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Ielts essay # 1288 - many people work long hours, leaving little time for leisure, ielts writing task 2/ ielts essay:, many people work long hours, leaving very little time for leisure activities., does this situation have more advantages or more disadvantages.

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Work-Life Balance Is a Cycle, Not an Achievement

• Mayra Ruiz-Castro

A five-step approach to identify and overcome unhealthy work habits.

Research has definitively shown that overwork isn’t good for employees or their companies — and yet, in practice, it can be hard to overcome unhealthy work habits and reach a more sustainable work-life balance. To explore what it takes for busy professionals to make a change for the better, the authors conducted a series of interviews with mid- and senior-level managers at two global firms. They found that while the majority of respondents assumed working long hours was inevitable, a significant minority of them were able to resist this pressure and achieve a healthier balance through a process of increasing awareness, conscious reprioritizing, and implementation of public and private changes. The authors go on to emphasize that to achieve lasting change, you must view this process not as a one-time activity, but as a cycle in which you constantly re-evaluate your evolving feelings and priorities, and adjust your work and life choices accordingly.

Despite the resounding evidence that working long hours can be harmful to both employees and employers, many professionals still struggle to overcome their assumptions — and their deeply-ingrained habits — around work hours. What does it take to free yourself from these unhealthy patterns and reach a more sustainable, rewarding work-life balance?

• IL Ioana Lupu is an Associate Professor at ESSEC Business School France. She is interested in overwork, work-compulsion & performance measurement in knowledge-intensive settings, such as audit, consulting, and law firms. Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter @lupu_io.
• MR Mayra Ruiz-Castro is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her research focuses on equality at work and at home. Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter at @MayraRuizCastr1.

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Many people work long hours, leaving little time for leisure activities - Task 2 Band 9 Essay Sample

Updated: Mar 16

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Many people work long hours, leaving little time for leisure activities.

Does this situation have more advantages or more disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experiences.

You should write at least 250 words.

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Model Essay 1

In an era dominated by the relentless pursuit of success, many find themselves engrossed in work, significantly curtailing leisure time. This essay posits that the disadvantages of such a lifestyle outweigh its advantages, focusing on the impact on mental health and personal relationships.

The relentless chase for professional achievements often comes at a steep cost to one's mental well-being. Extended work hours can lead to chronic stress, a precursor to numerous psychological issues, including anxiety and depression. The human brain, akin to a machine, necessitates downtime for rejuvenation. Without sufficient leisure activities, which serve as a mental respite, individuals are prone to a burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion and reduced accomplishment feeling. For instance, a study by the American Psychological Association highlights a direct correlation between leisure deprivation and increased stress levels, underscoring the necessity of balance for mental health.

Moreover, the erosion of personal relationships is a significant consequence of excessive work. Time is a finite resource, and when work monopolizes it, opportunities for nurturing relationships significantly dwindle. Familial bonds and friendships require dedicated attention and time, essential ingredients that become exceedingly scarce when work demands take precedence. This imbalance can lead to a profound sense of isolation and loneliness, further exacerbating mental health issues. The narrative of a successful entrepreneur who, despite professional triumphs, faces familial estrangement vividly illustrates this predicament, highlighting the often overlooked emotional cost of such imbalance.

In conclusion, hard work is crucial for success, yet the sacrifice of leisure time significantly harms mental health and personal relationships. Achieving a balance between work and leisure is vital for a fulfilling life, underscoring the importance of leisure in maintaining well-being and relationships.

Model Essay 2

In today's fast-paced society, the balance between work and leisure is increasingly skewed towards the former, often at the expense of personal well-being. This essay argues that while dedication to one's career is admirable, the resultant marginalization of leisure time is predominantly detrimental, impacting mental health and social connections detrimentally.

The crux of the issue lies in the adverse effects on mental health stemming from excessive work. Psychological research consistently evidences the link between prolonged working hours and elevated stress levels, which can escalate into more serious conditions such as anxiety and depression. Notably, the brain, much like any organ, requires periods of rest to maintain optimal function. The absence of leisure activities, which act as a form of psychological decompression, deprives individuals of this essential recovery time. An illustrative example is found in the tech industry, where high-profile cases of burnout have shed light on the need for leisure to sustain creativity and productivity.

Equally concerning is the impact of extensive work hours on personal and familial relationships. The scarcity of time available for social interactions severely leads to a weakening of bonds that are absolutely crucial for emotional support and well-being. The narrative of a dedicated healthcare professional, who regrettably misses significant family milestones due to unyielding work commitments, serves as a poignant testament to this growing issue. These instances vividly underscore the invaluable role that leisure time plays in nurturing and preserving relationships, contributing significantly to a well-rounded and genuinely fulfilling life.

In conclusion, striving for professional success should not overshadow the importance of leisure, crucial for mental well-being and relationships. A balanced approach between work and leisure is vital for overall life satisfaction. This essay underscores the need to prioritize leisure for a harmonious life.

Sample Essay 3

The increasing trend of extended work hours or overtime has resulted in limited time for leisure. This essay posits that while the primary advantage of this is increased income, there are more disadvantages as this trend causes many diseases in the future.

The financial benefit of working long hours is straightforward - the more time one invests in their job, the more money they can earn. This can provide greater financial security and stability, allowing individuals to live a more comfortable lifestyle and potentially achieve their materialistic goals. In many developing countries, people are willing to work extended hours or overtime to increase their income and improve their standard of living. The correlation between work hours and financial gain is undeniable, making it an attractive option for many people looking to improve their financial situation. For example, in many developing countries, people are sacrificing leisure time to work overtime and earn extra money to maintain a better standard of living or achieve their materialistic aspirations. In this sense, working long hours can provide individuals with a direct and tangible financial benefit.

However, the trend of extended work hours results in limited time for leisure activities, which can have adverse effects on one's health. Prolonged sedentary behaviour, a common by-product of working long hours, can lead to the onset of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases or obesity. For instance, studies have shown that an increasing number of people are becoming overweight due to a lack of physical activity caused by excessive work, resulting in a sedentary lifestyle. This highlights the importance of striking a balance between work and leisure, as the long-term effects of neglecting leisure activities can be detrimental to one's health. By prioritizing leisure pursuits, individuals can maintain a healthy lifestyle, preventing the development of diseases caused by prolonged sedentary behaviour.

In conclusion, while longer work hours may provide financial stability, it is imperative to recognize the potential harm it may cause to one's health in the long term.

Sample Essay 4

All over the world, people’s lifestyles are transforming with their busy work schedules. Though some people consider such a development result in a better income for families, in my opinion, they lead to a lack of communication between family members on the long run. The following paragraphs will elucidate why the disadvantages of these alterations outweigh the advantages.

Nowadays, the long working hours due to fast-paced environment of people’s lives has been damaging familial interactions, and it is becoming almost impossible for parents to spend some quality time together with their children. These days, as the general level of income is relatively lower, most of the parents are required to work full time to stretch out their salaries all through the months. In other words, parents need to spend major share of their days at workplaces, to ensure a better earning. At the end of the day, by the time they arrive home, children have finished with the day and gone for beds. As a result, parents and children cannot have the valuable time together which is must for the children’s proper raising.

In addition, parents would lose the chance to listen to their children or build a strong emotional connection with them. For example, dinner was one of the most important meals in the traditional families, it used to give both parents and children a chance to interact closely and convey messages to the Kids regarding the right manners or other valuable lessons. But this incredible chapter is becoming obsolete because of the unprecedentedly extended working hours. As a result, lesser parental time is not only depriving children from gaining a proper growth, but also it is breeding childhood traumas which can eventually lead to a mental illness in their adult life as well.

To conclude, with the advent of modernisation and the resulting financial strain, parents are getting heavily involved in their professional aspects and earning better money, but it has an extremely detrimental impact on their children’s proper growth. This is how the disadvantages of working for long hours are obviously outweighing its advantages.

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The Effect of Long Working Hours and Overtime on Occupational Health: A Meta-Analysis of Evidence from 1998 to 2018

Associated data.

There has been no subsequent meta-analysis examining the effects of long working hours on health or occupational health since 1997. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct a meta-analysis covering studies after 1997 for a comparison. A total of 243 published records were extracted from electronic databases. The effects were measured by five conditions, namely, physiological health (PH), mental health (MH), health behaviours (HB), related health (RH), and nonspecified health (NH). The overall odds ratio between long working hours and occupational health was 1.245 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.195–1.298). The condition of related health constituted the highest odds ratio value (1.465, 95% CI: 1.332–1.611). The potential moderators were study method, cut-point for long weekly working hours, and country of origin. Long working hours were shown to adversely affect the occupational health of workers. The management on safeguarding the occupational health of workers working long hours should be reinforced.

