These Are the European Countries With the Best Work-Life Balance in 2022

Finding a healthy balance between life and work is something that many of us struggle with, even more so when working from home, where it can become all too easy to work long into the night or “just quickly check an email” on the weekend—just because you’re at home more doesn’t mean you should be working more. Setting boundaries and separating the work day from days off can be challenging, especially in an age when Zoom calls and Slack messages have become the norm.

An area of the world that gets the work-life balance just right is Europe, with the continent generally being renowned for its laid-back approach and harmonious balance between the 9-to-5 and 5-to-9.

Remote.com recently conducted as study that revealed the European countries with the best work-life balance in 2022—or life-work balance, a phrase coined by the company to help workers reclaim their “work-life” balance and put life first. To conduct the research, countries were given a score out of 100 based on a range of factors like minimum wages, personal time off, parental leave, and more.

In at number one and taking the crown for the European country with the best life-work balance is Luxemburg. The country performs well across all key metrics in the study, particularly statutory maternity leave (100 percent of the employee’s wage for 20 weeks), and statutory annual leave (37 days.)

Second place goes to Spain, with a universal government-funded healthcare system, a high minimum wage, and an impressive “happiness score” that makes this country a great one to live in.

Taking the bronze medal is Norway, a country that values spending time outdoors and living a laid-back life. Long working weeks are rare across all industries, and employees are entitled to an average of 35 PTO days.

Finally, rounding out the top five are Germany and France. Germany has a generous amount of PTO days per year (an average of 36), while the French government introduced the “right to disconnect” law in 2017, a law that requires companies with more than 50 workers to create a charter of good conduct: a document stopping workers from answering emails outside of hours.