site or by video, for seated, standing or warehouse work.
  • Warm-ups or stretches at the start of a shift, led by a physiotherapist or coach.
  • A workshop on setting up a home workstation: screen, chair, light.
  • A team challenge: "10 minutes of movement a day".

Dialogue and cooperation

  • Work cafés in small groups (12 people max) to talk about real difficulties and possible fixes.
  • A workshop on feedback and handling disagreement, in mixed teams.
  • A "one conversation about work a day" challenge, with a guiding question every morning.
  • A quick poll after each workshop to keep track of ideas.
These moments also build team cohesion, as long as the ideas raised get an answer.

Management and remote work

  • Manager-only sessions: regulating workload, leading a remote team, spotting warning signs.
  • Mixed manager and employee workshops to co-design team rules: hours, channels, the right to disconnect.
  • A 45-minute Q&A with leadership on how work is organised (hybrid, flex office, objectives).
  • A dedicated team meeting to pick one or two quick fixes for everyday irritants.

CSR and employer brand

  • Round tables on digital sobriety, the green transition at work or skills-based volunteering.
  • Short CSR content journeys, with a quiz to check what stuck.
  • Workshops on inclusion, gender equality and diversity.
  • Stories from engaged employees, tracked with clearly defined CSR KPIs.

Sport and physical activity

  • A stretching or mobility session to start the day.
  • A Pilates class to build strength and prevent musculoskeletal disorders.
  • A collective step challenge by team, all week long.
  • Nutrition or sleep workshops on the side.
Schedule these activities in slots that fit people's rotas, or only the most available will come.


Green initiatives at work

  • Bring plants into a shared space with volunteer teams.
  • Launch or relaunch sorting and recycling, with a challenge by department.
  • Switch to non-toxic cleaning products, and explain why.
  • Run a short awareness session on everyday sustainable habits.
To equip all of these ideas, see also our 5 tools to improve quality of life at work.

What budget should you plan for a QWL week?

The budget depends on how ambitious the programme is and how big the company is. Three indicative scenarios:
  • Essential (€500 to €1,500): internal facilitators, digital materials, free online resources.
  • Comfort (€2,000 to €4,000): two or three external speakers, a structured communication kit.
  • Ambitious (€5,000 and up): a full programme with several experts, video capture, content you can reuse all year.
The main cost lines: external speakers, logistics (rooms, equipment, stands on each site), communication and digital tools. A few high-impact activities beat a packed programme nobody benefits from. And a tool you also use for the rest of the year's campaigns pays for itself well beyond the week.


How Eli can help

Eli turns your QWL week into a series of 90-second team challenges, completed on any phone. Each day brings a short piece of content on the day's theme, a quiz and one concrete action to take that day. Teams meet in a shared feed, with leaderboards, reactions and shared wins.
For HR and internal comms, the campaign comes together in minutes from a QWL challenge template. You track participation team by team and site by site, and you see what actually happens on the ground, not just open rates. Shift workers and deskless teams take part just like head office.


FAQ

When is QVCT Week?
QVCT Week 2026 took place from 15 to 19 June 2026, on the theme "Managing is real work!". The 2027 dates have not been announced yet: Anact will publish them. Recent editions have all taken place in mid-June. Your company can also run its QWL week on other dates.
Is QWL Week mandatory?
No. No company is required to take part in the national week. However, the general duty to prevent risks and protect employees' health (French Labour Code, articles L4121-1 and following) applies all year round. A QWL week is a good way to make it concrete and visible.
What activities should you run during QWL Week?
Start from the three priorities in your diagnosis. The strongest themes: mental health and psychosocial risks, ergonomics, dialogue about work, management and remote work, CSR, physical activity. Link every activity to a question about how work is organised, and add a team challenge running all week to keep the momentum from Monday to Friday.
How do you involve shift workers and frontline teams?
Go where they are. 15-minute micro-workshops at the workplace, mobile stands, slots early in the morning or at the end of a shift, short content on smartphones and replays. Frontline managers are decisive: they arrange cover and free up time. Without them, QWL stays a head-office affair.
How long does it take to prepare a QWL week?
Allow 8 to 12 weeks for a first edition: diagnosis, programme, speakers, communication. A lighter version takes 4 to 6 weeks with internal resources and a few clear priorities. A consistent common thread beats a list of unrelated activities.
Do you need external speakers?
Not necessarily. Health and safety staff, occupational psychologists, trained managers and volunteer ambassadors can carry much of the programme, and people own it all the more. One or two external speakers bring a fresh eye on sensitive topics such as psychosocial risks or ergonomics. The right balance: a few targeted external sessions, the rest run in-house.
How do you make the effects of QWL Week last?
Turn the feedback into a yearly action plan, with short, medium and long-term commitments. Deliver the quick decisions announced on Friday fast: that is what makes the approach credible. Then schedule regular campaigns through the year, one per quarter for example, and track participation over time. QWL Week is a starting point, not a break.

A QWL week does not need to be spectacular. It needs to be useful: a real diagnosis, a programme that talks about real work, teams that take part, and two or three visible changes the following Monday.
Ready to plan your next QWL week? Book a demo of Eli and see how to turn it into a campaign your employees get hooked to.