Javascript is disabled in your browser. Please, enable it for a better user experience.
Work-life balance
Work–life balance refers to the level of prioritisation between an individual’s work and personal life. A good work–life balance is achieved when an individual’s right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm – to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society. Enabling a better work–life balance for workers across the life course has been an EU policy goal for many years as it is central to ensuring that work is sustainable for all.
In this episode of Eurofound Talks Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound Research Manager Tina Weber about new research on the right to disconnect, the evolution of the right to disconnect...
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, various forms of flexible work, such as teleworking and flexitime, were in place across EU Member States. However, the pandemic led to a surge...
Eurofound has launched its 2024 European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) aiming to interview about 50,000 workers across 35 countries. The survey covers all EU Member States and 8 additional countries...
19 February 2024
Corporate news
Eurofound research
Work–life balance continues to be a significant research topic for Eurofound, in its surveys and other studies.
Podcast
Listen to or watch a recording of our International Women's Day 2023 podcast on the work–life challenges of women and men.
Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Surveys (EQLS) provide comparisons between countries on the reconciliation of work and family life, flexible working time arrangements and the provision of quality care services. The European Company Surveys (ECS) provide data on why and how companies make use of a broad variety of working time arrangements. The European Working Conditions Surveys (EWCS) look at the organisation of working time across the EU and issues related to it including flexible arrangements, working time preferences and work–life balance.
Eurofound’s unique e-survey, Living, working and COVID-19, provides a snapshot of the impact of the changes that occurred during the pandemic on people’s lives, with the aim of helping policymakers shape the response to the crisis. Conducted in five rounds during 2020, 2021 and 2022, it allows for comparison of the challenges that arose during the different stages of living through the pandemic. A range of questions focus on people’s work situation, their level of teleworking during COVID-19, experiences of working from home and the impact on work–life balance.
The latest findings, published in July 2022 show that despite some improvement in work–life balance issues, there has been a sharp decline in family time among workers in 2022, with almost 30% reporting that their job is preventing them from spending time with their family, from a much lower 19% in 2020.
Working life and work–life balance
Eurofound gathers information on working life in the EU, looking at national and EU-level policies to promote work–life balance and investigating the role of social dialogue and collective bargaining in this area.
Research investigates the opportunities for working time flexibility and improved work–life balance related to digitisation and platform work, linked with the labour market integration of specific groups, such as those with care responsibilities or health issues.
In its research on working conditions and sustainable work, Eurofound has looked at the implications for work–life balance for parents and caregivers.
In the context of the negotiations on the work–life balance package at EU level, and at the European Commission’s request, Eurofound has produced a review of national statistics on the uptake of family-related leave by fathers over time across the EU Member States and Norway.
The fifth round of Eurofound's e-survey, fielded from 25 March to 2 May 2022, sheds light on the social and economic situation of people across Europe two years after COVID-19...
Digital technologies have made it possible for many workers to carry out their work at any time and anywhere, with consequent advantages and disadvantages. Eurofound data show that teleworkers are...
Developments in information and communication technology (ICT) have been among the key drivers of change in working life over the past two decades. Specifically, telework and ICT-based mobile work (TICTM)...
Gender inequality at work persists across Europe, despite the long standing attention paid and efforts made to tackle it. This Eurofound report presents a closer look at women’s and men’s...
Advances in ICT have opened the door to new ways of organising work. We are shifting from a regular, bureaucratic and ‘factory-based’ working time pattern towards a more flexible model...
In the context of ongoing negotiations at EU level on adopting a work–life balance package for families and caregivers, Eurofound was requested by the European Commission to provide an update...
7 February 2019
Publication
Customised report
EU context
On 17 November 2017, the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission formally proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights, which included an initiative to support work–life balance. Subsequently, in June 2019, the Council adopted a new Directive on work–life balance for parents and carers. The Directive aims to increase women's participation in the labour market and outlines a number of new or improved minimum standards for parental, paternity and carer’s leave, as well as flexible working arrangements, aiming to also increase men's take-up of these.
Jorge Cabrita is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit. He is responsible for formulating, coordinating and managing European-wide research, and promoting the...
