A better balance

Regus Work-Life Balance Index

May 2012 Issue 1

Management summary
More business people across the world feel that their work-life balance has improved in 2012 compared with 2010. This upturn is the main finding of the Regus Work-Life Balance Index, which assesses improvements in the balance achieved between professional and home life.
The Regus Work-Life Balance Index, which surveys over 16,000 professionals in more than 80 countries, has registered 24% rise between 2010 and 2012. This is a positive indication that now even more workers globally believe that conditions are improving and that measures are being taken to help them successfully manage to balance their personal and their work time. The Regus Index calibrates work-life harmony by combining a number of different factors, both soft indicators such as feelings of enjoyment, sense of achievement and satisfaction with the amount of time spent at home, and hard factors such as working hours and additional duties in order to monitor real improvements in the lives of professionals all over the globe. In 2012, some 61% of business people globally feel that their work-life balance has improved since 2010. Although a positive majority, this figure still has considerable room for improvement as the decade advances. As economic conditions improve and employment opportunities become more frequent businesses cannot afford to ignore key measures to improve employee work-life balance and well-being. One such example are businesses that are helping staff reduce their commute time. Over two fifths of respondents report more firms are engaged in reducing staff commutes, highlighting that attention to employee commute time is becoming mainstream. This also confirms previous Regus research showing that businesses find flexible working practices (such as allowing staff to work closer to home or to avoid the rush-hour), reduce costs and improve staff productivity.

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Key findings and statistics

The latest Regus Work-life balance Index, reveals that global business satisfaction with the balance between home and work life is improving. The Work-Life balance Index has increased 24% from base point 100 in 2010 to 124 points in 2012. In 2012, some 61% of business people around the world perceive that their work-life balance has improved. Whilst this is an encouraging majority, there is also evidently substantial room for improvement as the decade progresses. This new research shows that fully 74% of workers globally believe they achieve more at work than they used to, highlighting the link between improvements in work-life balance and productivity revealed by previous Regus research into flexible working practices. 69% of workers feel that they enjoy work more than in 2010 and 59% are happy with the amount of time they spend with family or at home. However, there are still working life behaviours that need to be addressed by businesses seeking to provide a competitive balance between personal and work life in order to retain staff as the job market improves. Over two fifths (41%) of global respondents feel that companies are doing more to help reduce the time employees spend commuting than in 2010. One popular strategy for reducing commute time is allowing more flexible working, in terms of hours or location, a strategy that previous Regus research confirms is not only cost effective, but improves staff productivity. Fully 63% of workers globally took on additional duties during the downturn that were not subsequently picked up by other colleagues possibly resulting in additional time spent in the office as well as an increase in stress levels. The index found that small companies had a higher work-life balance rating than larger companies at 130 points compared to 109, highlighting that the barriers to introducing measures to improve harmony between work and personal life may be administrative rather than psychological. Work-life balance has improved in 2012 compared with 2010 for all size companies, but it has taken a particular leap forwards in small companies where the index has grown 27 points.

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Introduction
During the past decade the pace of change and of life has accelerated greatly. During the downturn workers came under extraordinary pressure to hold on to their jobs and take over additional duties as staff were made redundant; as we move with difficulty out of the downturn this work ethic persists. This latest crisis has so affected the well-being of workers that are finding difficulties switching off and carving out time to spend with their families or on their personal pursuits away from the demands of work. Stress has in fact now become the most common cause of sick leave, surpassing back pain in the UK,1 while sick leave, presenteeism and staff turnover reportedly cost the country around 26bn a year.2
Governments all over the globe have become aware of the costs associated with a poor work-life balance, particularly as the downturn accentuated the negative sides of a frenetic pace of life which are stress, over-work, long hours and fear of unemployment. In addition to this a poor work-life balance affects female labour participation, lowers national birth rates and can raise child poverty levels if families are driven to live on a single salary by lack of suitable childcare options. Of course a number of factors are concurrent to creating a good work-life balance and a major difficulty for analysts lies in identifying those that really lead to a harmonious life for workers. In particular the OECDs Better Life Index focuses on aspects such as housing, education and the environment to rate countries overall happiness level, while for its work-life balance index the OECD drills in on the needs of families with children who, it reports, are likely to feel the strain of trying to reconcile parental duties with those of full-time employment. Overall, the picture painted by the OECD is rosy with 66% of mothers in the area being employed after their children are of school age and 64% of any workers day spent on personal activities.3