1. Introduction

The study of factors affecting occupational health is important to safeguard employees through control of occupational diseases and accidents and to eliminate hazards that threaten the health of workers. Such studies are necessary in order to maintain the quality of work and working environments and to develop a society which ultimately achieves sustainable development [ 1 ]. Long working hours are a ubiquitous phenomenon amongst most organisations and companies where the length of time spending on work, comprising main tasks of job, related tasks, commuting, and travel, is too long and detrimental to the health of workers directly or indirectly [ 2 ]. Epidemiological studies have shown the negative effects of long working hours on the risks of cardiovascular diseases [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]; chronic fatigue, stress [ 7 ]; depressive state, anxiety, sleep quality, all-cause mortality, alcohol use and smoking [ 3 ]; and self-perceived health, mental health status, hypertension, and health behaviours [ 8 ]. Similar results have been found for long working hours by other studies, for instance, myocardial infarction [ 9 ], poor physical health and injuries [ 10 ], alcohol consumption, smoking, physical inactivity [ 11 ], and depression [ 12 ].

1.1. Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases

Many studies have investigated the effects of different working hours on the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases [ 4 , 9 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. A U-shaped relationship between the risk of suffering from myocardial infarction and working hours for Japanese workers was found [ 17 ]. Those working less than 7 h per day or more than 11 h per day were at greater risk of experiencing myocardial infarction than with those working 7 to 11 h. Researchers also found that workers in Europe, Japan, Korea, and China who work more than 50 h per week had an increased risk of cerebrocardiovascular diseases [ 13 , 17 ], myocardial infarction [ 4 , 9 , 15 ], and coronary heart disease [ 16 , 19 ]. However, some findings differ from such results in that working more than 50 h per week decreased the risk of ischemic heart diseases [ 20 ] and myocardial infarction [ 9 ]. A meta-analysis conducted by Kang et al. [ 21 ] indicated that the odds ratio of the effect of long working hours on cardiovascular diseases was 1.37. Another meta-analysis conducted by Virtanen et al. [ 19 ] had reported the effect of long working hours on coronary heart disease with a relative risk of 1.39. In the meta-analysis of Kivimäki et al. [ 22 ], the risk ratios of the effect of long working hours on coronary heart disease and stroke were 1.13 and 1.33, respectively. The results for working hours and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are not entirely agreed yet.

1.2. Hypertension

The relationship between the chance of suffering from high blood pressure and the duration of working hours has been studied [ 8 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. Working more than 61 h per week [ 23 , 24 ] showed an increased risk of suffering from elevated systolic blood pressure. By contrast, a few studies suggest that there is a decreased risk of hypertension for those working more than 8 h per day [ 24 ] or working 60 h or more per week [ 25 ]. Furthermore, Tarumi et al. [ 26 ] demonstrated that there is no linkage between circulatory system diseases, hypertension and long working hours. The results regarding risk of experiencing hypertension as a result of long working hours are not consistent.

1.3. Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is one of the diseases shown to be related to long working hours. It is associated with daily diet and long working hours, and long working hours may cause workers to the change their eating habits [ 28 , 29 ]. However, some studies have suggested a negative relationship between diabetes mellitus and working hours [ 29 ]. The relationship between overtime working and diabetes mellitus is not very straightforward.

1.4. Depression and Anxiety

Several studies have found an association between depression and long working hours [ 12 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Working more than 34 h per week [ 33 ], 55 h per week [ 34 ], and 48 h per week [ 30 ] increased the chance of experiencing depression and anxiety. A recent study by Ogawa et al. [ 32 ] investigated the effects of long working hours on depression symptoms for Japanese residents and found that compared with the residents working less than 60 h per week, those working 80 to 99.9 h per week and more than 99.9 h per week had a 2.83 and 6.96, respectively, greater risk of experiencing depression. By contrast, other studies have found that working 41 to 55 h per week [ 34 ] and 41 to 52 h per week [ 12 ] was associated with a decreased risk of suffering from depression and anxiety compared with those working less than 41 h per week. Further, it has been reported that female workers have a higher risk of experiencing depression and anxiety than male workers when working the same number of hours [ 33 ]. Apart from when working long hours, the results about the effect of long work hours to depression and anxiety are not entirely clear.

1.5. Work Stress

Some studies have demonstrated that long work hours contribute to psychological stress and work stress [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. Working 10 or more hours per day [ 37 ], 40 or more overtime hours per month [ 38 ], and 60 or more hours per week [ 36 ] tended to create stressful feelings. Lee et al. [ 36 ] found that working more than 45 h per week decreased the risk of psychological stress. The relationship between working long hours and work stress requires more investigation.

1.6. Health Behaviours

Health behaviours, for instance, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical inactivity, are associated with long working hours [ 33 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. Shield [ 33 ] investigated male and female working populations working more than 34 h per week in Canada from 1994 to 1997. The findings were that increased rates of smoking, drinking and physical inactivity for male workers were 9%, 34% and 43%, respectively, during the period studied, and the increased rates of smoking, drinking and physical inactivity for female workers were 7%, 25% and 41%, respectively. However, Park et al. [ 41 ] indicated that there was no difference in smoking amongst three groups of engineers in term of their working hours, ranging from less than 60 h per week, 60 to 70 h per week, and more than 70 h per week. Some studies have reported a significant decrease in physical activity for workers on overtime [ 41 , 42 ]. Further, it has been reported that long working hours are not related to physical inactivity [ 33 , 39 ]. The literature has not reported consistent findings on the relationship between overtime work and health behaviours.

1.7. Sleep and Fatigue

Long working hours or overtime work reduce the time for sleep resulting in fatigue [ 30 , 39 , 43 ]. A normal duration for sleep is about 7 to 8 h per night, which can lower the risk of acute myocardial infarction, cerebrocardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and high blood pressure, as well as reducing working injuries and mistakes [ 44 , 45 , 46 ]. Furthermore, a significant detrimental effect on quality of sleep is brought about by long working hours [ 30 , 47 ]. Some studies have found that sleep deprivation is directly linked to cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure [ 27 , 48 ]. Therefore, the duration and quality of sleep of workers may lead to exhaustion and various illnesses. However, by contrast, Bannai and Tamakoshi [ 3 ] found that working more than 40 to 60 h per week decreased the risk of problems related to sleep. The results on sleep and working hours are not consistent.

1.8. Occupational Injury

Excessive working hours increase the risk of occupational injury. Studies on the effect of long working hours on occupational injury have shown that overtime working increased the risk of occupational injuries [ 10 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. Further, a study found that working 12 or more hours per day and 60 or more hours per week increased the risk of occupational injury [ 49 ]. Grosch et al. [ 10 ] reported an increase in occupational injuries when working more than 70 h per week compared to those working 41 to 69 h per week.

1.9. Aim of the Study

Long working hours have been a controversial issue starting from 1980s, when it was reported that a Japanese design engineer died of brain haemorrhage due to working 2600 h per year [ 52 ]. Subsequently, the governments of Japan, Korea and Taiwan recognised that the number of deaths from overwork among workers was increasing. This phenomenon of ‘working to death’ was also reported to have occurred in many organisations and factories in China [ 53 ]. Long working hours became a focal issue among Western countries, for examples, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany [ 54 ]. This interest in long working hours resulted in studies to investigate the impact of long working hours on the health of workers in a variety of industries, for various health symptoms, and for ranges of social status [ 5 , 19 , 55 ]. In general, the findings were that long working hours have adverse effects on health. In spite of the importance of long working hours, apart from the meta-analysis conducted by Sparks and Cooper [ 5 ] discovering a slightly positive correlation between various health syndromes and long working hours, there has been no subsequent meta-analysis examining the effects of long working hours on health or occupational health. The issue of long working hours is of great importance in every society, and therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effects of long working hours on the health of workers to identify any changes in the severity of such effect after the previous study conducted in 1997. Further, few studies have addressed the effects of working class, i.e., collar colour occupations, on the association between long working hours and occupational health. It has been argued that occupation is a factor in health inequality among workers [ 56 , 57 ]. Therefore, the influence of occupation on the association between long working hours and occupational health needs to be investigated.

In this paper, a meta-analysis was conducted to synthesise the data from studies from 1998 to 2018 on the effects of working long hours on the occupational health of employees. The purpose here was to examine the relationship between the length of work hours and the occupational health of workers.

2.1. Literature Search and Selection

The literature to be selected for the meta-analysis was obtained from several electronic databases by browsing keywords related to long working hours and occupational health for the period 1998 and 2018. The selection of this period was due to the shortage of comprehensive analysis on the effects of working long hours on health prior to the study by Sparks and Cooper [ 5 ]. The published research for the analysis of the effects of long working hours on occupational health was collected from Google Scholar and Medline (PubMed) by searching the following keywords: (long work hours OR overtime) AND (occupational health OR heart diseases OR cardiovascular disease OR stroke OR diabetes OR blood pressure OR injuries OR pain OR stress OR depression OR anxiety OR exhaustion OR sleep OR smoke OR alcohol OR physical activity). All published papers extracted for the meta-analysis were in English. The abstracts of the published papers selected were screened, and the references were all manually checked to identify if the studies cited and described in the papers were appropriate for conducting this meta-analysis. A total of 1423 papers were collected for inclusion in this stage.

