Managing a healthy work-life balance is a fine art. Shockingly, a third of UK workers feel they have a poor work-life balance, and this disjunction between work and play can have a damaging effect on their mental health. Here with CT Shirts, retailers men’s slim fitting shirts, we find out some helpful tips which will get your work-life balance back in check.
What has caused the imbalance?
Many UK workers have demanding jobs and feel severely over-worked. 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.
Maximum productivity is the number one goal for many businesses, but it can take its toll on employees. 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 is left over to focus on accomplishing goals, pursuing our hobbies and achieving our dreams. But, many of us feel as though there’s nothing we can do about it.
Is it just the UK?
Clearly, there is a lot to be learnt from other countries. As it currently stands, in comparison to our western European counterparts, Britain has the worst work-life balance. So, what can we learn?
Free time seems to be more of a priority for workers in different countries. In Belgium, employees have an average of 8.6 hours of free time per day compared to their 7.4-hour workdays, 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.
In other countries, breaks during the day are far more common than in the UK. 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.
And this isn’t all, other remedies to work-life imbalance 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
So, how can the UK do better?
Even without changing workplace regulations, we can work to improve our work-life balance.
Firstly, you could talk to your employer about splitting up your break. 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.
According to one study, long commutes can contribute to stress and depression. 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 such as look after your garden plants. 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!
One major help can be learning how to properly switch off. If possible, avoid checking work emails when you’re out of the office. 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.
Recharging and spending time with your family is of the utmost importance. 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.
The UK certainly has a long way to go. 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.
This article was brought to you by CT Shirts, retailers of men’s shirts.
Sources
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