City of stress: Bangkok work-life balance ranked near bottom
Bangkokians have the right to feel stressed out after their city ranked 96th out of 100 countries in this year’s Work-Life Balance Index, published by software firm Kisi.
Only Sao Paolo, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Cape Town had a worse work-life balance according to the Kisi study. The top five cities with the healthiest balance between work and play were all in Europe.
Norway’s Oslo ranked first, followed by Bern, Helsinki, Zurich and Copenhagen.
The cities were evaluated according to three criteria: work intensity, society and institutions, and city liveability.
Bangkok scored badly for remote working, overworked population, minimum vacation offered, affordability, happiness, culture & leisure, city safety, outdoor spaces, and air-quality sub-categories. Bangkok’s work-life balance also showed no improvement from last year’s ranking, when it came 49th out of 50 cities.
The stress of city living in Thailand’s capital was reinforced by its ranking of 7th in the overworked population index.
Kris cited the economic fallout from Covid-19 and high inflation affecting day-to-day life.
“Against this worrying backdrop, the onus is on companies – and governments – to take steps to establish a positive balance between work and life commitments for the mental well-being of employees,” said the firm’s 2022 work-life study.
Top 10 cities for work-life balance:
- Oslo, Norway
- Bern, Switzerland
- Helsinki, Finland
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Ottawa, Canada
- Sydney, Australia
- Stuttgart, Germany
- Munich, Germany
Top overworked cities:
- Dubai, UAE
- Hong Kong
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Singapore
- Montevideo, Uruguay
- Tokyo, Japan
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Budapest, Hungary
Source: Kisi