Subsequently, the studies were examined to ensure that they fulfilled certain criteria for meta-analysis. First, only studies investigating the daytime workers with the provision of working hours were extracted. Therefore, the studies involving night shift-work schedule and overtime without providing contract hours or regular working hours, for instance, Akerstedt et al. [ 58 ] and Sato et al. [ 38 ], were excluded from further analysis. Second, papers providing insufficient data for the calculation of odds ratios with 95% confidence interval, such as Shields [ 33 ], Beckers et al. [ 59 ] and Jeon et al. [ 60 ], were excluded. Forty-eight published papers were ultimately selected at this stage. Figure 1 shows the flow diagram of paper extraction for this meta-analysis.

Flow diagram of the study selection process.

2.2. Coding Procedures

The selected studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria were coded into different categories. Regarding the attributes of the participants, four categories were adopted to describe the information extracted, namely, number of participants, country of origin, gender, and working class. The category of number of participants involved the total sample size with, if available, the number of males and females. The category of working class included white collar occupations (management and professional), pink collar occupations (nursing, teaching, and service-oriented work) and blue collar occupations (physical and manual labour workers). The features of the studies were coded into five categories, namely, study design, diagnosis method, reference working hours, different working hours and health measure. Case-control study, cross-section study and prospective cohort study were the main study designs selected, and the follow-up years were extracted for available prospective cohort studies. Self-reports and health or medical examinations were the major diagnosis methods used to evaluate the health conditions of the participants in the studies. The reference working hours were the working hours determined by the authors of a study as the base for an odds ratio of 1.00. The working hours in each selected study were considered for analysing their effects on the occupational health of workers. In the meta-analysis, only the working hours longer than the reference working hours and their corresponding odds ratios were included in the analysis. The category of health measure was to identify occupational health conditions. The occupational health conditions were coded into five categories: (1) physiological health (PH), (2) mental health (MH), (3) health behaviours (HB), (4) related health (RH), and (5) nonspecified health (NH). The classification of the occupational health conditions was based on the meta-analysis conducted by Sparks et al. [ 5 ], who explained that the occupational health problems arising from long working hours covered a broad spectrum of health measures and that length of working hours will influence various aspects of health in different ways. Therefore, the health measures were sorted to identify the relationship between different length of working hours and various aspects of health. Physiological health refers to the functions of the body which can be affected by a large variety of diseases and disabilities [ 61 ]. Mental health is the subjective recognition of potential competence to cope with stresses in life [ 1 ]. Health behaviours involve a number of activities for the prevention of diseases and the enhancement of well-being, including healthy diets, exercises, no smoking and no alcohol drinking [ 62 , 63 ]. Regarding related health, according to Sparks et al. [ 5 ], sleep and fatigue are not easily categorised into physiological health or mental health. Hence, related health was defined to cover health measures associated with sleep and fatigue. Further, injury can result from chronic accumulated exhaustion [ 64 ], which cannot be categorised as physiological or mental aspects of health [ 1 , 65 , 66 ]. Therefore, injury and hurt were placed in the category of related health. For situations where health measures were not specified, the category of nonspecified health was applied. The odds ratios with 95% confidence interval between working hours and health measures were calculated to identify relationships between working hours and health measures.

2.3. Meta-Analysis

Statistical analysis on the relationships of different lengths of working hours and occupational health conditions (PH, MH, HB, RH and NH) based on odds ratios was used for the meta-analysis. There are two common statistical models in meta-analysis, namely, the fixed effects model and random effects model. The random effects model was adopted in the meta-analysis here due to the variety of effects in the studies caused by different variables, such as study designs, method of data collection and adjustment for the results involved in the studies [ 67 ]. The odds ratios produced by the random effects model were obtained from the meta-analysis. The consistency of the results was tested by the heterogeneity indicator, I-squared (I 2 ) statistic. The value of I 2 shows the variations of the studies in term of percentage [ 68 , 69 ]. The greater the value of I 2 , the more considerable the heterogeneity, and a value of zero means homogeneity. Furthermore, the publication bias of the five effect sizes was tested by the trim and fill analysis in which an asymmetry shape in the funnel plots implied the existence of publication bias [ 70 ]. The vertical axis with precision was used to detect publication bias in the meta-analysis [ 71 ]. Seven variables (gender, diagnosis method, study design, cut-off point for long working hours, working class, country of origin and health measure) were selected to identify possible effects on heterogeneity [ 72 ].

3.1. Characteristics of Selected Papers

Forty-eight papers were selected for this meta-analysis before the coding procedures. The odds ratio (OR) for two papers [ 73 , 74 ] could not be generated by the Comprehensive Meta Analysis software (Biostat, Inc., Englewood, NJ, USA) used because log values for lower and upper limits were not symmetric. Therefore, these two records were excluded, and data from the remaining 46 papers with 243 records were used for the meta-analysis. Amongst the 46 papers, 12 were used in a previous meta-analysis conducted by Kang et al. [ 21 ], Virtanen et al. [ 19 ] and Kivimäki et al. [ 22 , 75 ]. Kang et al. [ 21 ] selected the effects with the longest working hours in each target. However, in this paper, the effects of the working hours being longer than the reference working hours in each health-related illness were extracted for conducting the meta-analysis. Virtanen et al. [ 19 ] focused on the comparison of the effect sizes in prospective studies and case-control studies. However, this paper examined the effects of a prospective cohort study, case-control study and cross-sectional study. Further, there were two meta-analyses using both published and unpublished data conducted by Kivimäki et al. [ 22 , 75 ]. Kivimäki et al. [ 75 ] investigated the influence of socioeconomic status stratification on the overall effect size. Nevertheless, the effect of working class was explored in this paper. Kivimäki et al. [ 22 ] assessed effect sizes by categorising the weekly working hours into five groups. However, a cut-off point for weekly working hours and daily working hours was adopted to evaluate the effects. The results of the meta-analysis reported here are shown in Table S1 , which gives information and odds ratios for each record based on the coding procedures criteria. Table 1 summarises the percentage contributions of the characteristics of each of the selected 46 papers to this analysis. As can be seen, 26.09% of the papers were published between 1998 and 2007 and 73.91% between 2008 and 1998. For study design, the percentages of case-control study, cross-sectional stud, and prospective cohort study were 10.87%, 54.35% and 34.78%, respectively. There were 61.59% of studies in Asian countries, namely: Japan (36.59%), Korea (19.57%) and China (5.43%). The remaining 38.41% studies were Western countries, namely: the United Kingdom (15.94%), Spain (4.35%), the United States (6.52%), Finland (0.72%), Australia (1.09%), Denmark (4.35%), Sweden (2.17%), Italy (2.17%) and New Zealand (1.09%). The percentages of the number of males and females in the studies were 58.73% and 41.27%, respectively. The total sample size for the meta-analysis was 814,084 participants. Of the 46 papers, the study of O’ Reilly and Rosato in 2013 [ 76 ] contributed the largest number to the sample size (414,949). The study of Fukuoka et al. [ 9 ] contributed the smallest number to the sample size (97) in their case-control study.

Characteristics of the 46 papers analysed.

3.2. Random-Effects Model of Long Working Hours and Occupational Health Conditions

The coding procedures for classification of the health measures for the meta-analysis were conducted to compare the five occupational health conditions: physiological health (PH), mental health (MH), health behaviours (HB), related health (RH) and nonspecified health (NH). Table 2 shows the number of records, odds ratios with 95% confidence interval, the heterogeneity of the random-effects model and the adjustment for publication bias for each occupational health condition. The number of records on conditions of physiological health, mental health, health behaviours, related health and nonspecified health were 85, 55, 35, 54 and 14, respectively. The overall odds ratio between long working hours and occupational health conditions was 1.245 (95% CI: 1.195–1.298). Of the five conditions, related health had the highest odds ratio of 1.465 (95% CI: 1.332–1.611), followed in decreasing values by mental health (OR: 1.366; 95% CI: 1.238–1.507), physiological health (OR: 1.177; 95% CI: 1.102–1.257), health behaviours (OR: 1.110; 95% CI: 1.004–1.204), and the smallest odds ratio was nonspecified health (OR: 1.065; 95% CI: 0.942–1.204).

Results of meta-analysis between long working hours and occupational health conditions and the adjustment for publication bias.

PH = physiological health, MH = mental health, HB = health behaviours, RH = related health, NH = nonspecified health, OR = odds ratio.

