In the FOMO (fear of missing out) age, checking a work-related email on your phone or answering a call in your time off has become almost the norm. With a smartphone in our hand almost all hours of the day, it becomes almost impossible to separate work life from the rest, but managing to ignore those pesky notifications is crucial to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has ranked 22 of its Member States based on work-life balance, taking into account how many hours per day people spend working and how many hours they devote to personal care (eating, sleeping, etc) and leisure (socialising with friends and family, hobbies, games, computer and television use, etc).
Across the 22 countries, 10% of employees work 50 hours or more per week in paid work. Mexico is the country with the highest proportion of people working very long hours in paid work, with 27%, followed by Türkiye with nearly 25% and Colombia with almost 24% of employees. On the other hand, people spend on average 15 hours a day for personal care and leisure.
Moreover, although men tend to work longer hours, with 14% of the men in the study working very long hours compared to 6% of the women, the leisure time remains across genders. Thus, while women spend less time at work per se, it seems that, on average, they still share a higher responsibility when it comes to household maintenance.
Below are the 10 OECD countries with the best work-life balance.
1. Italy
In Italy, 3.9% of employees work very long hours in paid work, much less than the 10% OECD average. Moreover, with 16.5 hours devoted to personal care and leisure, Italians are a full one hour and a half over the other countries.
2. Denmark
In Denmark, only 1.1% of employees work very long hours, while spending about 15.7 hours of the day on personal care and leisure.
Further aiding work-life balance, Danish Flexjobs were introduced to accommodate employees that work at a different pace or need shorter hours. Under these agreements employers pay their workers based on the effective work done, while maintaining the same pension contributions.
3. Norway
In Norway, 1.4% of employees work very long hours, while spending about 15.7 hours of the day on personal care and leisure.
4. Spain
In Spain, 2.5% of employees work very long hours, while spending about 15.7 hours of the day on personal care and leisure.
5. Netherlands
In the Netherlands, only 0.3% of employees work very long hours, while spending about 15.4 hours of the day on personal care and leisure.
6. France
In France, 7.7% of employees work very long hours. On the other hand, however, a full time worker devotes about 16.2 hours per day to personal care and leisure, more than one hour over the OECD average.
7. Sweden
In Sweden, only 0.9% of employees work very long hours, while spending about 15.3 hours of the day on personal care and leisure.
Making it easier for people to take advantage benefits meant to improve their work-life balance, the government has introduced the service “My Pages”, which offers information on what types of benefits they are eligible for. Moreover, a smartphone app was also launched so that parents can apply online for temporary parental leave when staying home with a sick child instead of filling out paperwork.
8. Germany
In Germany, 3.9% of employees work very long hours, while spending about 15.7 hours of the day on personal care and leisure.
To increase the work-life balance in the country, the government introduced in 2015 a “New Reconciliation Memorandum”, which calls for equal sharing among men and women and appeals to employers to offer “flexitime” arrangements and reduced full-time working hours for both fathers and mothers, known as vollzeitnah, as well as more affordable, quality childcare. The 2015 parental leave reform has also made it easier for parents to combine part-time work and taking leave and provides financial incentives to encourage both partners in a family to do 25-30 hours/week of paid work for at least four months.
9. Russia
In Russia, only 0.1% of employees work very long hours, while spending about 15.1 hours of the day on personal care and leisure.
10. Belgium
In Belgium, 4.3% of employees work very long hours. As for time devoted to personal care and leisure, Belgium falls almost exactly on the OECD average, with just 30 minutes over the 15 hour mean.
