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Work-life balance is a dream for all employees. Photo/Reuters
WASHINGTON – Work-life balance or work-life balance is the dream of many employees around the world. Generally, countries that pay attention to this are in Europe. However, there are also countries in the Middle East that have become the world’s concern for implementing a good work-life balance.
Interestingly, expatriates often make the balance of work and life a barometer for choosing a country to work in.
In most countries with a good work-life balance, expatriates also express above average satisfaction with their life abroad — for example, in New Zealand (89%), Costa Rica (88%), and the Czech Republic (87%) . Interestingly, high satisfaction with work-life balance does not mean that expatriates don’t work much, it was revealed by an Expat Insider survey.
Here are the 10 best countries for work-life balance.
1. Denmark
Photo/Reuters
At just 39.7 hours per week (vs. 44.3 hours globally), expats working full time in Denmark have the shortest work week.
Perhaps it’s those benefits that attract highly educated expatriates: nearly half of respondents in Denmark (47%) have a master’s degree or similar. Additionally, twelve percent hold PhDs (vs. 6% globally), which is — along with Sweden — the highest share of the top 10 seeds.
“I like work-life balance, which I can’t get anywhere else”, stated an expatriate from Indonesia, while one from Portugal pointed out “balance between work and personal life” as a positive aspect of life in Denmark.
In fact, more than three-quarters of expatriates working in Denmark rate their work-life balance positively (76%), compared to three in five globally (60%). Nonetheless, their overall job satisfaction (62%) is just below the global average (64%).
2.Bahrain
Nearly half of expats in Bahrain (46%) cited work-related reasons for moving there: more than a quarter found work there themselves (26%), which is more than twice the global average (12%). Others were recruited by local companies (12%), sent by their companies (6%), or wanted to start their own business overseas (1%). And it seems like Bahrain is a good place to change jobs, as one expat from the Philippines explained: “You can still find time to relax after a hard day at work.” In fact, 69% of expats are satisfied with their work-life balance, and another 72% are happy with the hours they work, even though the average work week is only slightly below the global average (42.9 hours vs. 44.3 hours).
3. Norway
Expats in Norway are very satisfied with their work-life balance (72%) and working hours (77%). In fact, they only spend an average of 42.9 hours per week at work, 1.4 hours less than expatriates in full-time jobs around the world (44.3 hours).
“Work-life balance is very important here and work is generally very family-friendly”, said one British expatriate, reported by InterNation. Additionally, 12 percent of expatriates in Norway have an annual gross household income of over USD 150,000 — among the top 10 countries shown, only New Zealand’s share is higher (14%).
4. Czech Republic
Expats in the Czech Republic work the longest of the top 10 seeded countries (44.9 hours), which is even slightly above the global average (44.3 hours). Despite this, they are still generally satisfied with their working hours (76% vs. 61% globally) and their work-life balance (73% vs. 60% globally).
“My working conditions are very good here. My employer offers me many benefits, including more days off and good health care”, said an expatriate from Australia. Additionally, they appear to be highly satisfied with their career prospects (65% vs. 53% globally) and their job security (74% vs. 57% globally) — both of which are the highest among the top 10 countries with good work-life balance great. “I like everything related to my job”, one expatriate from Russia summarizes, and three quarters of expats (75%) agree by rating their overall job satisfaction positively.
5. New Zealand
With the vast majority of expats moving to New Zealand for a better quality of life (26%) and only six per cent citing work-related reasons, it is clear that work is not their priority there: only 73 per cent of expats in the country work full time, which represents the smallest share among the top 10 destinations and ten percentage points lower than the global average (83%).