The presence of publication bias was assessed by the trim-and-fill analysis. To adjust the publication bias in the meta-analysis, new data points were imputed to the funnel plot to achieve a homogeneous result. Publication bias was found for the conditions of physiological health, mental health and related health (see Table 2 ). For physiological health, six new data points were imputed in the funnel plot, and the odds ratio decreased to 1.118 (95% CI: 1.041–1.200). Twelve new data points were imputed to the condition of mental health, and the odds ratio decreased to 1.197 (95% CI: 1.072–1.336). There were seven new data points for the related health condition to adjust for the presence of publication bias, which produced a smaller odds ratio of 1.323 (95% CI: 1.188–1.473). The conditions of health behaviours and nonspecified health showed homogeneous results. Figure 2 shows the adjustment for the publication bias for the conditions of physiological health, mental health and related health.

Funnel plot of precision by log odds ratio of long working hours on occupational health. Hollow circles are original data and solid circles are imputed data after adjustment for publication bias. ( a ) Physiological health, ( b ) mental health, ( c ) related health.

The statistic of I 2 was used to examine heterogeneity ( Table 2 ). The value of I 2 for the conditions of physiological health, mental health, health behaviours, related health and nonspecified health were 67.13%, 55.73%, 59.66%, 68.68% and 63.54%, respectively. Considering that 50% represented a substantial heterogeneity [ 68 , 69 ], the heterogeneity was a problem for these five conditions. Therefore, moderator analysis was conducted to identify the potential sources of the heterogeneity.

3.3. Moderator Analysis

A moderator analysis was conducted to investigate the possible sources of the heterogeneity using a meta-regression ( Table 3 ). The moderators selected for the meta-regression analysis were gender (only for studies that reported separate effect sizes for males and females), diagnosis method, study design, cut-off point for long working hours (excluding studies that investigated working hours overlapping the cut-off point for long working hours of 50 working hours per week, or 10 working hours per day), working class, country of origin and health measure. The hypothesis for the effect size variations caused by these seven factors was tested by the p -values of meta-regression. The meta-regression p -values for the gender, study design, cut-off point for long working hours, working class and country of origin, were 0.055, 0.209, 0.000, 0.000, 0.517 and 0.000, respectively. The effects of health measures were grouped in five categories (PH, MH, HB, RH and NH). The condition of nonspecified health was precluded because there was only one subgroup. The meta-regression p -values of PH, MH, HB and RH were 0.000, 0.407, 0.521 and 0.048, respectively. The effects of study design, cut-off point for long working hours, country of origin and health measure in the conditions of physiological health and related health were statistically significant. The effect size was not influenced by gender, diagnosis method, working class, mental health or related health.

The association of long working hours with occupational health in relation to gender, diagnosis, study design, cut-off point for long working hours, working class, country of origin and health measure for the conditions of physiological health, mental health, health behaviours, related health and nonspecified health (effect sizes adjusted, when appropriate, for age, gender, educational level and occupation).

** p -value < 0.01. * p -value < 0.05.

For study design, the effects were statistically significant for case-control study and cross-sectional study ( p < 0.001), with odds ratios of 1.811 and 1.338, respectively. The impact of long working hours on occupational health was stronger for case-control study than for cross-sectional study.

For cut-off point for long working hours, the effects were statistically significant for ‘>50 h/week or >10 h/day’ and ‘≤50 h/week or ≤10 h/day’ ( p < 0.01), with odds ratios of 1.420 and 1.097, respectively. The workers working more than 50 h per week or more than 10 per day had a higher risk of experiencing occupational health problems than those working 50 or less hours per week or 10 hours or less per day.

For country of origin, the effects were statistically significant for the subgroups of Asian countries and Western countries ( p < 0.001), with odds ratios of 1.321 and 1.180, respectively. The four subgroups in Asian countries were: ‘China’, ‘China and Japan’, ‘Japan’ and ‘Korea’. The participants in the study conducted by Tayama and Munakata [ 77 ] involved both Chinese and Japanese without specifying the proportions. Therefore, this study was regarded as an individual subgroup in the analysis. The effects were statistically significant in the subgroups ‘China’, ‘Japan’ and ‘Korea’ ( p < 0.001), with odds ratios for the subgroups of 1.745, 1.333 and 1.237, respectively. China showed the strongest effect for long working hours on occupational health. The eight subgroups in the Western countries subgroup were: ‘Australia and New Zealand’, ‘Denmark’, ‘Finland’, ‘Italy’, ‘Spain’, ‘Sweden’, the ‘United Kingdom’ and the ‘United States’. The effects were statistically significant for the subgroups ‘Australia and New Zealand’, ‘Spain’, ‘the United Kingdom’ and ‘the United States’ ( p < 0.05), with odds ratios of 1.230, 1.248, 1.083 and 1.274, respectively. The United States showed the strongest effect for long working hours on occupational health.

For the health measure category, among the five physiological illnesses in the condition of physical health, the effects were statistically significant for the subgroups ‘cardiovascular heart diseases’ and ‘metabolic syndrome’ ( p < 0.01), with odds ratios of 1.539 and 1.110, respectively. Long working hours were more strongly associated with cardiovascular heart diseases than with metabolic syndrome. In the related health condition, the effects were statistically significant in the subgroups of fatigue, injury, poor sleep quality, short sleep duration and sleep disturbance ( p < 0.05), with odds ratios of 1.439, 1.276, 1.276, 1.909 and 1.395, respectively. Out of the five health problems, short sleep duration was the most severe health problem associated with working long hours.

The effects of working class on the relationship between long working hours and each condition (PH, MH, HB, RH and NH) were examined. The meta-regression p -values for physiological health, mental health, health behaviours, related health and nonspecified health were 0.485, 0.595, 0.216, 0.001 and 0.161, respectively. The effect of working class on the condition of related health was statistically significant. The effect was statistically significant in the subgroup of blue collar occupations, with an odds ratio of 1.366. Table 4 shows the moderating effect of working class on the association between long working hours and the five conditions (physiological health, mental health, health behaviours, related health and nonspecified health).

Moderating effect of working class on the association of long working hours with physiological health, mental health, health behaviours, related health and nonspecified health (effect sizes adjusted, when appropriate, for age, gender, educational level and occupation).

* p -value < 0.01.

4. Discussion

This meta-analysis synthesising 243 records from 46 papers with 814,084 participants from 13 countries demonstrated that long working hours had a positive relationship with occupational health problems. The aggregated odds ratio for the effect of long working hours on occupational health was 1.245 (95% CI: 1.195–1.298). Amongst the five occupational health conditions, the condition ‘related health’ showed the strongest association with long working hours; the health measures in this category were short sleep duration, sleep disturbance, sleep problem, exhaustion and injuries.

4.1. The Effects of Long Working Hours on Sleep, Fatigue and Injuries

Based on the odds ratios of the five health measures for the condition of related health, short sleep duration had the highest odds ratio and is the problem to be most concerned about with regard to long working hours. Studies referred to in this meta-analysis were concerned with investigating the relationship between long working hours and short sleep duration [ 8 , 47 , 48 , 78 ]. The length of hours defined for short sleep was less than 6 h per day by Artazcoz et al. [ 8 ] and Ohtsu et al. [ 78 ], and less than 7 h per day by Virtanen et al. [ 48 ]. These four studies demonstrated that the longer the working hours, the higher risk of suffering from insufficient sleep for both male and female workers. Virtanen et al. [ 48 ] found that the odds ratios for both males and females working more than 55 h per week were higher than those working 41 to 55 h per week. Nakashima et al. [ 47 ] found that the values for odds ratios between long working hours and short sleep duration were proportional to the relationship with the working hours. Artazcoz et al. [ 8 ] showed that the odds ratio between working 51 to 60 h per week and short sleep duration was higher than the odds ratio for working 41 to 50 h per week. Interestingly, this study also showed that female workers had a higher chance of experiencing short sleep duration than male workers when both worked 51 to 60 h per week. The problems suffered by female workers were more severe than for male workers when working long hours. Conversely, the result from Ohtsu [ 78 ] conflicted with that from Artazcoz [ 8 ] in that male workers tended to experience the problem of short sleep duration more than female workers while working from 9 h to less than 11 h per day. Several studies have reported that the length of sleep for females was longer than for males [ 79 , 80 , 81 ]. However, some researchers suggested that female workers do more unpaid work than males, for example, housework, which reduces the duration of sleep for female workers [ 82 , 83 ]. The effect of long working hours on short sleep duration based on the gender difference needs to be further investigated. In addition, the studies just investigated the relationship between working hours and sleep hours, which might potentially neglect other causes of short sleep, such as spending much time on leisure and social activities [ 84 ]. Research suggests that short sleep duration seriously threatens the health of workers. Many researchers have examined the adverse effects of short sleep duration. Short sleep duration increases the risk of suffering from cardiovascular heart diseases [ 85 ], coronary heart diseases [ 86 , 87 ], obesity [ 88 , 89 , 90 ], hypertension [ 91 ] and type 2 diabetes mellitus [ 92 , 93 ]. The consciousness on the importance of sleep of the workers should be enhanced. Fatigue was the items in the condition of related health constituting the second highest value of odds ratio. One of the reasons resulting in fatigue or exhaustion was undoubtedly insufficient sleep [ 85 ]. Exhaustion adversely influences the performance of workers and the productivity of organisations [ 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 ]. Sleep disturbance was also a health problem yielding a significant effect in the conditions of related health and involves difficulty in falling asleep, insomnia and disorder during different stages of sleep [ 98 ]. Sleep disturbance affects the mental health, circadian rhythms and cognitive function of workers [ 99 , 100 ]. In the long-term, sleep disturbance can lead to cardiovascular diseases, obesity and diabetes [ 101 ]. The impacts resulting from the problem of sleep are intimately linked with various physiological and mental health problems defined as occupational health problems by the World Health Organization. To ensure the good duration of sleep for workers, guidelines should be provided to publicise the most appropriate sleeping hours as well as to raise public consciousness on the importance of the duration and quality of sleep.

