Work-life balance plays a big role in our lives. If you feel like you are alone, seeing these work-life balance statistics may help you realize that others are in your same position. Keep reading to see the latest work-life balance statistics and how you can improve your work-life balance.
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50+ Work Life Balance Statistics
Statistics About The Importance Of Work-Life Balance
#1. 38% of people say their organization never or rarely makes it possible for employees to have a healthy balance between work and life. (Willis Towers Watson)
#2. 72% of people looking for a job believe that work-life balance is an important factor to consider. (Statista)
#3. 79% of workers agree that flexible jobs promote better work-life balance and less stressful workdays. (FlexJobs)
#4. One third of workers say work-life balance is the most important of all benefits. (Comparably)
#5. Employees who work more than 55 hours per week are at a higher risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. (Family Living Today)
#6. Employees who work more than 55 hours per week are 1.66 times higher risk of depression, and a 1.74 times higher risk for anxiety. (Family Living Today)
#7. 28 million Americans don’t get any paid vacation or paid holidays, which is a real detriment to their ability to maintain adequate work-life balance. (CEPR)
Work-Life And Burnout Statistics
#8. 46% of HR leaders say burnout is behind up to half of their annual employee turnover. (OECD)
#9. 95% of human resource leaders admit employee burnout is sabotaging workforce retention. (OECD)
#10. 41% of burnout is caused by unfair pay, 32% is caused by unreasonable workload and 32% is caused by too much overtime. (Forbes)
#11. 56% of employee burnout is caused by a negative work culture and is to blame for 20-50% of turnover. (Forbes)
#12. 95% of human resources professionals blamed the loss of good employees on job burnout. (OECD)
Work-Life Balance In The US Statistics
#13. 94% of workers in the professional service industry work over 50 hours a week. (Business News Daily)
#14. Not only do Americans tend to work longer hours, but they also take their work home with them. Many Americans work on the weekends on top of working longer workweeks, and for many people, the work never stops. (Apollo Technical)
#15. 48% of Americans consider themselves to be workaholics. Thousands of workers in the U.S. will spend over four hours working for free every week. These same workers will also spend the same amount of time worrying about work. (Health Careers)
#16. Full-time employed persons averaged 8.5 hours of work time on weekdays and 5.5 hours on weekend days and holidays. (American Time Use Survey)
#17. 92% of the surveyed regularly worked on weekends and evenings, even before the pandemic. (Rescuetime Survey)
#18. 26% of the work is done outside regular working hours. (Rescuetime Survey)
#19. HR leaders said the barriers to ridding the workplace of burnout include too many competing priorities (20%), a lack of executive support (14%) and outmoded HR technology (20%). (OECD)
#20. 16% of HR leaders say a lack of budget is the primary obstacle to improving employee retention in the next 12 months. (Forbes)
#21. 90% of human resource leaders cite improving retention is a critical priority to avoid the repercussions of employee loss. (Forbes)
#22. 87% of employers believe improving retention to be a critical priority in their organizations over the next five years. (Forbes)
#23. 33% of workers cite work-life balance as an important aspect of their jobs. (Fingerprint For Success)
#24. 51% of workers say they have missed important life events because of work commitments. (Fingerprint For Success)
#25. 11% of employees feel they are overworked. (CompareCamp)
#26. 26% of salaried employees say they work outside business hours. (TeamStage)
#27. 70% of employees will read their emails while watching television at home. (OECD)
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#28. 40% of employees say they use their personal devices for work purposes after business hours. (TeamStage)
#29. 67% of people say their work-life balance improved once they began working remotely. (Fingerprint For Success)
#30. 97% say a job with flexibility has a major positive impact on overall happiness. (Fingerprint For Success)
#31. The typical American worker logged 34.6 hours per week in 2020. (Statista)
#32. Those in US mining or logging jobs worked an average of 44.8 hours per week. (Statista)
#33. American employees log 3.9 billion hours per month. (Statista)
