World’s Happiest Nations Finally Bare the Secrets to Finding Work-Life Balance

Did you know that some countries are happier than others? The concept may seem unquantifiable but as per the researchers of the World Happiness Report, it is measurable if you see it as the satisfaction of a person with how his/her life is going.

According to Jeff Sachs, the co-creator of the report, they are not simply looking at how often a citizen smiled or laughed rather how they feel about their situations. The countries that came out on top are Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Greenland, Aland, and the Faroe Islands – their secret, apart from free healthcare and education, is balance, so how do they find equilibrium between work and life?

Stress Leave

We are familiar with vacation, maternal, sick, and to some paternal leaves, which are supposed to be used only when needed. But apparently, there is such a thing as stress leave in other countries, which, from the name itself, is taken when you are feeling the brunt of your workload, which is quite helpful for employees.

Workers are granted stress leave

How To Work In Denmark author Kay Xander Mellish said that whenever people feel that their mental health is suffering because of their work, they go on stress leave and that’s thanks to the country’s labor market model — businesses tend to be flexible and the government provides security to the workers.

Fewer Hours in Work

Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos said that as per studies, people tend to be happy if they have more free time. In comparison, there’s an average of 44 hours of work per week (8.8 hours per day) in the United States whereas in Denmark, full-time usually totals 37 hours at the office throughout the five days.

Also, there is a stark contrast between the mindset of the Danes and the Americans in working long hours. People in the United States may be proud of their overtimes but for the locals of Denmark, it only means you were not able to finish your task in the allotted time.

In order to finish their jobs on time, Danes avoid socializing at the office

How is this possible? Danes don’t kid around when they are at work, which means they practice efficiency as much as possible.

Because they value free time so much, they make it a point to complete their work in 7.5 hours so that they can mingle with their officemates after.

Five-Week Vacation

Danes make it a point to spend their paid five-week vacation leave

Full-time workers in Denmark are also promised five weeks of paid vacation no matter their positions or how long they have served the company. Kay said that Danes really take their time off work, unlike the majority of American employees who choose not to maximize their leaves.