The pandemic has really brought a new perspective to workers desire for a better work-life balance. Many talented employees are being treated like “pop stars” and demand flexible work and because we have such a shortage of top talent the ball is in their court and employers go the extra mile to attract & retain them. In a recent survey it was evident that since the pandemic the big cities like London and New York continue to fall further down the rankings in terms of quality of life for a work-life balance.
This data is from an article by Bloomberg on May 25th 2022 quoted below “
All scores are out of 100, with 100 being the highest.
Source: Kisi
Notes: The study considers over 130 data points covering a range of indicators to highlight the most and least overworked cities around the world. The data for this study was sourced from international organisations, NGO reports, open access datasets, public surveys and crowdsourcing platforms. Significant outliers and missing data at city level were inferred from national statistics.”
Europe dominates the top 10 in the world with only 2 cities (Ottawa/Sydney) joining the list. Scandinavia and Switzerland take gold, silver and Bronze with top 6 places, and I have to say the list doesn’t surprise me. I have been to most of those cities, and they have bicycle paths, people leave work early on Friday, affordable childcare, high compensation, limited congestion, fresh air, and access to sea or mountains. I am sure if you did a survey for billionaires none of the above cities would appear in top 10 because for a billionaire London, New York and Paris have a way better quality of life in terms of theatre, restaurants, and general entertainment. However, for 99% of people working in jobs the list from Bloomberg article makes complete sense.