1 2 3

The Guardian, The pursuit of workplace happiness.goes on, 2nd February 2012 The Guardian, Happiness at work, why it counts, 15th July 2011 OECD, Work-Life Balance, website

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Introduction
There is a strong negative correlation between long working hours and satisfaction with work-life balance
The OECD confirms that across countries there is a strong negative correlation between long working hours and satisfaction with work-life balance, as well as between lengthy commutes and longer working hours. In addition to this, longer commuting times particularly affect the rate of employment of women with children of schooling age suggesting that even on a single business level, firms that are not sensitive to worker commute times may end up missing out on an important part of the talent pool.4 According to the OECD survey the highest ranking countries in the work-life balance are in Northern Europe with Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands and Finland while Turkey and Mexico were the lowest scoring.5 To get some comparative measure of which countries rank better than others HSBC asks expats to use their experience living in more than one country to rate destinations on a variety of factors including work-life balance. According to HSBC, based on work-life balance alone, the Netherlands, South Africa, Canada, Germany and Australia all ranked among the top 10 countries. The UK and USA ranked 22nd and 23rd out of 55 countries, followed by BRIC countries which scored as follows: China 25th, Brazil 27th and India 28th.6 On a single business level plenty of attention has been devoted to achieving a better work-life balance for employees and particularly having a good company track record can prove to be a great incentive to join a company or a valuable retention tool. Latest research shows that workers globally are actually less driven by salary to accept an offer and rate being treated with respect as the most important factor in a job, followed by work-life balance, type of work, quality of co-workers and quality of leadership.7 To improve employee loyalty and attract top talent businesses now have a huge variety of options to choose from ranging from offering flexible working hours, alternative locations for work, crche facilities within the work-place, part-time working and job sharing. There are as many options as there are requests by workers, but businesses need to understand that it is time to start offering these as an incentive rather than waiting for governments to enforce this freedom as the norm.

4 5 6 7

OECD, Hows life? Measuring Wellbeing, Chapter 6, 2011 OECD, Better Life Index, 2011 HSBC, Expat Explorer Survey, 2011 Mercer, Whats working?, October 2011

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The Regus Work-Life Balance Index

In order to provide business leaders and policy makers with an up-to-the-minute barometer of worker and manager satisfaction with their work-life balance and measure real improvement, the Regus Work-Life Balance Index analysed the opinions of over 16,000 business managers and business owners from 86 countries. In addition to enquiring about whether they felt that improvements had been made to their work-life balance in the past two years, the report also analysed their views on factors and behaviours that typically affect work-life harmony such as satisfaction with the amount of time spent at home or with their families, working hours, time spent at work, job enjoyment and sense of achievement and whether additional duties taken on during the downturn have finally been reassigned to new members of staff.

Methodology The Regus Work-Life Balance Index calibrates a number of different factors to produce an index value that reflects overall levels of personal-work life harmony. Not only are opinions about enjoyment and sense of achievement measured, but actual working behaviours are also taken into account. Taking over additional duties, working hours, commute length and actual time spent away from personal pursuits are all hard factors that are considered alongside individual perceptions in this model that uniquely balances opinion with real working practice.

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The balance
On average more business people globally feel that their work-life balance has been enhanced in 2012 compared with 2010, when around half (49%) of business people across the globe reported that their work-life balance had improved and the base point for the Index was set at 100. The index has grown to 24% in 2012.
Work-Life Balance Index 2010 and 2012

Mexico Brazil China India S.Africa Australia Global Average USA Netherlands Canada France Japan Belgium UK Germany 0 2012 20 2010 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Unexpectedly perhaps, the highest scoring countries are the BRIC countries with Mexico, Brazil, China and India scoring highest for improvements in 2012 highlighting that in their quest for exponential growth, businesses in these countries have acknowledged the importance of achieving a better work-life balance. Brazil also interestingly stands out as the country which has had the highest index point growth between 2010 and 2012 having soared 45 points to 151. This contrasts with China where an above average rating in 2010 has only grown 4 points in 2012 to 149, the smallest variation in the sample analysed in this paper and a worrying suggestion that Chinese businesses may have taken focus away from work-life balance improvements in reaction to a slight slowdown in the economy.

