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Employees are finding it harder to find a balance between employment, family, and personal time. The ability to find a balance between the three is essential for job progress, family bond, and personal leisure. The balance between employment and personal life depends on how much time one spends on the job. Long working hours earn more money but has adverse effects on the health and social life of the employee. The average personal time spent by women and men is almost equal, men spend more time in their workplace, but women compensate by working more on unpaid duties.

OECD Countries That Spend The Most Time on Personal Care

Personal care time includes the time spent sleeping, eating and drinking, personal household, medical service and traveling for personal purposes. Of the OECD 28 states, the French spend the most on personal care. A French man spends 743 minutes in a single day as personal time while women spend 761 minutes. In Italy, men spend 710 minutes while women spend five minutes less. In Greece, men spend 707 minutes while women spend 702 minutes. In Turkey, men spend 693 minutes while women spend 695 while in Spain men spend 697 minutes while women spend 687. The Swedes spend the least time as personal time; men spend 573 minutes while women spend 617. Mexican men spend 605 minutes while women spend 619 minutes. Sleeping accounted for much of the personal time. T6he Turks spend the most time in bed, on average a Turk sleep for 530 minutes a day while a Japanese spend 442 minutes. Danish men sleep the most (532 minutes) compared to Italian men who sleep for 448 minutes and Danish women who sleep for 497 minutes. Swedish women sleep the most (543) while Japanese women sleep the least (435 minutes).

Best Work-Life Balance

The most significant aspect of a right work-life balance relies on the amount of time people spend on personal care. According to the Better Life Index, long working hours impair personal health and increase stress. The Netherlands has the best work-life balance of the OECD states. A mere 0.5% of the Dutch workforce work for longer than the stipulated weekly working hours (38 hours). In the U.S, 11 percent of the employees work for very long hours with several middle and low-income people working second jobs. Denmark ranks second with a work-life balance index of 9.0, 0.3 lower than the Netherlands.