According to a survey conducted in 2021, about 37 percent of the female professionals stated that they wanted to quit their current job due to poor work-life balance in India. However, only about 28 percent of the male respondents were likely to quit due to the poor work-life balance in the country.

In 2024, Ireland was the country in Europe with the highest score in the work-life balance index, with 78.7 points out of 100. Following were Iceland and Denmark registering 76.8 and 74 respectively. The work-life balance index assigns a score to each country, evaluating the balance between work and well-being. It considers various factors and policies that influence this relationship, including statutory annual leave, minimum statutory sick pay, statutory maternity leave, minimum wage, healthcare quality, happiness index scores, LGBTQ+ inclusivity, and safety standards.

Data relating to work life balance - these are a series currently at number 4 of each

The survey questions were organized in the following categories: - demographics: age, gender identity, race, ethnicity, and country of birth - education: degree type and date earned, STEM area - employment field, employer information, title, job duties - measures of productivity including research, grant, patents and site/workplace/lab access - work/life balance: responsibilities and duties Questions regarding productivity and work/life balance queried pre and post COVID experiences. Many questions solicited optional comments and the relevant ones are presented as a table.

Improve the quality of life of all South Australians through maintenance of a healthy work-life balance.

Introduction

Work From Home Statistics: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a major shift in work culture has taken place globally. Remote work, often referred to as work from home, has become a permanent option for many employees. According to data from Owl Labs and Global Workplace Analytics, about 30 percent of employees in the United States now work remotely full-time as of 2024. Meanwhile, 65 percent of employees prefer remote work over traditional office roles. In Europe, approximately 22 percent of workers were working from home regularly by the end of 2023. Remote work opportunities have also expanded, with LinkedIn reporting a 20 percent rise in remote job postings compared to pre-pandemic levels.

In terms of cost savings, employees who work from home can save an average of USD 6,000 annually on commuting and daily expenses. Additionally, businesses are seeing benefits, as employers can save around USD 11,000 per year for every remote employee. However, not all regions have fully embraced this trend; for instance, in countries like Japan, less than 10 percent of employees work remotely as companies encourage a return to traditional office environments.

As stated in Work from Home Statistics 2025, employees are resigning from their positions to get a remote job if they are called back to the office. Remote work is peace of mind, with which work-life balance is handled.

All the employees face the challenge of finding the right work-life balance. The ability of employees to deal with the successful combining of work, family responsibilities, and personal life is crucial for both employers and family members of employees. During the COVID-19 emergency situation, many people around the world were forced to work remotely. Initially, there were observed some certain expectations about the possibility of working from home as a positive factor that will promote work-life balance. However, over time, negative tendencies were also revealed, as employees were only one call or message away from the employer, and uncertainty and leisure time with family often created more stress. As many organizations and individuals were not ready for this sudden change, many mistakes were made, which further raised the issue of work-life balance. The aim of the research was to evaluate the flexibility of reconciling work and private life of Latvian employees in various socio-demographic groups during the COVID-19 emergency situation in spring 2020, to investigate how family life influenced employees’ ability to perform work duties, to find out if employees had any additional housework responsibilities and how their workload changed concerning housework amount during the COVID-19 emergency situation. The research is based on the data obtained in the survey of the Latvian employed population, which was conducted within the framework of the Latvian National Research Programme Project “CoLife” in the second half of 2020. As a result, the hypothesis of the research that all groups of employees experienced work-life balance difficulties during the COVID-19 emergency situation has been partially confirmed, i.e. women in the 18-44 age group and respondents with minor children in the household more likely faced difficulties of work-life balance. The scientific research methods that were used in the research are the monographic method, content analysis, survey, data processing with SPSS to determine the mutual independence of the data from the questionnaires.

According to a survey conducted in Indonesia in February 2024, over ** percent of Generation Z respondents considered work-life balance important. In contrast, around *** percent of respondents claimed that work-life balance was unimportant.

Work-life balance and family leave................

The European Company Surveys (ECS) are conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), an autonomous agency of the European Union, funded from the general budget of the European Commission. The aims of the ECS are to map, assess and quantify information on workplace policies and practices across Europe in a harmonised way and – to a lesser extent – to monitor developments over time. The ECS has been carried out every four years since 2004. It is a questionnaire-based representative sample survey carried out by telephone in the language(s) of the country. Interviews take place with the manager responsible for human resources in the establishment and when possible with an employee representative.

The first ECS (known as the Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance, 2004-2005, held under SN 5655) covered workplace practices with regard to working time arrangements and work-life balance. The second ECS, carried out in 2009 (SN 6568), looked at different forms of flexibility as well as accompanying human resource management practices and the nature and quality of workplace social dialogue. The third ECS (SN 7735), carried out in spring 2013, looked at practices with regard to work organisation, human resources management, employee participation and social dialogue in European workplaces.

Further information about the ECS can be found on the Eurofound European Company Surveys webpages.

The first ECS:
The Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance, 2004-2005 is the first survey in the series and was conducted in the 15 existing EU member states (EU15) and 6 of the new states who joined the EU in 2004: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia. The topics to be covered in detail were agreed between TNS Infratest Sozialforschung, who conducted the first survey on behalf of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EFILWC), the research team and advisory committee at EFILWC, and a group of experts from various countries. It was agreed to focus on the following working time arrangements which are likely to have an impact on work-life balance:

• part-time work
• extended operating hours (night work, week-end work, shift work)
• flexible working time arrangements (e.g. flexi-time, working time accounts)
• overtime
• childcare leave and other forms of long-term leave
• phased retirement and early retirement

According to this 2021 survey, over ** percent of surveyed doctors disagreed that their work schedule allowed work-life balance. That year, **** percent of U.S. doctors strongly disagreed with having a work-life balance. On the other hand, ** percent stated that they agreed with getting quality family time after work, of which *** percent felt strongly about it.

There is more to life than the cold numbers of GDP and economic statistics. This dataset contains the 2018 data of the Better Life Index which allows you to compare well-being across countries as well as measuring well-being, based on 11 topics the OECD has identified as essential, in the areas of material living conditions and quality of life. Abstract: Your Better Life Index aims to involve citizens in the debate on measuring the well-being of societies, and to empower them to become more informed and engaged in the policy-making process that shapes all our lives. Each of the 11 topics of the Index is currently based on one to three indicators. Within each topic, the indicators are averaged with equal weights. The indicators have been chosen on the basis of a number of statistical criteria such as relevance (face-validity, depth, policy relevance) and data quality (predictive validity, coverage, timeliness, cross-country comparability etc.) and in consultation with OECD member countries. These indicators are good measures of the concepts of well-being, in particular in the context of a country comparative exercise. Other indicators will gradually be added to each topic. Notes: Data cannot be compared between different editions of the Better Life Index. For more information on change over time, please contact wellbeing@oecd.org.

Supporting Information File

According to a survey among Chinese paid employees, about ** percent of respondents claimed that their employers expected them to be available outside of working hours. About ** percent of respondents would respond to a work-related message or call immediately in their free time. Chinese employees had relatively poor work-life balance among the ** surveyed countries.