Men happier than women with their work-life balance

In the balancing act of professional life and personal life, men do it better. A recent survey of more than 670 North American professionals, Captivate Network found that when it comes to extreme happiness at work and at home, men are consistently happier than women.

Captivate found men are 25 percent happier at work than women and eight percent happier at home. Three-quarters of men said they are able to balance their work and personal lives.

Studying their survey results, Captivate was able to put together a profile of each the happiest and unhappiest people at work and at home.

The extremely happy person is a 39 year old married man who enjoys a household income between $150,000 and $200,000. He’s in a senior management position while his wife works part-time. The pair has one young child at home.

The extremely unhappy person at work and at home is a 42 year old unmarried woman. She works in a professional position, maybe as a doctor or lawyer, and has a household income of under $100,000 per year.

At work, especially among young single professionals, men are nearly two times more likely than women to balance their work and personal lives, Captivate found. Men are 25 percent more likely to take breaks throughout the day for personal activities. Men are also 35 per cent more likely to take breaks, “just to relax.”

While men and women alike recognize the importance of good work-life balance, 87 percent of respondents said that their current balancing act makes them sick. Complaints of stress, headaches, muscle tension, weight gain and depression are all higher among women than men. While nearly one in four employees reported that their companies had created special “wellness programs” to support them in their quest for work-life balance, few people actually seem to benefit. In fact, it was the employees working for companies without wellness programs that were 23 percent happier and balanced, said Captivate.

The Captivate Office Pulse survey indicated that many of the top traits for achieving a work-life balance are actually in the hands of individuals:

• Take vacations – 93 percent of happy people do versus only79 percent of unhappy people
• Create a weekly to do list – 66 percent of happy people vs. 57 percent of unhappy people
• Leave work at a reasonable hour – 89 percent of happy people versus 49 percent of unhappy people
• Take breaks during the work day – 68 percent of happy people versus 41 percent of unhappy people

In addition to determining that men are happier than women, as well as uncovering the traits for achieving a work-life balance, this survey also unveiled some other findings:

• Women are 33 percent unhappier than men in the office
• Middle managers are 171 percent more likely to work around-the-clock than other workers
• Professionals making between$75,000 and $100,000 are 23 percent less likely than other earners to balance work and personal life
• Adults with young children at home are 13 percent more likely than non-parents to work too much

How would you rate your work-life balance? What do you do to ensure your personal and professional lives are balanced?

You might also be interested in: Top 10 countries for work-life balance

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