Work-Life Balance: Statistics & Facts

Being satisfied with your work implies having better work-life quality. But the fact that you love your job doesn't mean that you should neglect relationships with your family and friends. Maintaining a work-life balance is vital as well.

In this article, we'll cover the most significant elements of:

• Work-life quality, and
• Work-life balance. 

We'll talk about work-life quality and balance and how different types of work settings impact our work-life balance.

Also, we'll discuss how various generations perceive work-life balance and how work-life quality and balance can affect employee turnover.

Finally, we'll review the statistics for work-life balance around the world and what the future of the workforce brings.

What is work-life balance?

Alongside the modern way of living, growing economies, and fast-paced lifestyles came the inability to separate work from personal life. People nowadays deal with working excessively long hours and have little quality time at their disposal. 

Finding the right balance seems to be quite burdensome these days. 

But, what does the expression ‘work-life balance’ really mean? 

Simply put, it’s the ability to separate work from personal life, but it seems like there’s much more to this topic than meets the eye. 

Let's deep dive and take a look at the various definitions of work-life balance:

"Achieving satisfying experiences in all life domains and to do so requires personal resources such as energy, time, and commitment to be well distributed across domains." Kirchmeyer (2000)

"The extent to which a person can concurrently balance the emotional, behavioral, and time demands of both paid work, personal, and family responsibilities." Hill, et al. (2001)

"The degree to which an individual's effectiveness and satisfaction in the roles of work and family domain are well-matched with the individual's life priorities." Greenhaus and Allen (2006)

"Work-life balance is about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work." Fleetwood (2007)

"Accomplishment of role-related expectations that are negotiated and shared between an individual and his/her role-related partners in the work and family domains." Grzywacz and Carlson (2007)

Based on its different definitions, the term ‘work-life balance’ is not as straightforward as it might seem at first glance. Apart from being able to keep your personal and work life separate, having a good work life balance also entails that you’re able to: 

• Allocate your resources, such as time or energy properly, 
• Manage your emotions, 
• Realistically assess your role at work or home, and more.

The major elements of work-life balance

As the work-life balance expert, Jeff Davidson believes, there are 6 elements of work-life balance:

1. Self-management
   Taking care of personal needs, such as eating, sleeping, and exercising, plays a significant role in your work-life balance. If you don't sleep well, for instance, you're tired, and that impacts your work, too. 
2. Time management
   Deciding on priorities and how you'll manage your time throughout the day can be challenging. Davidson suggests setting goals and distinguishing between urgent and important tasks. Learning how to prioritize your tasks is also the essence of the Eisenhower matrix technique, which can improve your time management skills.
3. Stress management
   Dealing with distractions in the workplace can cause stress which may lead to a lack of productivity. So, to decrease your stress levels, you need to find a way to adapt to an environment that is full of distractions. Also, Davidson points out that you should avoid multitasking because switching between projects and tasks can be stressful, too.
4. Managing change
   No matter where you work and what you do, it's likely that your job requires you to get used to frequent changes. To manage these changes better, you need to ensure that the volume of the change does not overwhelm you. This applies to any modifications in your private life, too.
5. Managing technology
   The technology you use should make your life easier — not more complicated. Remember that you rule technology, not the other way around. Therefore, opt for apps and software that are intuitive and user-friendly.
6. Managing leisure time
   Taking time off is a vital element of achieving a work-life balance. Besides, be sure to spend your leisure time doing various activities in order to avoid monotony.

What is quality of work life?

The concept of work-life quality, otherwise known as quality of work life (QWL), was first coined in 1972, at the International Labor Relations conference.

To see how this concept evolved over time we’ve gathered the definitions of quality of work life and divided them by decades encompassing the period of time between 1970s and 2010s.