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The balance
Work-Life Balance: the definition The need to define work-life balance, to measure it and identify its ideal has become more and important in the past decade. The OECD describes it as a suitable balance between work and daily living8, the HEBS (Health Education Board for Scotland) as working practices that acknowledge and aim to support the needs of staff in achieving a balance between their home and working lives and the DTI (Department for Trade and Industry) describes it as a balance between work and other aspects of peoples lives. The Regus Work-Life balance incorporates aspects form all these definitions specifically regarding a good work-life balance as a condition promoted by working practices that allow workers to spend enough time at home or on personal pursuits to be happy, while working in an environment where tasks are fairly distributed, work is enjoyable and it is possible to feel a sense of achievement.

Western economies were among the hardest hit by the downturn so it is not surprising that their index ratings should be lower than average. The UK, Belgium and Japan are close to the bottom in the scale although the Belgian index has increased 29 points since 2010. In Japan in particular, public spending on childcare and preschool services is very low and is identified by the OECD as an area in need of immediate improvement if work-life balance is to benefit.9 Germany surprisingly comes in at the bottom of the pile, probably due to the high standard expected by this developed nation that was left almost unscathed by the recession, although even here the index has increased 36 points in 2012. In Germany the OECD confirms that female labour participation is an issue with gender pay gaps well above average, a lower than average birth rate and mothers spending twice as much time on care than male workers. Germany is also reportedly the only OECD country where second earners in families with children are not favoured by the tax or benefits system.10

8 9 10

OECD, Better Life Index, Work-Life Balance, website OCED, Work-Life Balance, In Detail by Country, Japan, 2011 OCED, Work-Life Balance, In Detail by Country, Germany, 2011

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Enjoyment and achievement

One important subjective factor which influences worklife balance is job enjoyment. If workers enjoy their time at work then they are less likely to take home worries and stress and are less likely to resent the time that is spent at work.
Western economies were still suffering from the effects of the downturn in 2010 affecting job enjoyment and shifting the focus from self-realization to maintaining a position in spite of additional work-load. Therefore it is not surprising that well over half of respondents in the UK, USA, Belgium, and France feel that they are now able to enjoy work more than during that difficult time. On the other hand, it is interesting to note that it is in emerging economies such as Mexico, Brazil and India that the greater proportion of respondents declare they are enjoying work more than in 2010 highlighting that improvement of working life is growing hand in hand with economic advancement.

Do you enjoy work more than in 2010?

Mexico Brazil India S. Africa Canada Global Average Australia Japan China France Germany Netherlands USA UK Belgium 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

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Enjoyment and achievement

More than 60% of respondents in all countries report that they are achieving more at work than in 2010
Over two thirds (74%) of workers globally report that they are achieving more at work now than in 2010. This result confirms previous Regus research revealing that more companies are experiencing an increase in productivity resulting directly from a greater take up of flexible working practices.11 Also in line with previous research, workers in emerging economies such as India, Brazil and Mexico are more likely to feel that they are achieving more at work than before. Although more than 60% of respondents in all countries report that they are achieving more at work than in 2010, results in France, the Netherlands and Japan are lower than average. As sense of achievement is reportedly an important element to combat professional burnout, so it is vital that businesses invest in strategies to help workers experience a sense of accomplishment in their daily duties.12 Do you believe that you achieve more at work today than you did in 2010?

India Brazil Mexico Belgium Germany Australia S. Africa Global Average China USA Canada UK Japan Netherlands France 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

In particular burnout is associated with taking on an excessive workload and during the downturn, as companies were forced to make redundancies to stay alive, remaining members of staff had to take on additional duties. As conditions improved, and volume of business increased, these additional duties have often become more difficult to manage and have not always been redistributed among new employees. 63% of workers globally still feel that they are managing duties that they acquired in the downturn.

11 12

Regus, Flexibility drives profitability, February 2012 ENT, Work Overload: Sense of achievement key to combating professional burnout, August 2011

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Enjoyment and achievement

The USA is a particularly worrying example of this with 68% of workers declaring that the additional duties they took on are still their remit. Belgium, Canada and the UK also all report a higher than average proportion of overburdened workers. Bootstrapping during the global recession seem to have led a large number of businesses in Brazil, India and Mexico, emerging economies that may have been unwilling to commit to new resources in such a difficult climate, to overburden existing staff, but this pressure is likely to drive valuable team members away as the economy stabilizes. I have taken on additional duties during the downturn, which have not been picked up by a new member of staff

Brazil India USA Mexico Belgium S. Africa Canada UK Global Average Australia China Japan France Germany Netherlands 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

