The term “work life balance” remains one of the buzziest of 2019 – but, sadly, it seems as if hardly any of us are managing to achieve it in the UK. Not only has the average workplace happiness score for the UK tumbled by four points since February to 651 (two points under the average global workplace happiness score of 653), but the UK now ranks 10th globally when it comes to happiness in the workplace. (Austria (690), Spain (682), United States (719), France (672) and Germany (675) are all above the UK in rating workplace happiness.

A lot of this is down to the fact that work, for many people, is taking up almost every facet of our lives. Indeed, the average Brit thinks their work life balance is 70%-30% in favour of work, and, in this era of presenteeism, that isn’t so hard to believe. After all, how many times have you skipped your lunchbreak?  Or checked your work emails when you’re on holiday? Or found yourself too exhausted to cook after a tiring day at the office? Or fended off calls from your friends because you’re working late again? Or cried in the office loos because you’re just so unbelievably and horribly exhausted?

Exactly.

There’s no denying that the demands of the modern workplace are tough, made even more so by the fact we now have access to technology which allows us to be logged in to the office wherever we are in the world. So it makes sense that one of the best ways to protect your mental health against work-related stress is to ensure you have a healthy work-life balance. 

And, if that means updating your CV and securing a new job, then it’s worth pursuing a career path that has been praised for providing employees with a good work life balance.

Thank goodness, then, that Glassdoor has published a new jobs report identifying the ‘15 Best Jobs For Work-Life Balance in the UK for 2019’. 

“Not everyone prioritises money, so if you are looking for a job offering a good work-life balance then these roles definitely stand out. However, many of them also offer well above average salaries for the UK, proving it is possible to find a job that pays good money yet doesn’t take over your life,” said economic research analyst Amanda Stansell. “Despite very few jobs in the UK being advertised explicitly as ‘flexible’, many of the jobs in our ranking can be found in a wide range of industries, which goes to show that there is potential to keep a reasonable limit on working hours with all sorts of different employers.”

So, without any further ado, here are the career paths we should all be pursuing if we want a more balanced life…

The Top 15 Best Jobs For Work-Life Balance are:

1. Sales Development Representative

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.6

• Median Base Salary: £27,000

2. Research Fellow

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.6

• Median Base Salary: £34,000

3. Customer Success Manager

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.5

• Median Base Salary: £40,000

4. Marketing Assistant

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.4

• Median Base Salary: £20,000

5. Engagement Manager

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.4

• Median Base Salary: £48,000

6. Data Scientist

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.4

• Median Base Salary: £46,000

7. Recruiter

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.3

• Median Base Salary: £25,000

8. Copywriter

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.2

• Median Base Salary: £29,000

9. Web Developer

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.2

• Median Base Salary: £31,000

10. Audit Manager

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.2

• Median Base Salary: £52,000

11. Recruiting Manager

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.1

• Median Base Salary: £40,000

12. Operations Analyst

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.1

• Median Base Salary: £30,000

13. Executive Assistant

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.1

• Median Base Salary: £37,000

14. Product Manager

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.1

• Median Base Salary: £52,500

15. HR Business Partner

• Work-Life Balance Rating: 4.1

• Median Base Salary: £49,000

In a sign that work-life balance is on job seekers’ minds, Glassdoor also added that a recent anonymous survey found that 40% of employees say they would rather have reduced working hours so they could come in to work late or leave early, instead of a designated lunch break. 

Similarly, over one third (35%) said they would prefer to have the flexibility to take a break whenever they wanted so that they have control over their day.

So, if you’re tempted to pack it all in and find yourself a dreamy balanced job as a sales development representative, we’ve rounded up our best tips for finding a great new role – from searching careers sites to writing a standout CV and impressive interview techniques. 

However, if you’re not sure about changing careers, but do feel your work life balance is out of whack, don’t despair: there is help at hand.

Karen Meager, a successful psychotherapist and author, teamed up with Stylist to design a quiz that will help you determine how effective your work-balance skills are.

From the rigid compartmentaliser to the scatty crammer, the fair-minded equalizer to the workaholic, she has broken things down into four main work-balance types – and offered her advice on how to improve things if you’re finding them tough.

Take our work-life balance quiz now.

Images: Getty/Unsplash