![]() “Something called the ‘gain spiral’ sees the workplace as being able to create and nurture better home lives, and consequently a better home life is creating more engaged, productive and innovative employees,” says Nadin.Įmployers should also be wary of offering lower pay in exchange for work-life balance they should consider what they can do to support employees to achieve this balance, rather than reducing pay in a competitive labour market.Ĭlare Kelliher, professor of work and organisation at Cranfield School of Management, says that significant numbers of employees claiming they would accept a lower salary in return for a better work-life balance “should send an important message to employers about the value employees place on their non-work lives”. "For professionals who haven’t paused for thought for a while, it’s wise to have a career check-in from time to time to avoid ending up in a job where you’re not progressing, or you are simply unhappy.”īut Gethin Nadin, psychologist and chief innovation officer at Benefex, says things have changed, as while “historically the workplace fought against our home lives”, the most successful employers are now “realising that there is a symbiotic relationship” between the home and our work. Yvonne Smyth, director at Hays, points out that because many people work from anywhere, some feel as though they are ‘always on’, blurring the lines between work and family life. Indeed, this phenomenon is also a pandemic backlash. The UK has a particular problem with achieving and maintaining a sensible work-life balance, as evidenced in the CIPD’s UK Working Lives survey, which found that many UK employees felt their job made it “hard to switch off” in their downtime. Why would people choose balance over pay? ![]() “I imagine it would be higher, but given a cost of living crisis and soaring inflation, for many this is simply unachievable,” says Carr, adding that organisations should view the data as a “call to action” to create cultures that enable and “value work-life balance and provide greater flexibility”. So why is work-life balance more important than pay at a time when wages are not matching inflation?ĭr Melissa Carr, director of equity, diversity and inclusion at Henley Business School's World of Work Institute, says it is an aftershock of the pandemic, which left people feeling “fatigued”, wanting to “take stock and re-evaluate” their lives – but caveats that the figure of those wanting better work-life balance over pay would likely be higher if it wasn’t for the economic climate. Interestingly, the Aviva research also found that, before the pandemic, employees valued pay over work-life balance. An earlier report from Aviva in September last year found that two fifths (41 per cent) of employees were attracted to their current role because of the work-life balance – which is five percentage points higher than those who cited salary. It found that a third (33 per cent) of workers consider work-life balance to be the most “crucial consideration” when looking for a job.īut that’s not all. As the cost of living causes many employees to ask for a monthly pay boost from their employer, and pay disputes in the private sector spark a wave of industrial action across the UK, new research has found work-life balance could trump a higher wage.Ī recent report by Hays revealed that more than half (56 per cent) of employees are willing to accept a lower-paid job in exchange for a better work-life balance.
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