Vienna and Copenhagen among best cities for working and wellbeing

Vienna employees’ wellbeing

Something for the weekend: Vienna, Copenhagen and Amsterdam have been found to be some of the best cities in the world to work in that are also good for employees’ wellbeing.

Airline Icelandair analysed more than 100 of the most prominent cities in the world based on internet speed, the cost of living, average working hours, quality of life, healthcare, safety, traffic commute, climate, pollution and happiness.

The findings highlighted that Vienna, Austria (pictured above) is the best city in the world to work in that is also beneficial for wellbeing. It had the highest quality of life score at 201.8, as well as low pollution levels and a high climate index.

In second place is Copenhagen, Denmark, which ranked first for internet speeds and second for happiness, while also achieving high scores for cost of living and healthcare.

Edinburgh, Bristol and Manchester were found to be the UK’s top cities for working and wellbeing, with Manchester ranking ninth for healthcare and Edinburgh securing 10th place for quality of life and healthcare. The Scottish capital also ranked highly for low pollution levels.

The top 10 destinations according to the data are:

Vienna
Copenhagen
Amsterdam
Luxembourg
Helsinki
Valencia
Reykjavik
Oslo
Madrid
Zurich

An Icelandair spokesperson said: “With remote working becoming the norm for many as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, more and more people are enjoying the freedom to travel. Many have also gained a better awareness of their personal wellbeing, prioritising their mental and physical health even more over the past two years. Remote working vacations are a great opportunity to travel while working. While there are some destinations that are ideal for a workcation, people can have a fulfilling and restorative working vacation anywhere in the world.”

We at Employee Benefits believe that it is of vital importance to prioritise wellbeing at work. Bear with us, we’re just booking our ticket to Vienna!

Zoe WickensZoe Wickens is a journalist with five years of experience writing for trade and business to business publications. She joined Employee Benefits as a reporter in May 2021 and writes news and features content for the website. She won the Willis Towers Watson pay, reward and employee benefits journalist of the year award in 2023. Before writing about the HR, reward and benefit industry she worked as a reporter for publications about the optical and eyewear market and the UK stock market.View full profile