4.2. Effects of Moderators

This meta-analysis evaluated the effects of various moderators to identify the associations between such moderators and long working hours, and the consequences for occupational health. Health measure is a significant moderator on the effect sizes of the conditions of physiological health and related health. In the condition of physiological health, a considerable increase was found in the effect size of cardiovascular heart diseases and a slight increase was found in the effect size of metabolic syndrome. This finding means that workers working long hours have a higher risk of suffering from cardiovascular heart diseases and metabolic syndrome compared to those not working long hours. Some studies have demonstrated that the risk of cardiovascular heart diseases was caused by increase in weekly work hours [ 102 , 103 ]. Yu [ 104 ] reported that long working hours, especially 60 or more per week, increased the risk of metabolic syndrome. In the condition of related health, a significant increase in the effect sizes of fatigue, injury, poor sleep quality, short sleep duration and sleep disturbance was found. This indicates that workers are more likely to experience health problems when working long hours. This result is consistent with the study of Afonso et al. [ 30 ], which demonstrated that longer work hours resulted in poorer sleep quality and more severe sleep disturbance. Similarly, Son et al. [ 105 ] reported that the main factor affecting sleepiness was long working hours. Akerstedt et al. [ 58 ] noted that long working hours resulted in sleep disturbance and fatigue. Lombardi et al. [ 106 ] also pointed out that increase in working hours led to a decrease in daily sleep hours and an increased risk of work-related injury.

The statistically significant effects of study design showed that the method of case-control study was a stronger estimator than cross-sectional study for the impact of working long hours on occupational health. This result may be due to the characteristics of the study methods in terms of the selection of the participants. For a case-control study, a number of participants with certain diseases or situations should be selected as the case group, and a number of participants without the diseases or situations should be selected as the control group. With case-control study design, the associated risk factors and diseases may be promptly identified, and establishment of causation is more powerful than in a cross-sectional study [ 107 ]. The problem of cross-sectional studies is the nonrepresentative sampling due to the existence of bias between participants and nonparticipants [ 107 ]. Thus, case-control study design yields a stronger association between long working hours and occupational health than cross-sectional study design. The nonsignificant effect of a prospective cohort study may be due to a relatively low bias method of selecting participants.

Country of origin has a significant influence on the overall effect size. It was found that the effects of long working hours on the occupational health of Asian workers were more severe than for Western workers. A few studies have reported that workers in Asian Countries have longer working hours than workers in Western countries [ 108 , 109 ]. Overwork seems to be common in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and it has been reported that many workers in these countries and cities suffer from cardiovascular heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases due to overwork [ 110 , 111 , 112 ]. The governments of Japan, Korea and Taiwan have formulated and established a series of regulations to prevent death from overwork, for instance, the implementation of standard working hours [ 113 ]. Working hours in these countries became shorter in the wake of the establishment of such standard working hours. However, the definition of standard working hours is still a controversial issue, and many workers have requested that standard working hours should be shorter [ 114 ]. Standard working hours have still not been established in many countries [ 115 ]. The issue of working hours is unavoidable in the long-term struggle among governments, employers and employees. The establishment of standard working hours should be a first step towards resolving the problem of long working hours.

The cut-off point for long working hours has a significant effect on the overall effect size. Workers working more than 50 h per week or more than 10 h per day had a higher chance of experiencing occupational health problems than those working 50 or less hours per week or 10 or less hours per day. This finding supports the previous study of Virtanen et al. [ 19 ] that reported that the risk of coronary heart disease for those working more than 50 h per week was higher than those working 50 h or less per week. However, the odds ratio of working more than 50 h per week or more than 10 h per day in this study was 1.420, which was lower than the odds ratio of 2.37 reported by Virtanen et al. [ 19 ]. Further investigation is needed on this odds ratio discrepancy for the effects of long working hours on occupational health. Virtanen et al. [ 19 ] only investigated the association between long working hours and coronary heart disease. The meta-analysis reported here covered different types of occupational health illnesses, making comparisons difficult.

There were no significant effects for gender or diagnosis method. This result for diagnosis method agrees with the finding of Kivimäki et al. [ 22 ] that diagnosis method had no significant effect on the association of long working hours with health. Here, there was also no significant effect for working class.

For the effect of working class on the association between long working hours and the five conditions (PH, MH, HB, RH and NH), working class only constitutes a significant influence on the effect size of related health (sleep problem, chronic exhaustion, and occupational injury) in which the blue collar occupations had a higher risk of suffering from health problems than white and pink collar occupations. This finding might be due to the low control over own working time [ 116 ]. This is an important issue for future research.

4.3. Comparison of Previous Meta-Analysis

In a previous meta-analysis conducted by Sparks et al. [ 5 ], they found a small positive correlation between long hours of work and health, and the value of the correlation of psychological health was higher than for physiological health. In the study reported here, it was found that long working hours increased the chance of suffering from occupational health problems by 24.3%, and the chance of suffering from the mental health problems was higher than that of suffering physiological health problems. These results were in agreement with the study by Sparks et al. [ 5 ]. However, the difference was that this study covered broader health measures than the study by Sparks et al. [ 5 ]. This broader coverage may reflect the issue that more occupational health problems were caused by long working hours and reported on in the review period (1998–2018) used here. In addition, it was found in the study reported here that the effect of long working hours on cardiovascular heart diseases had a higher odds ratio of 1.56 (95% CI: 1.344–1.824) than in the study by Kang et al. [ 21 ] in 2012 (OR: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.11–1.70). A major difference between the work reported in this analysis and the analysis by Kang et al. [ 21 ] was that in this analysis, more studies on the effect of long working hours on cardiovascular heart diseases were involved than were in Kang et al. [ 21 ]. This meta-analysis was conducted with the addition of the more recent studies of Fukuoka et al. [ 9 ], Virtanen et al. [ 117 ], Cheng et al. [ 13 ], Jeong et al. [ 118 ] and Ma et al. [ 119 ]. The increase of odds ratio from this meta-analysis to that of Kang et al. [ 21 ] suggests that the risk of suffering from cardiovascular heart diseases for overtime workers has increased in recent years, though more work is required to clarify the issue. The study of Virtanen et al. [ 117 ] could not be compared with the study reported here, as coronary heart disease was considered as just one of the diseases in the category of cardiovascular heart diseases in this study. A meta-analysis conducted by Kivimäki et al. [ 75 ] examined the relationship between long working hours and the risk of type 2 diabetes by socioeconomic status stratification. Kivimäki et al. [ 75 ], reported only that the effect size of the low socioeconomic status group was robust with a risk ratio of 1.29 (95% CI: 1.06–1.17) and null for the high socioeconomic status group. In the study reported here, it was found that the odds ratio of the effect of long working hours on the risk of type 2 diabetes was 0.855 (95% CI: 0.497–1.472). The discrepancy in the results between these two studies might be because 82.6% (19 of 23) of the papers used in the meta-analysis by Kivimäki et al. [ 75 ] were unpublished. Further, socioeconomic status includes various demographic variables such as income, educational level and occupation. These variables for socioeconomic status make it difficult to compare results from different studies [ 120 ]. For instance, an individual with a high educational level should belong to the high socioeconomic status group. However, a high educational level might not imply a high-income level (high socioeconomic status group). To avoid this contradiction, this study adopted working class instead of socioeconomic status stratification. However, comparing with the meta-analysis conducted by Kivimäki et al. [ 22 ], in the study here, coronary heart disease and stroke were categorised in the same group, cardiovascular heart diseases, and thus, no comparisons could be made. Further, 78.26% (18 of 23) of the selected papers in the study of Kivimäki et al. [ 22 ] were unpublished, whereas the meta-analysis reported here only included published papers. The reason was that unpublished data involved the privacy concerns of employers and employees and, therefore, the companies and agencies involved had not given permission for the data to be made public.