Quality of work life definitions during the 1970s

The following are some expert quotes from the 1970s that define quality of work life:

"QWL in terms of relation between man and his task." Beinum (1974)

"Involves the satisfaction and motivation in the workplace." Hackman and Oldham (1975)

"QWL is a set of beneficial consequences of working life for the individual, the organization and society." Boisvert (1977)

Quality of work life definitions during the 1980s

Next are the definitions of quality of work life from the perspective of different experts during the 1980s:

"The level to which employees are able to satisfy their personal needs not only in terms of material matters but also of self-respect, contentment and an opportunity to use their talents making a contribution for personal growth." Dessler (1981)

"A way of thinking about people, work and organizations. Its distinctive elements are: A concern about the impact of work on people as well as on organizational effectiveness; The idea of participation in organizational problem solving and decision making." Nadler and Lawler (1983)

"Two perspectives — it is as a goal and an organizational process. As a goal, QWL is the commitment of any organization to work improvement: the creation of more involving, satisfying and effective jobs and work environments for people at all the levels of the organization. As a process, QWL calls for an effort to realize this goal through the active involvement of people throughout the organization." Carlson (1983)

Quality of work life definitions during the 1990s

The definitions from the 1990s also highlight the importance of finding the right balance between personal needs and work:

"It means something different to each and every individual, and is likely to vary according to the individual's age, career stage and/or position in the industry." Kieman and Knutson (1990)

"The degree to which individuals are able to satisfy their important personal needs." Bernadian and Russell (1993)

"The way of thinking about others, work, and the organization which is concerned about workers' wellbeing and organizational effectiveness." Cummings and Worley (1997)

Quality of work life definitions during the 2000s

The beginning of the 21st century underlines the significance of a workplace that provides safety, growth, and satisfaction:

"The favorable working environment that supports and promotes satisfaction by providing employees with rewards, job security and career growth opportunities." Lau (2000)

"A variety of needs through resources, activities, and outcomes stemming from participation in the workplace." Sirgy, Efraty, Siegel, and Lee (2001)

“Quality of work life, at a given time, corresponds to the condition of an individual in his or her dynamic pursuit of his or her hierarchically organized goals within work domains where the reduction of the gap separating the individual from these goals is reflected by a positive impact on the individual’s general quality of life, organizational performance, and consequently to the overall functioning of society.” Martel and Dupuis (2006)

Quality of work life definitions during the 2010s

Here are the quality of work life definitions starting from 2010s that we’ve selected for you:

"A combination of strategies, procedures and ambiance related to a workplace that altogether, enhance and sustain the employee satisfaction by aiming at improving work conditions for the employees of the organizations." Nazir et al. (2011)

"The perceived extent to which employees can satisfy their important personal needs through their activities in the workplace and experiences in the organization." Šverko and Galić (2014)

"Attitudes of employees towards their job, especially their work outcomes including job satisfaction, mental health, and safety which directly influence organizational outcomes." Mazloumi et al. (2014)

But, for some authors, the crucial part of work-life quality is work-life balance (WLB). In the following lines, we’ll explore other valuable parts of work-life quality.

The major elements of work-life quality

According to Harvard professor Richard Walton, there are 11 major characteristics that impact work-life quality:

1. Employee attitude,
2. Fair compensation and job security,
3. Personal and career growth opportunities,
4. The balance between personal and professional life,
5. Nature of job,
6. Level of stress,
7. Risk and reward,
8. Participative style of leadership,
9. Career prospects,
10. Fun at the workplace, and
11. Alternative work arrangement models.

Let’s explore each of them in more detail.

1. Employee attitude

An employee working in a particular position should have: 

• Adequate skills, 
• Knowledge, 
• Willingness to learn, and 
• Expertise for that position. 

2. Fair compensation and job security

Employee compensation needs to align with their knowledge, skills, expertise, and performance. When compensation is not proportional to these qualities, this may result in employee discontent and decreased productivity. 

Besides, when employees are provided with permanent employment, this type of job security enhances workers' quality of work life.

3. Personal and career growth opportunities

Companies need to ensure that their employees have an opportunity to develop new skills through training and development programs.

4. The balance between personal and professional life

Organizations have to make sure that employees are not overwhelmed with work so that workers can achieve a balance between work and personal life. This way, employees will avoid burnout as well.

