To explore this topic further, we conducted a study to determine the cities whose residents have the most well-rounded work-life balance. This included not just the level of work intensity in that city, but also the area’s livability and the well-being and rights of its inhabitants.
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 fulfillment of residents’ lives by improving the aspects of life that help relieve work-related stress and intensity. We first evaluated the working climate in the United States. Then, an international study was conducted to understand how the U.S. performs worldwide, including cities abroad known for attracting professionals and families for their work opportunities and diverse lifestyle offerings. For this first installment of an ongoing study, we selected a shortlist of in-demand metropolises across the globe with sufficient, reliable, and relevant datasets. In future iterations, we aim to expand this study by including a larger selection of cities as data becomes more widely available.
First, we assessed each city’s overall work-life score based on a series of factors related to the amount of time a person dedicates to their job. That includes total working hours, time spent commuting, and vacation days taken. Next, we wanted to find out to what extent residents receive equal treatment, evaluating their access to state-funded health and welfare programs, as well as institutional support for gender equality and friendliness toward the LGBT+ community. We then determined each city’s livability score by examining citizens’ overall happiness, safety, and access to wellness and leisure venues. This allowed us to assess whether the city’s residents can enjoy their environment after office hours.
The Global Work-Life Balance City Index 2024 uses data to identify the best cities for work-life balance based on Work Intensity, Society and Institutions, and City Liveability. The study considers 75 cities internationally, covering a range of indicators to highlight the most and least overworked cities around the world.
We used multiple indicators as components when scoring each factor. The underlying indicators were first standardized using a Z-Score [z = (x-μ)/σ; μ=indicator mean; σ=indicator standard deviation] normalization procedure. The final score was computed as a weighted average of the component Z-Scores, and the resulting score normalized to a scale of 50 to 100 using min-max normalization [(value - min)/(max-min)*50+50]. We chose a minimum score of 50 for the scale to emphasize that the minimum score does not imply the absence of the infrastructures under analysis, as the position is relative to that of other cities in the ranking.
The final index was calculated from the weighted sum of the normalized factor scores, and in turn normalized to present an index score between 50 and 100.
Below you can find a detailed description of each factor within the study and the sources used:
Sources: Eurostat; US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); International labor Organization (ILO)
Sources: Eurostat; International labor Organization (ILO); national labor departments; Thomson Reuters
Sources: proprietary survey data; UBS; US Travel Association
Sources: Municipal statistical departments, United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Sources: International labor Organization (ILO); Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); local government websites
Sources: Government websites
Sources: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); crowd-sourced price comparison platforms
Sources: Rental listing websites; Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Sources: Sustainable Development Solutions Network; Wallethub
Sources: US Bureau of Economic Analysis; European Commission; TimeOut; Wallethub; OSM; TripAdvisor; Michelin Guide
Sources: Germanwatch; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; Economist Intelligence Unit; Eurostat; Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre; Igarape Institute; Vision of Humanity; World Health Organization (WHO)
Sources: United States Forest Service; The Trust for Public Land; Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); European Environmental Agency; WeatherSpark
Sources: World Air Quality Index (aqicn.org); World Health Organization (WHO)
Sources: World Health Organization (WHO); US Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Opportunity Insights; The State of Childhood Obesity; OpenStreetMaps (OSM) Overpass Turbo API
Sources: The Lancet; European Commission; World Health Organization (WHO)
Sources: EIU; Institute for Health and Metrics Evaluation; World Health Organization (WHO); Mental Health America; Dartmouth Institute; local statistics departments
Sources: Spartacus; Gallup; local statistics departments
Sources: World Economic Forum (WEF); United Nations (UN)