New research from cloud-based access control systems provider Kisi has declared Helsinki’s work-life balance to be the world’s healthiest.
Kisi’s comprehensive index covers 40 cities described by the company as ‘in-demand metropolises worldwide with sufficient, reliable and relevant datasets’. It takes into account a diverse array of factors including average hours worked, the amount of vacation on offer and levels of parental leave; as well as issues of city livability and socioeconomic factors, such as levels of gender and LGBTQ equality, availability of access to mental healthcare, levels of air pollution and residents’ overall happiness. Taking all the available statistics into account Helsinki work-life balance was determined to be the most attractive, with top scores for citizen happiness, vacation hours and paternal leave.
Kisi cautions: ‘This index is not designed to be a city livability index, nor is it intended to highlight the best cities to work in; instead, it aims to be a guideline for cities to benchmark their ability to support the fulfilment of residents’ lives by improving the aspects of life that help relieve work-related stress and intensity.’
Munich, which showed the lowest rates in the index of citizen stress, and Oslo, with the fewest average working hours per week, ranked second and third respectively for their quality of work-life balance. Tokyo, Singapore and Washington DC were declared the most ‘overworked’, with the worst ratios of ‘work intensity’ to social and municipal advantages.
Kisi CEO Bernhard Mehl said: “Despite living in an era where unprecedented advancements have been made in technology and connectivity, we have failed to address the most everyday aspect of enhancing our everyday lives – finding the balance between work and leisure. We hope that this study highlights the need for more research to optimise the wellbeing of citizens in order to counter the psychological and economic costs of workplace stress.”