5. Nature of job

Some employees tackle repetitive tasks on a daily basis while others’ jobs involve creativity and proactivity. So, depending on the nature of the job, the work-life quality of employees can either decline or improve.

6. Level of stress

If employees experience high levels of stress, their productivity and performance will decrease, which may also negatively affect their quality of work life.

7. Risk and reward

Walton claims that risky and challenging jobs should be paid more than jobs with less risk and challenge. In addition, the rewards that employees get should be proportional to the risks and challenges of that job.

8. Participative style of leadership

Employees should feel a part of an organization. That way, workers would feel free to share their ideas with the managers, and this kind of relationship can help in improving overall work processes.

9. Career prospects

Employers should reward workers who perform well as such rewards result in greater employee engagement, a healthy workplace environment, and reduced employee turnover — to mention a few.

10. Fun at the workplace

Employers should organize occasional game nights or similar activities that help workers unwind.

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11. Alternative work arrangement models

Having flexible work hours and making the most out of compressed workweek results in an enhanced work-life quality for employees.

So, work-life quality is related to employee performance, increased productivity, and overall job satisfaction.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of work-life balance and work-life quality, in the next section, we'll analyze whether diverse work settings affect work-life balance.

Research findings on how different types of work settings affect work-life balance

Your work-life balance is highly dependent on your work environment. That’s why we will evaluate what work-life balance looks like in the following scenarios:

• An on-site setting, 
• A remote work environment, and
• A flexible work setting.

But first, let's clarify the difference between flexible and remote working.

Flexible working implies that you set your own work hours, and you get to choose where you will do your tasks — in the office, at home, or anywhere else. 

On the other hand, working remotely means having the option to choose your work location (home office, library, coworking space). At the same time, work hours can be fixed or flexible, depending on the company's policy.

Now, take a look at how different types of work settings affect work-life balance.

Remote work and its impact on work-life balance

You might be wondering whether remote work has a positive impact on work-life balance. Well, numerous studies claim it does.

According to LinkedIn’s research from October 2022, remote work has a positive influence on work-life balance since 52% of all job applicants looked for remote work job listings. What’s more, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s analysis conducted between May and December 2020 calculated that Americans save 60 million hours of commute time each day thanks to distance working! That time is allocated toward activities such as sleeping, socializing, exercising, doing house chores, and similar.

While telecommuting means improved work-life balance for some employees, others find it hard to set boundaries between work and leisure time.

One of the most common reasons remote workers can't have a proper work-life balance is a lack of clear work boundaries (answering emails during off-hours, lack of routines, and similar).

When working remotely, some employees feel like they have to prove themselves more than on-site employees. The phenomenon called proximity bias, where higher management tends to favor employees who work from the office twists the knife in the remote workers’ wounds even more. Namely, distance workers often go above and beyond to get a promotion, for instance, or just to prove their worth.

Hybrid work schedule: How to make it work | Habits for crafting the perfect remote work day

You are about to find out some of the most common reasons for work-life imbalance while working remotely based on different research findings.

Remote work and work-life imbalance findings

In 2022, a technology provider Fasthost surveyed 2,000 office employees in the UK to find out how receiving emails during off-hours impacts their work-life balance. The results were disappointing — 67% of the respondents would reply to after-hours emails in most cases while 16% of them replied in any event. The time spent in replying to off-hour emails can go up to 3 hours per day, based on the survey. As a result, the after-work emails disrupted the respondents’ leisure time, and many of them stated they feared for their career when they wouldn’t reply to such emails.

Next, Microsoft conducted the Work trend index report that gathered data from 6,000 employees — both firstline and remote workers from eight countries (Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan, India, Singapore, the UK, and the US). The report collected insights from March to August 2020.

According to Microsoft’s findings, employees struggled to find a clear separation between work and life, and here are the results in more detail:

• The number of Microsoft Teams users who sent after-hours chat has doubled, 
• There was a 69% growth in the number of chats per person, after hours, and
• The number of meetings and calls per week increased by 55%.

