How to achieve a good work-life balance

A poor work-life balance is an issue for almost a third of UK workers, according to research. Not only can this cause our relationships to be strained and our home life happiness to dip, it can also have an impact on our mental health. Here, we take a look at the best ways in which to manage a good work-life balance and look at what other countries do well.

The current situation

In general, adults in the UK feel like they are overworked. Maintaining a healthy balance between home and work life seems to become more difficult as we get older, with statistics showing that the younger the employee, the less likely they are to identify work-life balance as an important part of their job. The task of juggling a family alongside a job is also difficult for many to manage with statistics revealing that 75% of working parents suffer stress and anxiety as a result of their work-life balance management.

While businesses on the whole aim to operate at maximum capacity, this can take its toll. Research found that as a person’s weekly hours increase, so do their feelings of unhappiness. Of course, this is no surprise. Even for those who don’t work long hours, there is still the issue of ‘switching off’ and disconnecting from what’s happened at the office. In fact, one third of European workers said that a bad day at work affected their personal life.

The more we work, the less time we have to spend with loved ones. It also leads to us having less time to focus on accomplishing goals that aren’t work-related and less time to pursue our hobbies and dreams. But, many of us feel as though there’s nothing we can do about it.

How do people manage in other countries?

Britain has the worst work-life balance in comparison to our western European counterparts. What can we learn from our foreign neighbours?

Looking in from the outside, it appears that workers in other countries have more free time to spend outside of work. In Belgium, employees have an average of 8.6 hours of free time per day compared to their 7.4-hour work days, and Netherlands are enjoying the shortest working week at only 30.3 hours. Denmark only spend 6.6 hours at work each day with 8.8 hours each day to spend how they wish, and Austrians are encouraged to start the weekend early with 3pm finishes implemented around the country. Many Germans are able to relax on a Sunday too, as stores are regulated so that they close on Sundays. All of these extra hours add up it seems, with Britons working 325 hours more per year than workers in Germany.

Also, UK workers often work with only half an hour to an hour break per day while foreign employees benefit from multiple breaks throughout the day. The Spanish are famous for their midday siestas which began as an effort to sleep through the hottest period of the day in warmer climates. Although new laws mean that shops have to remain open without a break for naps, some workers still follow the siesta tradition. Or, they take long coffee and lunch breaks with colleagues — something that is widely accepted by employers. Finland also take on the approach that long breaks are good for everyone, and their workers enjoy extra-long lunch breaks that are one to two hours long! If you visited Sweden on business, you’d probably be invited to join them for ‘fika’ — this is a late morning coffee that offices pause to enjoy at around 11am.

Other regulations that help maintain a healthy work-life balance include:

• Belgians are able to take a full month off work to coincide with school breaks.
• Spanish workers have a holiday allowance of 30 days.
• France introduced a law in 2017 that gave workers the ‘right to disconnect’ from after-work emails.
• Swedish workers enjoy 16 months of paid family leave

What can we do?

While we aren’t able to change the regulations of our workplace, we can take on board a few things to help manage our work-life balance.

Firstly, enquire with your employer about dividing your break into several slots. Research has proven that taking regular breaks can improve your productivity, and it therefore could be something that they will support. Split your hour break up into half an hour and two 15-minute breaks to decrease the amount of time spent at your desk at one time. Get some fresh air or spend time talking to family on the phone, taking a small action like this could reduce your stress levels.

If you have a long commute, it can cause stress and depression according to a study. This is one reason to propose flexi-time at your office, where you can skip the traffic at each side of your day and do something more productive. Of course, this isn’t an option for everyone. You could make your commute feel more productive though, by listening to a podcast or audio book that can reduce the stress of rush-hour traffic. Alternatively, going to a gym class near to your work can mean that you miss the bulk of the busy traffic and allows you to fit some exercise into your day as well!

While it’s difficult to stop checking emails outside of work, this should be a must. Think of the long-term issues that mixing home and work life can have and aim to check your emails only for ten minutes on an evening instead of an hour. This is the same for working overtime, unless entirely necessary, make sure you are sticking to the number of hours that you’re contracted to. This can not only affect your mental health but can lead to employers expecting this behaviour at all times.

Be sure to use all your annual holidays so you can recharge and spend crucial time with family. We’re all guilty of using our holidays to run errands or do something that we’ve been putting off, but this isn’t always helpful for our work-life balance. Although we need to do this now and then, annual leave should be used to recuperate, relax and enjoy time away from the office so try to focus on this.

As we can see, it may not be an ideal situation at present for UK workers. However, there are some small changes that you can make. From splitting up your break to making the most of your holidays, being conscious of finding a good split between the office and spare time is the first step to improving your work-life balance.

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Sources

https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/third-workers-poor-work-life-balance/

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/w/work-life-balance

https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/countries-with-best-work-life-balance-in-europe

http://www.cityam.com/268119/eat-sleep-work-repeat-why-uk-has-worst-work-life-balance