Two North Carolina Cities Nationally Recognized For Exemplary Work Life Balance
The older I get the more I prioritize a good healthy work-life balance. Yes, you should give your all when you’re on the clock at work. But your downtime is so important as well. Work hard to play hard. But make sure you emphasize that “play”. With email and smartphones, it’s easy to be “always on” in fact many employers expect you to be. But being always on can lead to overworking, unnecessary stress, and even burnout. It’s why personally I do not turn on my work email on my phone unless I am out of the office working. So when I was sent this study about the best cities for work-life balance I was intrigued. And two North Carolina cities did make the top 10 for work life balance nationwide.
That’s the good news. The bad news? I don’t live in one of the two. This data was shared with us from HowToStartAnLLC.org. They looked at data from the 170 largest cities in the US to create this list of the top 50 cities in America that “provide the best opportunities for work-life balance”. Three main categories were analyzed. These included:
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work intensity (commute time, average hours worked each week, the percentage working 50 or more weeks per year, etc)
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health and wellness (percentage employed with health coverage, number of poor mental health days reported, physical activity, etc)
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income and economic stability (unemployment rate, poverty rate, year-over-year income growth)
And here’s what they found. The best overall city for work life balance was Madison, WI. No thank you on that one personally I love snow but I don’t think I could do those winters! When it comes to North Carolina it was Raleigh that came in at 6th best. They were followed by Cary (8th) which is a suburb of Raleigh, Durham (13th), and Charlotte at 19th. So Charlotte wasn’t terrible though not as great as Raleigh.
I have spent time in both Charlotte and Raleigh and will admit that they both have different “vibes”. I can even see how perhaps Raleigh over other North Carolina cities does offer a more positive work life balance. Tech jobs are abundant in the area which pay extremely well, have the work-from-home option, and are known as positive environments to work in. In fact, I have several good friends who work for one specific software company in the area that is known to be one of the best places to work. And the amenities that they have, including unlimited sick/mental health days, screams a positive work life balance.
I think in the coming years we are going to see more of a shift back to boundaries when it comes to the workplace. Employees don’t want to work around the clock, and in my opinion they absolutely shouldn’t be expected to. I’d even be in favor of 4 10-hour work days leading to an extra “weekend’ day. Thanks to our friends at HowToStartAnLLC.org for sharing their research with us. You can read the full study and methodology here.
Historic South Carolina Cities Recognized Nationally For Their Slower Pace Of Life
