“I worked as a journalist in London for 12 years,” she said. “I was working long hours. It was busy. With commuting from London, there was often very little ‘life’ left in the work-life balance. I just thought it was normal. And then we moved here. “
Among other things, she said, she noticed how strict the line between “work” and “life” is. “The workday starts at 8 a.m. People normally turn off their computers at 4 p.m.,” she explained. As children usually have to be picked up from daycare around 4:00 p.m., everyone, even those without children, finishes their working day at that time. “There really is a sacred family time between, say, 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. each day, where families are together. Maybe you answer a few emails after the kids are in bed, but otherwise, you have sort of over. And that means that people without children are also allowed to set aside their own free time and hobbies with the same priority that parents give to their children. It is perfectly acceptable to write in your journal ” I have to go to the gym’ or ‘I have a badminton club’.”
This priority given to work-life balance is also what the OECD and Remote rankings reveal. Only 1% of Danish employees work more than 50 hours per week, much less than in countries like Italy (3%) or the OECD average (10%). They also spend 15.7 hours per day on personal time and leisure activities, more than the OECD average. And flexible working is supported – in fact, the national Flexjobs scheme, where workers can request different working hours, patterns or even less physically demanding tasks, was launched in 1998.
The country also offers 36 days of legal annual leave, among the highest in rich countries, and workers must receive 100% of their salary for sick days.