According to different research by London South Bank University — remote communication can have a negative effect on employee well-being at work. This study lasted 10 days, and it included 102 remote workers from the UK. The goal of this survey was to analyze levels of exposure to remote communication and its impact on employee well-being.

The results demonstrated that teleworking is directly related to higher levels of tiredness, which researchers call "Zoom fatigue." 

Namely, video conferencing turned out to be more exhausting and overwhelming than asynchronous communication, like emails.

Working remotely vs. working on-site 

In their study, Airtasker evaluated 1,004 full-time employees from the United States, out of which 505 were telecommuters.

This survey proved that finding a balance between work and life seems to be an issue for many workers. Here are the exact percentages of employees who can't balance these two areas:

• Remote employees: 29%, and
• Office workers: 23%.

Some possible reasons for not having achieved work-life balance could be:

1. Experiencing stress and anxiety during the workday,
2. Feeling overwhelmed and leaving work early because of that, or
3. Having a low motivation to work, which results in skipped work.

As you can see from the chart above, these obstacles present a greater concern for remote workers.

Flexible vs. non-flexible working

When it comes to benefits that both flexible and non-flexible workplaces have to offer — numbers are certainly in favor of flexible work arrangements. Namely, 8 in 10 people chose a hybrid or remote work arrangement, according to a Gallup poll in 2022.

Based on FlexJobs’s research from 2022, 87% of the respondents stated that having a flexible work arrangement — whether remote or hybrid — changed their work-life balance for better. A devastating number of 3% of the respondents said they wanted to work from the office.

Seems like having flexible work options positively influences employee productivity as well. Another research showed that 35-40% of workers with flexible work settings are more productive than in-office employees. 

What’s more, employees with a flexible workplace report having better mental health, too.

Furthermore, the FlexJobs company explored the work-life balance of employees with a flexible work setting and those without it. According to their findings, 67% of the respondents stated that work-life balance is the primary reason workers search for flexible jobs. 

Now, according to their results, these are the key areas that show differences between employees with flexible work options and those without:

1. Work-life balance,
2. Stress levels and work-life balance, and
3. Relationships with their boss.

This survey demonstrates that work-life balance increases while stress levels decrease with a flexible work schedule. In addition, employee-boss relationships vary depending on the work setting of an employee.

But, apart from different work environments, another factor that can affect employee approach to work-life balance is their age. 

In the next section, you will find out about certain studies that show how diverse generations have a different understanding of work-life balance.

Work-life balance and different generations

Since each generation can have its own perception of work-life balance, it's up to employers to identify these differences in opinions. Thus, employers will be able to create an environment that promotes work-life balance for all employees — no matter the age.

Let’s examine how four generations define work-life balance:

• Baby Boomers,
• Gen X,
• Millennials, and
• Gen Z.

Baby Boomers and work-life balance

Baby Boomers encompass everyone born between 1945 and 1960. 

For them, finding a proper job and earning a living has been a challenging task. Therefore, they appreciated every opportunity for employment and wanted stability in the workplace.

For Baby Boomers, work-life balance was never a prime concern. They also had a tendency to stay longer with the company compared to the next generation. Given that they haven't considered work-life balance as a key factor in their life, 80% of Baby Boomers have moderate to high levels of stress due to trying to juggle careers, personal health issues, taking care of grandchildren, and the like.

Gen X and Work-Life Balance

Gen X involves people born between 1961 and 1980. 

Being the children of Baby Boomers, Gen Xers grew up seeing their parents working too much, with very little work-life balance.

Unlike their parents, people from the Gen X generation give high priority to work-life balance. The Gen Xers enjoy using their PTO to spend some quality time with their families. Therefore, for this generation, a proper work-life balance is a mandatory requirement when looking for a job.

PTO vs vacation: what is the difference?

Millennials and Work-Life Balance

People born between 1981 and 2000 (also known as Millennials) have already been part of the workforce for a while. 

Interestingly, employers worldwide believe that Millennials want their workspace to be a place for having fun in between tasks. Thus, employers add gaming rooms and chilling zones to make a workplace "Millennial-friendly." However, these perks aren't always the most significant element when Millennials choose their jobs.