4.4. Theoretical Implications

There is increasing attention on the effects of long working hours on various types of occupational health problems, and a relatively large amount of related publications over the past decade was seen. Compared with the types of health problems caused by long working hours in the meta-analysis of Sparks and Cooper in 1997 [ 5 ], a relatively larger amount of different types of health problems caused by long working hours was identified in this meta-analysis. This reflected that long working hours seem to become a perilous act threatening the health of workers. Based on the results of this meta-analysis, the strongest association between long working hours and short sleep duration was found. Interconnected relationships between various types of occupational health problems were shown. Short sleep duration was shown to adversely affect the physical and mental health of workers working for long hours. In addition, gender difference on the sleep duration was also a significant finding in this study. In many countries, male and female workers may have different roles in their daily lives. This can affect the time allocation for their work and other life aspects. There is still a dispute on which gender tends to have a relatively short sleep duration in view of different specific roles between males and females. Further, working class, a commonly neglected factor in past studies, was found to be a significant factor for the difference of length of working hours in this study. It was found that blue collar workers had a higher risk of experiencing the occupational health problems than white and pink collar workers.

4.5. Practical Implications

This study provides evidence for governments, employers and employees about the negative effects of long working hours on the health of workers. Governments should clearly recognise the importance of maintaining the health of workers because the productivity of the workforce is what sustains the development and enhancement of society and the economy. Governments should work to establish standard working hours as a useful step towards safeguarding the health and well-being of workers. If no maximum working hours or standard working hours have been established, the health of workers is threatened by the negative health effects of long working hours. Governments should regularly review working hours and monitor the compliance of companies and employers. Furthermore, companies and employers must recognise that their workers regularly work long hours, recognise the effects on occupational health and endeavour to improve the situation. In addition, employees must be made aware of whether they are working long hours and recognise the potential effects on their physical and mental health wellbeing. Short sleep duration and fatigue are strongly associated with long working hours, and if employees regularly get too little sleep (6 h or less per day), or have chronic fatigue syndrome, they should regulate their daily routine to prevent physical or mental deterioration.

4.6. Limitations

This meta-analysis had several limitations. The studies included were all in English. Some studies published in other languages satisfied the selection requirement. Future analyses will include studies in other languages to conduct a more generalisable result. Further, the odds ratios in each study were adjusted by different control variables, for instance, age, gender, education, health behaviours and marital status, which might affect the final effect sizes. Therefore, the control variables need to be considered for the extraction of odds ratios in each study. The measurement of health problems was through self-reporting, from clinical examination health reports and annual body checks. For those studies containing self-reported health problems, the result may not be as accurate as for those containing health examinations by clinics or hospitals. Some studies combined the result from male and female workers without stating the proportions. However, different proportions of males and females involved in the data might influence the result. In future studies on the effect of long working hours on occupational health, the genders should be better distinguished and reported. Furthermore, in order to provide a unified result and prevent the deviated effects caused by different work schedules, studies investigating the workers with shift work or night work schedule were excluded, and only studies investigating the daytime workers were included in this meta-analysis. Different work schedules may cause different types and extents of detrimental effects on the occupational health of workers. Focusing on the investigation on one type of work schedule can minimise certain work-schedule biased health effects. Thus, the effects of long working hours on the occupational health of night workers and workers of different work shifts were not considered or evaluated in this meta-analysis. In addition, most studies did not classify the workers into an exhaustive working class. It is difficult to analyse the effect of working class on the relationship between long working hours and occupational health. Therefore, a comprehensive working class is suggested for the future studies investigating this issue. In addition, the global economic crisis has been shown as a significant cause leading to long working hours and overtime among organisations in past studies [ 121 , 122 ]. Thus, the extents and effects of dynamics of economic crisis on the association between long working hours and occupational health can be evaluated in future studies.

5. Conclusions

This meta-analysis synthesised 243 records from 46 papers published from 1998 to 2018 to examine the effect of long working hours on the occupational health of workers. Five conditions were classified for occupational health, namely, physiological health, mental health, health behaviours, related health and nonspecified health. The odds ratios and adjustments for publication bias were computed for each condition. The result demonstrated that employees working long hours were vulnerable to suffering from diverse types of occupational health problem. The condition ‘related health’ constituted the highest odds ratio and the health measures included in this condition were short sleep duration, fatigue, sleep disturbance, sleep problem and injury. Workers working long hours had a higher chance of experiencing occupational health problems, and short sleep duration yielded the strongest association with long working hours among the health measures in the related health condition. The findings emphasise the deleterious effects of long working hours on occupational health.

Supplementary Materials

The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/12/2102/s1 , Table S1: The information and odds ratios of the 46 papers (sorted in year of publication).

Author Contributions

Conceptualisation, K.W.; methodology, K.W.; software, K.W.; validation, K.W; formal analysis, K.W.; investigation, K.W.; resources, K.W.; data curation, K.W.; writing—original draft preparation, K.W.; writing—review and editing, K.W. and A.H.S.C.; visualisation, K.W.; supervision, K.W., A.H.S.C. and S.C.N.; project administration, K.W., A.H.S.C. and S.C.N.

This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure – IELTS Writing task 2

Updated On Apr 11, 2024

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Table of Contents

• Band 7 Sample Answer for Writing Task 2 Question – People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure
• Band 8 Sample Answer for Writing Task 2 Question – People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure
• Band 9 Sample Answer for Writing Task 2 Question – People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure
• IELTS Writing Task 2 Connectors for Gaining Bonus Points in the Sample Answers for ‘People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure’

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In the Advantage Disadvantage essays of IELTS Writing Task 2, like ‘People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure’, you have to note down the benefits and drawbacks of a particular aspect, like studying abroad, tourism, school systems, free healthcare, working overtime, etc. As a result, the structure of the essay is comparatively easy to frame as all you need is four paragraphs – Introduction, Body Paragraph 1 (advantages), Body Paragraph 2 (disadvantages) and Conclusion.

We will have a look at an advantage and disadvantage essay – People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure – with Sample Answers ranging from Band 7 to 9, accompanied by vocabulary, which will not only boost your IELTS preparation but also enhance your word bank. If you feel you need to practise more essays to master this task, you can check out the  IELTS Writing Task 2 Practice  Tests.

Let’s have a look at the  Advantages and Disadvantages essay  –People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure – with three expert-curated sample answers ranging from Band 7 to 9.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Many people work long hours, leaving very little time for leisure activities. does this situation have more advantages or more disadvantages, give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience., write at least 250 words..

Check Out –  Increase your Speaking & Writing Score with Synonyms and Antonyms

Band 7 Sample Answer for Writing Task 2 Question – People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure

In the modern world, working longer hours is becoming prevalent, especially among younger people who often lack free time for various reasons. While there may be some positive aspects to this situation, a number of drawbacks could be listed and both will be covered in this essay.

To start with, people who work more may grow more self-assured as their social and professional abilities improve. For example, employees who work longer hours at a company grow into strong, independent individuals as a result of acquiring experience, which boosts their confidence and opens up more career options. Also, by not wasting time on hobbies, people may feel more like they are using their time wisely. Their sense of confidence usually increases as a result.

However, there are several drawbacks to extended work hours. First of all, fatigue from lengthened workdays is likely to occur. Their mental health is badly impacted by this circumstance. Further, after working for extended periods of time, people become tired, which can lead to numerous mistakes in their work. For instance, if doctors worked long shifts all the time, they would become so tired that they would misdiagnose illnesses. It was therefore stated that engaging in leisure activities is essential for mental relaxation, which lowers mistake rates.

All in all, although working long hours may have certain benefits, the drawbacks of not being able to relax clearly exceed these benefits. It follows that everyone needs to manage their workload adequately. (243 words)

Band 7 Vocabulary 

Meaning:  existing very commonly or happening often

Example:  Marrying at a young age was prevalent in that era.

• Self-assured

Meaning:  having confidence in your own abilities

Example:  It was good to see that he has grown up into a self-assured man.

• Extended 

Meaning:  long or longer than usual

Example:  When my cousin extended her stay, I was overjoyed.

• Fatigue 

Meaning:  extreme tiredness

Example:  After a whole day’s work, fatigue overcomes her and she falls asleep.

• Lengthened 

Meaning:  make or become longer

Example:  The days are lengthened and nights are shortened during summer.

• Misdiagnose 

Meaning:  to state that a person has a particular illness or condition, when in fact they have a different one

Example:  Although the disease was misdiagnosed, the patient became healthy under good care.

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Band 8 Sample Answer for Writing Task 2 Question – People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure

Problems associated with extended work hours are a common topic of conversation these days. It is undeniable that a work-life imbalance has an impact on people’s lifestyles nowadays. It can be asserted that there are more drawbacks to this tendency than benefits. This essay will examine both the disadvantages and advantages of this phenomenon.

