Spotlight on work–life balance in Europe

Four out of five European workers report that they have a good work–life balance. However, this implies that for one in five workers the balance between their work and their other obligations is not a good one.

The latest issue of Foundation Focus looks at work–life balance and some of the factors that help or hinder workers in combining working with non-working life. Improving work–life balance is an important policy goal in its own right. However, it is also linked to other top-level goals, including: increasing labour market participation; making work more sustainable; ensuring equal opportunities for women; and addressing demographic challenges and the issues that they raise for pension systems. The question of work–life balance has long been an important subject of research for Eurofound; hence, this issue draws on a wide range of recent work. And in the new four-year programme, work–life balance will continue to be a significant research topic for the Agency, featuring as it will in the outputs from the fourth European Quality of Life Survey from late 2017 onwards.