In November 2010, the Employment Committee (EMCO) issued a report (239Kb PDF) [1] on the quality of work [2] in the European Union. The report was based on the findings of a thematic review held in June 2010 which aimed to examine and exchange experiences about labour market policies intended to
This report reviews the policy contribution of the fourth EWCS, paying particular attention to the: contribution that the survey currently makes to debates and action regarding specific EU social and employment policies and concerns; potential contribution of the survey in identifying new policy
Working time policies, although designed within the national and sectoral framework and the boundaries of institutional regulations, are fine-tuned and implemented at the level of each company, taking account of the environment in which the company operates and the workforce it is employing. Hence
This issue of Foundation Focus looks at families in the light of recent policy developments at EU and national level and based on Foundation research findings in this area. The aim of each issue of the series is to explore a subject of social and economic policy importance and contribute to argument
There is evidence to support the case that innovative working time and work–life balance policies can lead to a variety of positive impacts at company level, including enhanced employee performance, reduced absenteeism levels, better recruitment and retention potential as well as greater overall
This report examines the extent of occupational segregation by gender and how it impacts on the quality of women’s and men’s working lives. The analysis is based on findings from the fourth European Working Conditions Survey carried out across 31 countries, including the 27 EU Member States. The
This issue of Foundation Findings deals with work-life balance in Europe. The EU needs to increase employment rates to ensure continued economic growth and promote social inclusion. To do this, it needs to make it easier for individuals to combine their work and family commitments to facilitate
This report addresses the key issue of time use and work–life options over the life course. The report aims to contribute to current debates on the subject, placing them in the wider context of 25 European countries and viewing them from a life course perspective. It considers the ways in which the
This analytical report addresses the important question concerning the extent to which quality of work influences people’s overall quality of life. More specifically, the report undertakes a detailed analysis of how working conditions, job satisfaction and work–life balance affect life satisfaction
Initiatives promoting reconciliation of work and family life have become popular across Europe as part of employment policies as well as social policies dealing, among other things, with the challenges of competitiveness, the renewed Lisbon targets for increased participation in the labour market
A recent report on new trends in human resource management published by DBM Spain [1], an international human resources consultancy, presents the findings of a study carried out on a representative sample of Spanish companies covering all size categories and economic sectors. According to the report
The increase in world market prices of metals and minerals can be seen today in the strong growth of the mining industry in Finland. The mining and metallurgy industry employs about 20,000 people, making the country one of the biggest producers of metals and industrial minerals in the European Union
The reconciliation of work, private and family life is a key area for European employment policy, which aims to increase the participation of both men and women in the labour market and to encourage initiatives to support the health and well-being of employees. This survey data report examines
Operations in the petroleum industry require continuous shift schedules. Although some health effects are known to result from shift work, less is known about its effect on the social and family life of the workers.
The report, Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health (7.29Mb PDF) [1], issued by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health in 2008, states that: [1] http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241563703_eng.pdf
The entry into the workforce of large numbers of the Millennial generation (those born between 1980 and 2000) over the last decade or so has given them the power to reshape the rules of play at work. As a result, practitioners have become increasingly interested in this new generation. A study
In 2009, the National Labour Inspectorate (NIP [1]) carried out checks on employers’ compliance with the law on the creation of suitable conditions for harmonisation of work and family life in Slovakia. These checks were generally aimed at ensuring compliance with working conditions [2] as defined
The research project, ‘Integrating children’s perspectives in policy-making to combat poverty and social exclusion experienced by single parent families: a transnational comparative approach’, compared social exclusion and poverty in Cyprus, Greece and the UK as they relate to single parent families
The initial results of a comprehensive study (in Dutch, 398Kb PDF) [1] on teaching as a career have been published. The study was undertaken by the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB [2]) and the University of Antwerp (Universiteit Antwerpen [3]), and was commissioned by the Flemish Minister of Work
At the turn of 2006 and 2007, the Department of Gender and Sociology of the Sociological Institute of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic (Sociologický ústav Akademie věd ČR [1]) carried out a research project, which sought to reveal employees’ work-life balance [2] conditions, and the
The jury is still out on the question whether men and women are from distinct planets. When it comes to the world of work, however, they are worlds apart.
Telework has become a permanent feature of working life in Europe. While we’ve seen the benefits of more flexible ways of working – particularly during the pandemic – the problems that arise from an increasingly connected life are also becoming clearer. Unfortunately, legislation alone may not be en
The pandemic has had differential impacts on women. Raised consciousness about them must be applied to advance gender equality in recovery measures. All crises have a strongly gendered impact and none more so than the current pandemic, across a range of indicators. While the virus itself seems to ta
The decades-long trend of a narrowing gender employment gap in Europe has halted in recent years. Now the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting low-paying service sectors with a high share of social contact, including many with a majority of female workers, risking forcing them ou
Whatever the benefits of telework – and there are many, including more flexible working time, increased productivity and less commuting – there are drawbacks, as many of the one-third of Europeans who were exclusively working from home during the pandemic will attest. Primary among these is the ‘alw
The COVID-19 health crisis prompted governments to take the unprecedented step of shutting down all workplaces, apart from those providing essential goods and services, to control the spread of the virus. Every worker who was able to do so began to work from home, initiating a social experiment of a
While women appear to be more resilient than men to COVID-19 in terms of health outcomes, that is not the case when it comes to the economic and social fallout. Measures taken by governments to control the spread of the virus are exacerbating gender divides in unemployment, domestic labour an