On the one hand, staying late at work has a number of benefits. The primary merit lies in the accumulation of valuable experience as employees commit additional time to their professional duties. In other words, numerous professions necessitate extensive hours to achieve professional qualifications. For instance, roles in healthcare, where substantial experience, patience, and talent are requisite attributes. Furthermore, extended periods of time spent on the job offer occasions for honing skills and acquiring expertise in specific domains.

On the other hand, spending more time at work comes with certain drawbacks. Foremost among them is the reduction in available time for leisure activities. This implies that individuals struggling to complete their tasks within regular hours are compromising their work-life equilibrium. For example, an individual compelled to remain in the office until the late hours would consequently forfeit the opportunity to share a dinner with their family or engage in fitness activities at the gym. Additionally, these challenges can potentially lead to both mental and physical health issues.

In conclusion, it appears that working longer hours has more drawbacks than benefits. While there are numerous benefits to working long hours, such as enhanced abilities and character, there can also be severe drawbacks, such as increased risk of mental health issues and physical ailments. (266 words)

Band 8 Vocabulary 

• Asserted 

Meaning:  to behave in a way that expresses your confidence, importance, or power and earns you respect from others

Example:  Everybody agreed to his decision when he asserted himself.

Meaning:  an observable fact or event

Example:  Every natural phenomenon has a beauty of its own.

• Accumulation 

Meaning:  an amount of something that has been collected

Example:  Due to lack of proper drainage system, there was an accumulation of water on the roads.

• Necessitate 

Meaning:  to cause something to be needed, or to make something necessary

Example:  The early-bird offer necessitates you to apply for the course as early as possible.

Meaning:  an area of interest or an area over which a person has control

Example:  He is an expert in his domain of coding.

• Equilibrium

Meaning:  a state of intellectual or emotional balance

Example:  Stress is caused when the equilibrium of our body is disturbed.

• Forfeit 

Meaning:  to lose the right to do or have something because you have broken a rule

Example:  Mrs. Roberts forfeited her rights over the property before she left the country.

Meaning:  an illness or health problem

Example:  The ailment he is suffering from has been diagnosed correctly.

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Band 9 Sample Answer for Writing Task 2 Question – People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure

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Limited time for recreation has emerged from the growing trend of longer work hours. While there are certain benefits associated with this tendency, it can be contended that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. In the following paragraphs, the advantages and disadvantages of working overtime will be discussed.

Firstly, extended work hours frequently result in augmented earnings, offering financial security and the capacity to fulfill diverse needs and desires. To exemplify, individuals extend their working hours to supplement their income, enabling them to save for the future or elevate their overall quality of life. Secondly, dedicating extra time to work can boost career prospects by showcasing a strong commitment to employers. Lastly, it also opens doors for skill development and expertise in various fields such as IT, healthcare, and finance.

On the flip side, prolonged work hours can give rise to both physical and mental health issues, including stress, burnout, and sleep disorders. For instance, an individual consistently working overtime may undergo heightened stress levels, adversely affecting their overall well-being. Furthermore, the unavailability during post-office hours may strain relationships with family and friends as due to late-hour work, the individual may encounter difficulties in sustaining a harmonious work-life balance, potentially leading to conflicts in relationships. In addition to the diminishing returns associated with overwork, insufficient leisure time can hinder the capacity to unwind and savor life beyond the confines of the workplace.

To sum up, although the cons outweigh the pros, the final decision of working beyond regular hours depends on individual preferences, priorities, and the specific context of the job. Nonetheless, it is important to strike a balance between professional commitments and personal well-being for overall satisfaction and a fulfilling life. (283 words)

Band 9 Vocabulary 

• Recreation 

Meaning:  time when people do things for enjoyment when they are not working

Example:  He did not have any recreation during his youth and he regrets it now.

• Augmented 

Meaning:  to make something larger or fuller by adding something to it

Example:  The profit was augmented by the increase in the number of enrolments.

• Supplement 

Meaning:  to add more people or things to an activity or process in order to improve it

Example:  His wife started a small business to supplement their family income.

• Prolonged 

Meaning:  continuing for a long time

Example:  After a prolonged time of crisis, the company made a huge profit.

Meaning:  extreme tiredness or a feeling of not being able to work any more, caused by working too hard

Example:  People should enjoy some leisure time to avoid burnout and reduction in productivity.

• Sustaining 

Meaning:  to cause or allow something to continue for a period of time

Example:  Their sustaining friendship impressed everyone.

• Hinder 

Meaning:  to limit the ability of someone to do something, or to limit the development of something

Example:  The outdated policies hinder development of infrastructure in the country.

• Unwind 

Meaning:  to make or become relaxed

Example:  Mr. John took a long vacation to unwind himself with his family.

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IELTS Writing Task 2 Connectors for Gaining Bonus Points in the Sample Answers for ‘People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure’

Connectors or Linking words helps to bring coherence to your writing and increase your chances of scoring a high band. So, check out the list of  connectors/linking words  used in the sample responses for the IELTS Writing Task 2 – People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure.

• To start with
• For example/For instance/ To exemplify
• Also/Further/Furthermore/Additionally/In addition to
• However/Nonetheless
• First of all
• On the one hand
• On the other hand/On the flip side
• In other words
• In conclusion/To sum up
• Firstly…Secondly…Lastly

Now that you have gone through the sample answers on the topic – People Work Long Hours Leaving Little Time for Leisure – it is time for you to try writing on your own. For that, leave your answers as a comment below or you can use our  FREE evaluation service !

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Essay 63 – Many people work long hours

Gt writing task 2 / essay sample # 63.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Many people work long hours, leaving very little time for leisure activities.

Does this situation have more advantages or more disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer: [View – it has more disadvantages.]

Many people toil at jobs for extensive hours, thereby having hardly any time for leisure pursuits. Just like everything else, working long hours also has its pros and cons. However, I opine that the disadvantages of working long hours outstrip its advantages.

There are myriad positive aspects of working long hours. One key benefit is increasing earning which gives people’s budget a boost, helping them clear their debts and other expenses. They can also set aside some money for a pension plan. Apart from this, it can help to move up the promotion ladder. In this cut-throat corporate world, putting in extra hours is an excellent approach to impress upper-tier management. Take my brother as an example, he won his well-deserved promotion to chief executive due to working longer hours.

On the contrary, the drawbacks of working longer hours cannot be overlooked. Fast and foremost, people with sedentary working hours can severely ruin both physical and mental health. In simple words, it increases the risk of heart disease and is as detrimental to health as smoking. Likewise, many research work has discovered that intense stress of work can cause depression, insomnia, and other mental health concerns. Secondly, it can lead to job dissatisfaction as excessive overtime can drain energy and creativity, which in turn reduces productivity and one may stagnate in career. Last but not least, working longer hours significantly reduces personal time; which translates into less sleep, less time for family members and socializing. A recent study shows that excessive overtime can cause serious family-conflict and the divorce rate augments accordingly.

In fine, although there are significant benefits to working long hours, it is clear that the downsides outweigh the good points. On balance, we should maintain a healthy work-life balance because it is the key to health, relationships, productivity and ultimately work performance.

One Comment to “Essay 63 – Many people work long hours”

Essay Answer: People, these days, do not spend much time on leisure activities and keep on working for long hours. In my opinion, this situation brings more disadvantages. This will probably give rise to health issues, poor performance at work, and unhealthy social and personal life.

A couple of consequences can be provided to display the bad aspects of working long hours and having no or little time for leisure activities. Firstly, long working hours may be the reason for both physical and mental health issues among many working people. This is because people are so focused on their work that they neither do any exercises nor have healthy diets. In fact, this will ultimately lead to immense stresses and poor performance in offices. Secondly, these people will gradually lose the social life and have a troublesome personal life. For instance, Mr Kumal in my office, who works really long hours every day, has very fewer friends compared to others. He never allocates time out of his busy schedule to talk with friends and this has tremendously hurt his social life.

Moreover, some people believe that working long hours means there is a scope for more earning and timely accomplishment of office works. But, in my mind, health is always important than wealth, and it is necessary to look after health issues rather than earning some more money. If an employee’s health condition deteriorates, he or she will no longer be able to work and earn. This would lead to even more devastating situations. And according to many experts, it is better to have some solid investment plans to make money instead of working overtime.

To conclude, working long hours just to accomplish work on time or make more money means we are walking towards the situation where our health would be affected sooner than expected. In addition, it will hamper our personal and social life. So it is expected that employees would work sincerely during their recommended working hours and avoid working for long hours by all means.

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People tend to work longer hours nowadays. Working long hours has a negative effect on themselves, their family and the society so working long hours should be restricted. Do you agree or disagree.