13

OECD, Work-Life Balance, In detail by Country, Australia, 2011; OECD, Work-Life Balance, In detail by Country, Netherlands, 2011

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Enjoyment and achievement

Over half of workers globally (59%) feel that they spend more time at work than they did in 2010
As workers have taken on extra duties it is not surprising to find that they also feel that they spend more hours working than they did in the past. On average well over half of workers globally (59%) feel that they spend more time at work than they did in 2010. In particular Chinese, Indian and German workers feel they spend more time at work than in 2010 suggesting that in these economies the cost of continued growth has translated into longer working hours. In Australia and the Netherlands working hours seem to have not increased significantly, confirming OECD findings that Australian and Dutch employees work respectively an average of 1690 and 1378 hours a year, well below the OECD average of 1739 hours.13 Do you spend more time working than you did in 2010?

China India Germany Canada France Belgium Global Average S. Africa Brazil USA UK Japan Mexico Netherlands Australia 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

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Enjoyment and achievement

Similarly Chinese, Indian and German workers also report that they spend more time away from their home life than in 2010 confirming that time previously spent on home life is now being devoted to longer working hours. Do you spend more time away from your home life compared to 2010?

China India Germany Belgium France Canada S. Africa Global Average Japan USA Mexico UK Netherlands Australia Brazil 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

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Time spent out of work

As new models of working develop, in terms of more part time and freelance work as well as flexible hours and work location, it is becoming ever more evident that the division between time spent at home or on private pursuits and the hours spent in the office is a major decision clincher in the modern job market. Also it is important to note that its not just parents of young children for whom work-life balance are vitally important, but also so-called generation Y employees14 and retired workers wishing to return to work part-time.
On balance western economies seem to have achieved a better level of satisfaction with the amount of time workers are able to spend with their families or on leisure activities with the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, France and the USA scoring above average. The UK scores disappointingly just below average. Although between 2003 and 2007 the UK had become one of the biggest investors in families in the OECD, after the downturn spending cuts on benefits for pregnancy and childbirth, and a freeze on child cash benefits have affected the outlook.15 Do you feel happy with the amount of time you spend at home / with family?
Netherlands Australia Canada France Mexico S. Africa USA India Global Average UK China Brazil Belgium Japan Germany 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

14 15

Cisco, Connected World, 2011 OECD, Work-Life Balance, In detail by Country, UK, 2011

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Time spent out of work

Long distance commutes put so much pressure on families that commuters are 40% more likely to separate!
Finally, commuting time is widely regarded by workers as a limbo of wasted time that is neither work nor private life. By helping workers reduce this grey area companies can show employees that they value their time and their well-being as stress caused by traffic and overcrowded public transport can affect both performance and overall health. Long commutes of over 45 minutes are in fact associated with poor sleep quality, exhaustion, and low general health - it has even been found that long distance commutes put so much pressure on families that commuters are 40% more likely to separate!16 On average over two fifths of workers feel that companies have made an effort to reduce employee commutes in the past two years, a figure that, although promising, could easily be improved with the introduction of more flexible working practices. Interestingly, more workers in emerging economies feel that companies have made an effort to reduce commute times confirming previous Regus research that emerging economies have made flexible working a key part of their development plans.17 BRIC economies top the chart for commute reduction, but businesses in the USA and Canada are also more likely to have made improvements than average. Companies in France, Germany and Japan are the least likely to have made any improvements since 2010. Do you feel companies are doing more to reduce the time their employees spend commuting compared to 2010?

Brazil India China Mexico Netherlands USA Canada Global Average S.Africa UK Belgium Australia Japan Germany France 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

16 17

The Washington Post, Long distance commute stresses family life, 31st May 2011 Regus, Flexibility drives productivity, February 2012

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Business size
The index found that smaller companies had a higher work-life balance rating than larger companies at 130 points compared to 109, suggesting that perhaps in smaller companies more informal day-to-day measures to improve worker well-being are being taken. In larger businesses complex administrative procedures may be proving an obstacle to giving workers more control over their working lives, in spite of the fact that greater freedom is known to make employees happier.18 Work-life balance has improved in 2012 compared with 2010 for all size companies, but it has taken a particular leap forwards in more agile, smaller companies where the index has grown a full 27 points.
Work-Life Balance Index 2010 and 2012 by company size

