Long hours continue to risk mental wellbeing

by • News, Wellbeing

UK employees will be encouraged to leave work early on Friday as part of Go Home on Time Day, a charity initiative promoting healthy work-life balance. This couldn’t be more timely, with new research from Thomsons Online Benefits claiming that 1 in 4 (26 percent) people feel long hours at work prevent them from improving their mental wellbeing.

According to the study of 2,000 UK employees, poor work-life balance did not just impact mental wellbeing, but also physical and financial health:

• 36 percent of UK employees feel they’re unable to improve their physical fitness because of long hours at work

• Almost 1 in 8 (12 percent) employees struggle to find the time to improve their financial health

Thomsons’ research also suggests that 49 percent of people feel that their employers should support them more in achieving a work-life balance, at a time when British workers are putting in the longest hours in the EU.