The impact of poor work life balance is considerable, but the scale of the impact on our overall health is underlined by a new study published by researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology-BIPS, which found that people with poor work-life balance were far more likely to also report poor general health.

The researchers assessed data from the 6th European Working Condition Survey, which was conducted in 2015.  Participants in the survey were required to report on their general health as well as their ability to balance professional and personal commitments.  In total, 32,275 working adults from 30 countries participated in the research.

The analysis revealed that workers who reported that they had a poor work-life balance were also twice as likely to report poor health.  This harmful connection was twice as likely among women than men, although the data suggests that men were more likely to experience poor work-life balance to begin with.  This is probably due to the longer working hours reported by men, although men were also found to have more control over their work hours.

“Traditional and societal expectations of behavior for men and women, where women are responsible for caregiving and household activities and men responsible for paid work, may explain the gender work-life imbalance and adverse health outcomes we observed,” the researchers say.

Harming health

The researchers performed a geographic analysis to see if particular regions were more likely to suffer from work-related ill health, and found that people from the Nordics were most likely to report a positive work-life balance, while those from Southern Europe were least likely to do so.

“Long working hours, increased psychological involvement in work, inflexible working times and role overload can all contribute to work-life conflict among employees,” the researchers say. “Variations in socio-economic policies common to multiple countries, such as parental leave, support for child and elderly care, and general welfare and equality policies, may also have an effect on the balance of work and family life.”

The researchers believe their findings underline the need for both policymakers and organizations to provide the kind of social policies and working conditions that deal with the dual demands of family and professional life to ensure that health is maintained.