According to a 2022 Oyster report, a job that offers a great deal of flexibility is one of the most important traits they look for in a new job.

More than 75% of surveyed Millennials pointed out that flexible working hours and ability to work from home are at the top of their list, based on the results. 

Besides, another study shows that, when it comes to Millennials and their careers, this generation emphasizes an "opportunity to learn and grow" among their priorities during a job search. Plus, this aspect ensures that Millennials will stay with the company longer. Thus, it also means lower employee turnover.

Generation Z and Work-Life Balance

Last but not least — Gen Z or ‘zoomers’ born during the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2010s appear to be pretty similar to Millennials, at least according to the said 2022 Oyster report. 

It seems like 68.95% of the respondents value the ability to work from anywhere, as the freedom of choosing their work environment would offer them a better work-life balance. Though a smaller percentage than their older counterparts, Millennials (around 75%), still the two of them are on the top of the list when it comes to seeking remote work perks in a job. Alongside the distance work requirements, they also expect flexible working hours (around 75% of the respondents) from their future employers.

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But, do employees actually leave the company due to a lack of work-life balance? And do they quit if they're unsatisfied with their work-life quality? We'll approach this problem in the next section.

Work-life quality and work-life balance and how they affect employee turnover

Employee turnover is the total number of workers who have left a company during one period, usually one year. Turnover can also refer to subcategories within a firm, such as employees who quit their jobs and all come from one department.

An employee turnover can be:

1. Voluntary — when an employee chooses to leave due to personal reasons, and
2. Involuntary — when an employer chooses to fire an employee because of their poor performance or similar reasons.

In the following section we'll evaluate the connection between voluntary employee turnover, work-life quality, and work-life balance.

Work-life quality and employee turnover

To find out whether work-life quality impacts employee turnover of Malaysian nurses, an in-depth survey was conducted from February to April 2019. The nursing shortage in Malaysia has been one of the most critical issues for the health industry in this country since 2016.

The total number of participants was 430, mainly females (93%). The majority of respondents had less than 6 years of experience (85%).

The results of the survey show that for the nurses, work-life quality is a vital element "in promoting their obligation and retention in their organization." Also, the results prove that highly committed nurses are more loyal to the company. Therefore, it is confirmed that employee commitment can lower employee turnover.

But, the results of this study suggest that employers should be aware of their employees' most critical needs. Thus, by getting to know their employees’ needs, employers are able to help workers improve their quality of work life. As a consequence, employees will be more committed to the organization and will be less likely to quit their jobs.

Work-life balance and employee turnover

A different survey aimed to analyze whether work-life balance can influence employee turnover. This study evaluated Millennial generation employees from woodworking companies. The reason the researchers chose Millennials as their participants is because this generation is known for changing jobs often. Plus, one of the major factors that impact the job satisfaction of Millennial workers is work-life balance.

The findings of this study demonstrate that companies that invest in employee work-life balance can decrease employee turnover. So, when employees have a proper work-life balance, they tend to stay longer with the company.

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Now, another area we'd like to discuss in this article is how your location can impact your work-life balance. Since the average working hours per country can vary across the globe, your work-life balance might highly depend on your location.  

Work-life balance around the globe

In this section, we'll take a closer look at the importance of work-life balance in:

• OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries,
• US, and
• Singapore.

OECD countries and work-life balance statistics

First, let’s clarify that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) consists of 38 countries. You can see the list in the table below. 

*Costa Rica became a member of the OECD countries in 2021.

As stated in the OECD research from 2020, work-life balance means, among other things, "some sense of the balance between both paid and unpaid work." In this study, paid work implies hours spent at work, while unpaid work implies caring responsibilities, cooking, and cleaning. The survey gathered data from 37 OECD countries (when the survey was conducted in 2020, there were 37 OECD countries) and 4 partner countries.

The OECD research analyzed how much time off full-time employees take. However, it's worth noting that the "time off" term here doesn't entail vacation days.

