Older employees more likely to neglect work-life balance

About 54% of workers aged over-50 believe they go above and beyond compared to just 17% of respondents under 25, according to a Frog Recruitment survey which showed that out of staff aged between 25 and 50, 43% felt they were doing more than they needed to.

Shannon Barlow, managing director of Frog Recruitment, said the over-50s could use their hard-working traits to their advantage, but warned that older workers needed to be careful about how they managed their work-life balance to avoid burnout. “The concept of achieving ‘work-life balance’ is new for mature workers,” she said.

Younger workers, on the other hand, were prioritising their well-being, which she felt was a positive. 

“After what we now know about burnout in the workplace, it’s vital people protect themselves from exhaustion and be extra careful not to burn the candle at both ends – particularly the middle generation who may be juggling work responsibilities with bringing up a family while squeezing in time to exercise, volunteer or perhaps even study.”

Employers should tap into the needs of each generation to fill skills shortages, she said. 

READ: Exploring flexible employment for workers in Singapore

“Many of our clients want to attract a younger workforce, and we know employers offering policies that genuinely support healthy work-life balance will do this more successfully than those organisations that don’t,” Barlow said, reported RNZ.