Working long hours or under high stress may be easy to accept, especially if we’ve been doing it for a long time or if our coworkers are in the same situation. Unless we take a step back now and again, our attitudes and behaviors regarding work may become firmly established. Furthermore, achieving a healthy work-life balance may appear to be an insurmountable task. Employees can now be reached around the clock thanks to advances in technology. Fear of job loss motivates people to work longer hours. According to a Harvard Business School poll, 94% of working professionals work more than 50 hours per week, and nearly half work more than 65 hours per week. Since the advent of the Pandemic, we have had to deal with the challenges of balancing our work and personal lives, and we’ve learned the importance of striking a good balance between the two. As the pandemic ends, its economic effects, along with the conflict in Ukraine, are being felt throughout the world in the form of soaring inflation, which is already hurting daily life through rising fuel prices, for instance. In light of this troubling backdrop, the onus is on businesses – and governments – to take efforts to create a constructive balance between work and life obligations for workers’ mental well-being.

The 2022 Work-Life Balance Index showed Dubai in a negative light. The survey rates cities based on their performance in promoting work-life balance to their inhabitants, in the backdrop of rampant inflation and the impact of the pandemic and conflict in Ukraine, by comparing statistics on work intensity, institutional support, laws, and liveability. The cities featured in the report are well-known for their career prospects and leisure attractions. The findings also reflect how cities fared in recent years when vaccination rates were still low and migration was more challenging. The study, rather than being a liveability index or a rating of the finest towns to work in, tries to demonstrate which communities create the healthiest work-life balance for their residents.

The Three Categories Studied to Rank the Cities

The following aspects or categories were looked at stringently to identify the factors affecting Work-Life Balance.

I.  Intensity of Work

• Remote work potential by estimating the percentage of tasks that can be performed remotely.
• The labour intensity by gathering data on overworking, holiday allowances, and the number of vacation days taken.
• Unemployment rates and the number of people who worked more than one job to understand how the economic impact created by the pandemic has changed the job market. 
• The rate of inflation to see where the people felt the most pressure as inflation dictates the quality of work-life balance.
• The number of parental leave days mandated by the city.

II. Role of Society and Institutions

• The impact the pandemic had and the help available.
• Quality of healthcare, availability of mental health treatment.
• The amount of gender and LGBT+ equality.

III. Liveability Aspects

• Affordability of each city
• Inhabitants’ access to cultural and leisure activities outside of working hours, i.e., the level of Happiness
• Safety and security
• The number of outdoor spaces and air quality
• Well-being and fitness

The findings identify cities that may be commended for maintaining a good work-life balance for their inhabitants through positive social policies and urban infrastructure. 

The Best Performing Cities

Work-life balance has never been more important than now, during and post-pandemic. If TikTok is any indication of how serious people are about separating work and personal life, the hashtags #afterworkroutine and #5to9—in which users video themselves unwinding after logging off from work—have roughly 40 million combined views.

Cities in Germany account for approximately one-third of the top 30 on the list. Three Canadian cities are ranked in the top 20 in the world for work-life balance. The index places Ottawa sixth, Vancouver sixteenth, and Toronto nineteenth. Seattle is the highest-ranking American City ahead of Portland, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City.

Let us now examine some of the major regions that have performed well on the index.

Europe

Incidentally, all of the top 6 cities in the index are European. Oslo, the capital and most populous city of Norway, is located in the country’s southeast. It has a large marine industry and is also home to enterprises in the biological sciences, information technology, energy, and environmental technology. According to Kisi statistics, employees in Oslo take 25 days of vacation per year on average and receive 707 days of paid parental leave. The city also received top marks for remote working, healthcare quality and availability, and air quality. The city has taken full advantage of their booming job market in the life sciences, IT, and energy and environmental industries.

Bern, Helsinki, Zurich, Copenhagen, and Geneva are the other five cities. Stuttgart and Munich were featured in the top ten, and German cities accounted for over a third of the top 30. According to the report, another wonderful city for achieving Work-Life balance is Amsterdam, where fewer than 10% of the population is overworked.

Canada

As mentioned earlier, there are 3 Canadian cities which ranked among the top 20. Ottawa was ranked 7^th followed by Vancouver 16^th and Toronto 19^th. Calgary had the lowest score of any Canadian city, ranking in 30^th place. Ottawa was rated the greatest Canadian city for work-life balance for a variety of reasons, including low unemployment and strong city livability, such as closeness to outdoor open areas. Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa likewise scored high in terms of inclusion and tolerance, but poor in terms of affordability. All Canadian cities received points for providing around a year of parental leave and having low rates of overwork around 10%.

Dubai’s Response to the Ranking and Changes Introduced

Dubai is one of the safest places in the world to live. At the same time, according to the 2022 Work-Life Balance Index, in the category of Work Intensity, Dubai has the most overworked population, with full-time employees working more than 48 hours a week. However, it is commendable that the city has already realized this as a fact and has taken measures to curb the same. In an effort to promote a healthy work-life balance, the UAE has become one of the first nations in the world to implement a 4.5 days work week for public sector employees. Furthermore, Dubai ranked number 1 in terms of employee vacation days and lowest unemployment rates. The emirate also did well in terms of Remote Work Potential, ranking sixth out of 49 worldwide and 51 US cities examined in terms of the number of such opportunities and the availability of robust infrastructure to support remote work.

Dubai took top place in the category, the Role of Society and Institutions for reducing the impact of coronavirus on the economy, public healthcare, and society (when it comes to the effects of imposed restrictions). It did, however, receive the lowest grade for government financial assistance to employees afflicted by the economic impacts of the epidemic. The study’s findings did not account for Dubai’s latest Unemployment Insurance, under which both residents and UAE nationals who lose their jobs are entitled to 60% of their basic pay. Under the city liveability category, Dubai came in second place after Singapore in terms of safety, with strong marks for environmental, social, and infrastructure security. The emirate, on the other hand, ranked bottom in terms of “the presence and accessibility of a city’s urban green infrastructure” and air quality. It is worth noting that Dubai is the only city in the GCC to be included in the study.