Instead, in this study, time off covers:

1. Personal care time — the time we spend sleeping, eating, drinking, and doing other activities related to personal care, and
2. Leisure time — time we spend with our friends and family, practicing sports, attending various social events, watching TV, listening to music, and similar activities.

How to track time off and vacations of your employees

Across 37 OECD countries, the average time off is around 15 hours per day. In Japan, employees dedicate only 14 hours to time off during the day. On the other hand, in Italy, workers allocate up to 16.5 hours per day to their personal care and leisure time.

The gender and age gaps in taking time off

The same study from 2020 also analyzed whether there are differences between men and women when it comes to taking time off. 

The results show that men spend more time doing personal care and leisure activities than women. Although the average gap here is around 45 minutes, men in Italy dedicate up to 1 hour 30 minutes more than women taking time off.

At the same time, there are two countries where women enjoy taking more time off than men, and they include The Netherlands and Norway.

When comparing diverse generations and how satisfied they are with their time use (on a scale from 0 to 10), here are the key differences:

• The average mark for the younger generation (employees from 15 to 29 years old) — 7,
• The average mark for the middle-aged generation (employees from 30 to 49 years old) — 6.4, and
• The average mark for the older generation (50+ years old employees) — 7.4.

As you can see, the middle-age employees from the OECD seem to be the least satisfied with their time use.

The gender gap in total hours worked

When considering both paid and unpaid work (total hours worked), research on time spent in paid and unpaid work by sex from 2022 shows that women work longer hours than men. On average, women log around 26.8 minutes per day more than men. This applies to almost every OECD country.

However, the largest gender gaps in time spent in total work for 2022 are found in:

1. Italy,
2. Greece,
3. Spain,
4. Estonia, and
5. Hungary.

In these countries, women work even more than one hour than men, when it comes to total work. In Italy, for instance, women work 1 hour and 28 minutes more than men.

Then again, there are some states where men work more than women:

1. Mexico,
2. Norway,
3. New Zealand, and
4. The Netherlands.

In these countries, based on the 2022 findings, men work up to 18 minutes more than women, on average. In Mexico, for example, men work up to 42 minutes more than women.

Now, you might be wondering why women work longer hours but here's why — women have longer hours of unpaid work, such as doing household chores, taking care of their children and elderly family members, grocery shopping, and dealing with services for the household. On average, women spend two hours more than men per day doing unpaid work.

At the same time, men have longer hours in paid work compared to women. In this case, men log almost one hour and 40 minutes more per day, when it comes to paid work.

Emotional labor: What it is and what it is not, and how to manage it

US and work-life balance statistics

The Joblist did a study on work-life balance in the United States. For this purpose, they surveyed 1,061 full-time employees.

According to their findings, 70.9% of participants believe that achieving a work-life balance is possible. This research divided the data into three categories:

• By generation,
• By gender, and
• By parental status.

Work-life balance in the US by generation

In all categories, the participants had to answer the following question: 

"How realistic is it for employees to seek a work-life balance?"

Here's what different generations of workers had to say on searching for a work-life balance:

• Baby Boomers:
• Realistic — 77.1%
• Neither realistic nor unrealistic — 3.8%
• Unrealistic — 19.1%
• Generation X:
• Realistic — 70.8%
• Neither realistic nor unrealistic — 2.8%
• Unrealistic — 26.5%
• Millennials:
• Realistic — 67.5%
• Neither realistic nor unrealistic — 5.9%
• Unrealistic — 26.6%

To sum up, out of these three generations, those who were most likely to presume that keeping a work-life balance is possible were the oldest ones — Baby Boomers. On the contrary, those who had the impression that keeping a work-life balance is unrealistic were the youngest ones — Millennials.

Work-life balance in the US by gender and parental status

Now, apart from the fact that the answers were classified by generation, another category was the gender and parental status of the participants.

Here's how workers perceive an issue of work-life balance, depending on their gender and whether they have children.

