UK among worst countries for work-life balance

Something for the weekend: As a nation, we are well-known for complaining. This has been proven in Access People’s latest research, which found that while Spain ranked top for work-life balance, the UK lags behind when compared to other countries.

Conducted by the HR systems specialist, which is part of The Access Group, The work-life balance report 2024 was compiled by analysing the number of paid annual leave days and bank holidays, the amount of fully paid maternity and paternity leave days, and four-day working week policies. An index score out of 100 was calculated for each country, with higher scores ranking further up the list.

Ranking at number 34 out of 40 countries, the UK scored in the middle of the list for minimum number of days of annual leave and number of bank holidays. These are lower than France and Norway, which offer 25 days of annual leave, and Spain, Lithuania and Iceland, which have 14 bank holidays. The UK’s maternity and paternity leave also caused it to rank poorly, along with a lack of legislation on the four-day working week.

The top 10 countries for work-life balance are:

1. Spain (57.92)
2. France (54.89)
3. Kazakhstan (52.63)
4. Lithuania (52.16)
5. Iceland (52.09)
6. Japan (50.43)
7. Norway (49.36)
8. Luxembourg (48.49)
9. New Zealand (48.30)
10. Austria (47.83)

The bottom 10 countries for work-life balance are:

1. Canada (25.53)
2. Switzerland (27.68)
3. Mexico (30.55)
4. China (30.75)
5. USA (33.12)
6. India (33.81)
7. UK (34.00)
8. Australia (34.43)
9. Ireland (34.63)
10. Romania (34.86)

Charles Butterworth, managing director of the people division at The Access Group, said: “There are numerous factors which influence the desirability of work-life balance within a country. A common misconception among employers is that a healthy work-life balance will lead to a decrease in employees’ output and productivity, but in reality it’s poor work-life balance that can directly contribute to both of these issues. These issues can be addressed by implementing programmes that promote a healthy work-life balance.”

While it’s not ideal to rank low for work-life balance, we at Employee Benefits don’t necessarily think it’s bad that there’s room for improvement. This offers employers useful information to bolster their benefits and boost employee happiness!