Unlocking Work-Life Balance: UK's Best Workplaces for Wellbeing

Based on feedback from over 230,000 employees, the UK's Best Workplaces for Wellbeing™ 2024 are here. Here's what they're getting right about work-life balance.

In 2023, a population study by Great Place To Work found that over half (53%) of UK workers experience excessive stress due to job demands; with 40% agreeing they wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing personal issues affecting their work.

By striking the right balance between workload and resources, organisations can create a positive work environment that decreases risks of employees feeling disengaged, delivering poor performance, or wanting to quit.

This isn’t mere conjecture: over 110,500 employees working within the UK’s Best Workplaces for Wellbeing told Great Place To Work that they “want to work here for a long time” – equivalent to 9 in 10, as opposed to the national average of just 6 in 10 workers. At companies that didn't make the list, employees listed effective workload management as one of the top ways organisations could improve employee wellbeing and make theirs a better place to work – more often than pay and benefits.

Support leaner teams to thrive

The continued cost-of-living crisis and increasing global instability has resulted in large-scale redundancies and budget cuts. Whilst these may be necessary for companies' survival, they have far-reaching consequences for those left behind in a trimmed down workforce.

"Staff and budget cuts must be carefully managed to avoid detrimental effects on the company’s human capital, capabilities, and future prospects,” says Sara Silvonen, Wellbeing Lead and Senior Consultant at Great Place To Work UK.“

Workload prioritisation, streamlining processes, and ensuring employees feel empowered to eliminate unnecessary activities will help managers to nurture a leaner workforce and maintain work-life balance.”

Trust people to disconnect

While the digital transformation of our world of work will undoubtedly continue to afford workforces more efficiency, connectivity, and convenience, tech also risks becoming the cause of unrelenting demands on employees’ attention, and a strain on work-life balance.

“We know from thousands of survey responses that employees in flexible working environments have indeed enjoyed being able to do work from anywhere", says Mark Fowles, Chief Operating Officer at Great Place To Work UK.

“The important thing for organisations is to ensure their hybrid or other flexible working model doesn’t inadvertently create an always-on culture, as this can quickly lead to an increased perception of workload, and impede one’s ability to fully disengage and recharge."