Having a well-balanced work and home life is one way to improve our overall life satisfaction. But, some people struggle to get it right. Read on as CT Shirts, retailers of slim fit shirts, give us some of their advice on keeping a good balance.
The main issues
By talking to your friends and family, you’ll probably discover that many people believe that adults in the UK work too many hours or feel 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.
When we consider employees from a business point of view, many bosses think that working their staff to their maximum abilities is the way forward. However, the 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.
It doesn’t take much to figure out that if we work more, we have less time to spend on developing ourselves and spending time with those we love. But, many of us feel as though there’s nothing we can do about it.
Are people coping better in other countries?
When examining statistics on work-life balance across Europe, it appears that Britain is managing their time the worst.
When comparing the number of free hours in the day, Belgian employees have an average of 8.6 hours compared to their 7.4 hour work days, and the 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.
It’s important that the structure of your day benefits you, this involves working hours and breaks. 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.
Further things we can take from other countries 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.
Some changes you can make
Take some smaller steps to improve your work-life balance.
Have you thought about talking to your employer about the structure of your day? 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.
Reconsider the way that you travel to and from work, an unpleasant commute can negatively affect your attitude. 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!
Learn how to switch off! 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 behavior at all times.
You can also consider moving to another country and start a new life. It’s not easy peasy but with determination and hard work it can be achievable and who knows, maybe it’s everything you ever needed. You can search for more information about citizenship by investment Malta and see if it’s something for you to consider.
Think carefully about how you use your annual holidays from work. 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.
After examining the research, it’s clear to see that workers in the UK aren’t as happy as those around Europe. But, 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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