Global Average

Small

Medium

Large

0 2010

20 2012

40

60

80

100

120

140

18

Avaya/Dynamic Markets, Flexible working 2009, 2009

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Conclusion
While it is encouraging that more business people across the world feel that their work-life balance has improved since 2010, this report reveals that if governments and businesses are seriously committed to improving work-life balance in order to drive overall growth there are still a number of areas and behaviours that need to be addressed.
Although a majority of workers report that they are enjoying work and achieving more than they were in 2010, this is hardly surprising given that those two years coincide with the last acts of the global downturn. In particular, although the index has grown globally 24% since 2010, a number of indicators such as excessive additional duties and longer working hours show that businesses can still do much to help improve employee work-life balance. As economic conditions improve and employment opportunities become more frequent businesses cannot afford to ignore key measures to improve employee work-life balance and well-being. One simple way to empower employees to take more control over their work-life balance is to help employees cut commute time through the introduction of more flexible working practices. Whether these measures enable workers to travel out of peak time, to work from locations closer to home or to spend more time with their families there is no doubt that economic development must go hand in hand with overall lifestyle improvements particularly as recent Regus research confirms that businesses find flexible working is not only cheaper than traditional fixed office working but increases staff productivity.

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Global highlights
China
Chinese work-life balance was much higher than average in 2010 at 145 points and has subsequently only increased 4 Index points in 2012. 55% of respondents think that they spend more time away from their personal life now than in 2010.

India
In India the Index has increased from 121 Index points in 2010 to 139. Fully 80% of respondents enjoy work more than they did in 2010.

UK
The UK Work-Life balance Index rating is 104, 20 points below the global average. Only 60% of workers report enjoying work more since 2010 compared to 69% globally.

USA
The USA Work-Life Balance Index rating is just below the global average at 123 points 68% of workers took on additional duties during the downturn that were not subsequently taken over by a new member of staff.

France
23% of respondents believe that companies have tried to improve commuting for employees Only 65% of workers report enjoying work more since 2010 compared to 69% globally.

Germany
The German Work-Life Balance Index rating is well below average at 95 points. 46% of workers spend more time away from their home life than in 2010.

Belgium
44% of respondents report that they spend more time away from their home life. Only 60% of workers report enjoying work more than in 2010 compared to 69% globally.

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Global highlights
Netherlands
The Netherlands Work-Life balance index has increased 30 points to 120 since 2010. 66% of workers believe that they achieve more at work than in 2010.

Brazil
The Brazilian Work-Life Balance Index rating has increased fully 45 points to 151 since 2010. 81% of workers report enjoying work more than in 2010 compared to 69% globally.

South Africa
The South African Work-Life balance index has increased fully 35 points to 135 since 2010. 76% of workers report enjoying work more than in 2010 compared to 69% globally.

Japan
The Japanese Work-Life Balance Index rating is 105, 19 points below the global average. Only 67% of workers report feeling that they achieve more at work than in 2010.

Australia
At 129 points the Australian Work-Life Balance Index is above average.

Canada
The Canadian Work-Life Balance Index at 113 is below the global average. 71% of workers report enjoying work more than in 2010 compared to 69% globally.

Mexico
The Mexican Work-Life Balance Index rate at 153 is well above the global average. 81% of workers report enjoying work more than in 2010 compared to 69% globally.

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About Regus
Regus is the worlds largest provider of flexible workplaces, with products and services ranging from fully equipped offices to professional meeting rooms, business lounges and the worlds largest network of video communication studios. Regus enables people to work their way, whether its from home, on the road or from an office.
Customers such as Google, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nokia join hundreds of thousands of growing small and medium businesses that benefit from outsourcing their office and workplace needs to Regus, allowing them to focus on their core activities. Over 1,000,000 customers a day benefit from Regus facilities spread across a global footprint of 1,200 locations in 550 cities and 95 countries, which allow individuals and companies to work wherever, however and whenever they want to. Regus was founded in Brussels, Belgium in 1989, is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information please visit: www.regus.com

Methodology
Over 16,000 business respondents from the Regus global contacts database were interviewed during January 2012. The Regus global contacts database of over 1 million business-people worldwide is highly representative of senior managers and owners in business across the globe. Respondents were asked about their working hours, satisfaction with the amount of time spent at home or with family along with their views on whether there had been improvements in their overall work-life balance. The survey was managed and administered by the independent organisation, MindMetre, www.mindmetre.com

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Whilst every effort has been taken to verify the accuracy of this information, Regus cannot accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this report or any of the information, opinions or conclusions set out in this report.