#34. 83% of U.S millennials said they'd be more likely to join the company that offered paternity leave, and 38% said they'd leave the United States for another country to get this benefit. (OECD)
Work-Life Balance Across The Globe Statistics
#35. Only 0.4% of employees in the Netherlands report working long hours. (OECD)
#36. Turkey works the hardest, with nearly one-third of employees putting in more than 50 hours per week. (OECD)
#37. 49% of the survey respondents in Germany said work-life balance is becoming more difficult to manage. (EY)
#38. 28.7% of employees in Mexico claim they work long hours. (OECD)
#39. Workers in Mexico claim they only spend 12.4 hours per day on leisure activities, including sleeping. (OECD)
#40. 25.5% of employees in Colombia feel they work long hours. (OECD)
#41. 25.2% of South Korean employees feel overworked. (OECD)
#42. An average of 11% of workers around the world reported working 50 hours or more per week. (OECD)
#43. The average worker around the world spends roughly 63% of their day, or 15 hours, on sleep and leisure time.(OECD)
#44. The average worker in the United States spends only 60% of their day, or 14.4 hours, on sleep and leisure activities. (OECD)
#45. 67% of men (compared to 57% of women) have changed their jobs to better manage work and family lives. (EY)
#46. Working flexibly and without penalty ranked the third-highest priority (after pay and benefits) for millennials around the world. (EY)
#47. About one-third of professionals reported that today it is harder to achieve work-life balance than ever before. (EY)
#48. It was found that working parents are among those who have the hardest time managing work and home life. (EY)
#49. The older groups of millennials (40+ years old) generally put a higher value on paid parental leave than previous generations. (EY)
Benefits Of Work-Life Balance Statistics
#50. 85% of companies that offer work-life balance programs for their employees report an increase in productivity. (CompareCamp)
#51. Companies that offer a good work-life balance have 25% less employee turnover. (CompareCamp)
#52. Companies with good work-life balance programs have 50% fewer healthcare costs. (CompareCamp)
#53. 24% of people who work from home at least one day a month report they are happier and more productive. (CompareCamp)
#54. Offering remote work programs could lead to a 13% productivity increase for your business. (CompareCamp)
#55. 33% of employees who have a good work-life balance say they plan to stay in their current jobs. (CompareCamp)
#56. 21% of workers with a good work-life balance are more productive. (CompareCamp)
What Is Work-Life Balance?
Work-life balance is how an individual manages both their work and their personal life.
If an individual has a good work-life balance, they will not let work run their lives, and will devote specific amounts of time to their work, family and hobbies.
To have balance you have to maintain proper perspective. This entails having realistic expectations, limits on what you're willing to sacrifice to achieve success and systems to get everything done. Setting clear limits on how when and where you'll work so that it doesn't interfere with the rest of your life is key. With this perspective, you can build the systems (people and money) to accomplish objectives that don't involve your every minute.
Why Is Work-Life Balance Important?
Work-life balance is important for many reasons.
- Work-life balance can prevent burnout.
- Work-life balance can help with stress levels.
- Work-life balance will improve your mental health
- Work-life balances can help increase your engagement at work
- Work-life balance can make you more productive
How To Improve Your Work-Life Balance
The most important tip for attaining work life balance is the word "no", but to be able to use the word no you have to do the following:
- Develop an ability to prioritize the most important 1-3 goals to focus on.
- Develop an ability to recognize and bucket tasks. The most effective (and simplest) way is using the Eisenhower Matrix.
- Build systems for getting tasks done, either on your timetable or with help from others to remove yourself as "the center of the universe."
For more tips on improving your work-life balance, check out our work-life balance guide.
The Bottom Line
Now that you know more about work-life balance and why it matters, it may be easier to see how you can implement better balance in your life. If better balance for you involves a new career, get started by polishing your resume with one of the best resume writing services.
