Half of all UK workers experience an “uneven” balance between their work life and home life, according to new research.
Two-fifths (40 per cent) of female respondents to the survey by Tilda revealed they have to rely on caffeine or sugar to get them through the day, while one in three men said they felt the same way.
The study, which spoke to 2,000 people, focused on the happiness and health of the British public – and concluded that many were suffering from a poor diet, lack of quality sleep and being stretched in the workplace.
Furthermore, only four in ten admitted to being “happy” with their lifestyle and more than half said the battle to balance the demands of the office with family life had caused their stress levels to increase in the last 12 months.
Tilda’s senior brand and innovation manager Camilla Sheeley said: “To feel happy and content, we must take a holistic approach to our lifestyle choices – this includes giving consideration to what we eat, how much we sleep and how we use our leisure time.”
A separate study by the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the majority (59 per cent) of business leaders were expecting the traditional nine-to-five working hours to be phased out entirely by 2020, with flexible working practices set to blur the lines further between home and work.
Research conducted recently by Business Environment, revealed that as many as one in five employees (19.6%) has taken time off work due to stress, with more than a quarter (28.8%) saying they feel stressed at work all, or most of, the time.
So keen to prove their ability to get the job done, one fifth (21%) of employees take work home at least one to two times a week with factors such as unrealistic deadlines, pressure from above and lack of support cited as the biggest culprits in causing stress.
However, it could also be argued that remote working can help improve the balance with family life, by allowing employees to spend more time with their loved ones as they base their office hours around their home routine. For example, a homeworker would be able to take an hour out of their day to run their children to school and potentially make the time back after their young ones have gone to bed in the evening.