• Men (non-parents):
• Realistic — 74.9%,
• Neither realistic nor unrealistic — 4.4%
• Unrealistic — 20.7%
• Men (parents):
• Realistic — 70.7%,
• Neither realistic nor unrealistic — 3.1%
• Unrealistic — 26.2%

Full-time employed men without children are more likely to believe that seeking a work-life balance is possible. However, this isn't the case with men with children. There's a greater percentage of those who think that achieving a work-life balance is unrealistic.

Let's see how women feel about the work-life balance issue.

• Women (non-parents):
• Realistic — 69.4%,
• Neither realistic nor unrealistic — 4.7%
• Unrealistic — 25.9%
• Women (parents):
• Realistic — 69.0%,
• Neither realistic nor unrealistic — 4.7%
• Unrealistic — 26.4%

We can see that full-time employed women gave almost the same answers, regardless of the fact if they are mothers. But, if you compare statistics for men and women, you'll notice that, in general, working parents are struggling to find a work-life balance.

In addition, 30.9% of the participants pointed out that they would rather have a lower income if that would mean better work-life balance.

This survey also analyzed the downtime of participants —  time spent relaxing and doing any activities outside of work hours:

• Non-parents — Both men and women said they spend 20 hours of downtime per week, and
• Parents — Men reported spending 15 hours, while women 10 hours of downtime per week.

Just like before, working parents can't seem to find that much time to relax during the week, especially working mothers. In fact, their findings show that working parents have 25% to 50% less downtime than non-parents.

Singapore and work-life balance statistics 

Singapore being one of the most overworked cities in the world, we’ve decided to get more details about Singaporeans’ stress levels at work and how they perceive work-life balance. 

We came across a survey conducted in September 2021 by Randstad — a leading human resources solutions agency — and the results were discouraging. 

Namely, a whooping 65% of respondents (aged from 18 to 67) experienced more stress at work following the pandemic which also made them rethink their priorities such as improving their work-life balance.

The age group that feels most stressed out in the workplace turns out to be the one aged between 18 and 44 (7 in 10 respondents). On the other hand, the least stressed out age group is the one between 55 and 67 (only 48% of respondents). This difference has to do with the fact that younger generations feel more pressure due to their desire to climb the corporate ladder, get a raise, and generally achieve more success at work. Unlike them, mature respondents already have careers and are more focused on their retirement hence the lower stress levels.

When asked what would also aid their work-life balance, 42% of the respondents stated that they would appreciate a caring and respectful employer who doesn’t have unrealistic expectations.

Maintaining work-life balance in the hybrid work model

Nowadays, the worldwide workforce revolves mainly around on-site and remote work, but hybrid work as well. Many global companies have started switching their work setting partially or entirely to teleworking, and even providing their employees with a blend of both — hybrid work.

When working remotely or from home, your work and personal life start to mingle. So, these two areas eventually get more interconnected. That's why you find it hard to separate work from free time. Besides, this can affect your happiness and overall work-life balance. Therefore, you need to be content both with your private and work life to achieve this balance.

According to the previously mentioned FlexJobs’s report, a whopping 87% of workers said that a flexible work arrangement — either remote or hybrid — would aid in improving their work-life balance. Around 35% of employees would prefer a hybrid workplace completely.   

The hybrid work model offers employees:

• More flexibility with their schedule,
• Freedom when it comes to taking breaks,
• Self-care benefits (bet you can’t afford to meditate in between tasks in an office environment), and
• A more content life overall. 

As a result, workers can have a better work-life balance because they'll organize their work according to other personal activities, not the other way around.

Conclusion: Finding a proper work-life balance is the key to leading a fulfilling life

When you're happy with your work life, your productivity and performance will thrive. Therefore, your overall work-life quality will be enhanced, too. But, keep in mind you still need to find the right balance between your job and free time.

Numerous studies prove that there are many factors that impact your work-life balance, such as: 

• Diverse work settings, 
• Flexible work hours, and
• Working conditions. 

Apart from that, it is confirmed that there is a connection between employee turnover and work-life balance and quality. Also, surveys prove that work-life balance varies across the globe.

Be that as it may, no matter our age, gender, or where we live on the planet, a proper work-life balance allows us to achieve a fulfilled life and should be accounted for as a social norm in every workplace.