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Fully explain your ideas

To get an excellent score in the IELTS Task 2 writing section, one of the easiest and most effective tips is structuring your writing in the most solid format. A great argument essay structure may be divided to four paragraphs, in which comprises of four sentences (excluding the conclusion paragraph, which comprises of three sentences).

For we to consider an essay structure a great one, it should be looking like this:

• Paragraph 1 - Introduction
• Sentence 1 - Background statement
• Sentence 2 - Detailed background statement
• Sentence 3 - Thesis
• Sentence 4 - Outline sentence
• Paragraph 2 - First supporting paragraph
• Sentence 1 - Topic sentence
• Sentence 2 - Example
• Sentence 3 - Discussion
• Sentence 4 - Conclusion
• Paragraph 3 - Second supporting paragraph
• Paragraph 4 - Conclusion
• Sentence 1 - Summary
• Sentence 2 - Restatement of thesis
• Sentence 3 - Prediction or recommendation

Our recommended essay structure above comprises of fifteen (15) sentences, which will make your essay approximately 250 to 275 words.

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Some people argue that if children behave badly they parent should accept responsibility for the behaviour of children. Do you agree or disagree.

Nowadays, a growing number of people with health problems are trying alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor. do you think this is a positive or negative development, 18.education of young people is highly prioritized in many countries. however educating adults who cannot write or read is even more important and governments should spend more money on this. to what extent do you agree or disagree, you are working for a company. you need to take some time off work and want to ask your manager about this. write a letter to your manager. in your letter, explain why you want to take time off work give details of the amount of time you need suggest how your work could be covered while you are away, some people think that parents should teach children how to be good members of society. others, however, believe that school is the place to learn this. discuss both views and give your opinion. give the reasons and relative examples upon your own experiences..

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We worked longer hours during the pandemic—research says we need to work smarter, not harder.

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Exhausted woman working in front of laptop late at night.

The pandemic has heightened our awareness of the importance of well-being, and that is a positive development. But remote work and other factors have also resulted in many of us working longer hours, worsening the already growing problem of overwork. We cannot truly prioritize employee well-being until we learn to rein in excessive work hours.

The extra hours worked during the pandemic would be less of a concern if they were just a temporary phenomenon, a blip on the screen. However, overwork is a longstanding problem. A  recently released study by the W.H.O.  (World Health Organization) tracks a dramatic rise in health risks due to long work hours from 2000 to 2016. As of  2018, Americans worked  106 hours more a year than Japanese workers, 248 hours more than British workers, and 423 hours more than German workers. A  2019 survey  by the Labor Department found this was a particular problem for women—who were increasingly working longer hours and sleeping less while juggling work and other commitments. 

The current surge of the Delta variant makes it likely that the factors driving long hours during the pandemic—including remote work, a childcare squeeze, and other caretaking responsibilities—will continue to be with us for some time. Business leaders who want to protect their employees’ well-being and prevent burnout must explore ways of helping their employees work smarter, not harder and longer.

The high cost of overwork

The  findings of the W.H.O. study  are alarming:

• Working longer hours (more than 55 hours a week) resulted in 745,000 deaths in 2016, up from 590,000 in 2000
• Overwork is the single most significant risk factor for occupational disease
• Those working more than 55 hours a week have a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of heart disease compared to those who work 35-40 hours
• Overwork has significant negative ripple effects on health and behavior—including poor sleep, inadequate exercise, unhealthy diet, smoking, and excessive drinking

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Extended hours are bad for employees and bad for a company’s bottom line. Adverse health outcomes lead to rising health insurance costs and increased absenteeism. Moreover, in an economy where making judgment calls and exhibiting emotional intelligence is critical, overwork and accompanying behaviors undermine performance and decision-making. 

Shorter days or shorter weeks?

In the face of this glaring problem, various proposals to shorten the workday or the workweek are gaining traction. It bears noting that the eight-hour, five-day workweek is a product of the Industrial Revolution and does not reflect the realities of the Information Age.  Iceland has experimented  with several trials of a four-day, 35- or 36-hour workweek, with no reduction in pay. Employees in the trials showed no loss of productivity while exhibiting gains in measures of well-being. New Zealand, Spain, and Germany are considering similar trials. A  California Congressman  recently introduced a bill that would make such policies more feasible in the U.S. by lowering the bar for overtime from 40 hours to 32 hours.

Others are arguing for a  six-hour workday . “I’d be willing to bet that in most jobs, people would get more done in six focused hours than eight unfocused hours,” says bestselling author Adam Grant—adding that “the more complex and creative jobs are, the less it makes sense to pay attention to hours at all.” Steve Glaveski conducted a two-week six-hour workday experiment with his innovation accelerator team. “The shorter workday forced the team to prioritize effectively, limit interruptions, and operate at a much more deliberate level for the first few hours of the day.” The team maintained and, in some cases, increased productivity while showing improved mental health. 

Others are following Grant’s suggestion to stop measuring work by the hour. Companies adopting a ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) model tell employees the outcomes they want—and then leave it up to employees to determine how, when, and where they need to work to get the job done. 

Keys to working smarter

As someone who works one-on-one coaching executives and consults with companies on their wellness programs, I am keenly aware that there is no “one size fits all” solution to overwork. Some companies may want to experiment with one of the models discussed above, while others need to tailor their solution.

Whichever path you choose, there are some underlying principles you can follow to rein in excessive work hours and empower your people to work smarter:

• Be mindful of unwritten rules.  Every company has unwritten rules about the behavior expected of the best employees, and often leadership sets the tone. If you routinely work late hours, your employees will feel obliged to as well. If you send after-hours emails, employees will have difficulty logging off. Set healthy limits. Lead by example, and employees will follow suit.
• Prioritize.  We are all familiar with the Pareto principle that 20% of our tasks generate 80% of our value. Be ruthless in trimming your low-value tasks so you can devote your full attention to your high-value work.
• Delegate.  Outsource time-wasting, routine tasks that do not require deep focus and empower your best talent to do likewise.
• Declutter your schedule.  Block out time for reflection, strategizing, and deep focus. Create an environment in which your employees have time and space to focus as well. Experiment with things like “meeting-free Mondays” or “focus Fridays.”
• Reduce distraction.  Unplanned interruptions and compulsive email checking result in “cognitive switching” that reduces focus and prevents us from getting into a flow. Make it easy for you and your employees to indicate they are not to be interrupted. The average employee checks their email once every 37 minutes. Designate blocks of time where you turn off notifications and do not check email. Set strict timed limits on reading social media and news websites.
• Increase flexibility and autonomy. A  four-day workweek, six-hour workday, or ROWE model may not be feasible for your organization. Still, find ways to let your employees determine how, where, and when they work—as long as they deliver the required results.

Our ideas about how to arrange our workdays and workweeks are in many ways antiquated. They originated in a different century, a different economy, a different way of life. The pandemic has demonstrated just how quickly we can reinvent our approach to work. Perhaps it has set a creative process in motion that will lead us down a smarter, more sustainable, more fulfilling work culture.

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Band 7+: Although countries with long average working hours are economically successful, This often has some negative social consequences. To what extent do you agree or disagree

Many countries with prolonged working hours are successful for their economical growth; however, this has some adverse social effects. I agree with this statement because it leads to an unbalanced work-life balance, resulting in lower-birth mortality.

Prolonged working hours can lead to lower birth mortality. Because of an imbalanced work-life balance, people do not have enough time to spend with their partners, leading to fewer chances of planning for a child. This leads to decreased population growth and burdens the country’s economy to keep up with larbour shortage. For instance, in Finland, the government has made a strict four-day work policy; people have more time to focus on their personal lives. Indeed, the Finnish government is willing to pay child benefits for people planning to have kids. Thus, if long working hours would linger around, it can adversely affect the country’s population.

Double duties can lead to social consequences like burnout and less time for socialization. For instance, in China, many companies have strict working policies that force people to work for 12 hours; as a result, many people do not have enough time for themselves and socialization, resulting in developing mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Thus, in the long term this leads to decreased productivity because of burnout and the global rise in mental health issues among citizens of the country.

To conclude, while it may be worthy for country’s economical growth , long working hours have more negative social outcomes, including lower birth rates and burnout. Hence, I agree that double duties are not worthy regardless od a country’s rising economy, because it damages people’s mental health and population growth.

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IELTS Writing Task 2 Sample Answer Essay General Training: Working too Much (Real Past IELTS Tests/Exams)

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This is an IELTS Writing Task 2 sample answer essay from the real general training exam related to working too much.

That is something that everyone can identify with!

Read below for my sample answer and find some of my other resources here:

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Before reading the sample answer, you can listen to the audio for some listening practice first:

These days people spend more and more time at work and less time at home. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this? Real Past IELTS Test/Exam

These days, most people find themselves working longer hours, cutting into their home time. Though this brings economic stability to a nation, it also deprives people of a rich personal life.

The foundation of economic prosperity is a flourishing middle class unburdened by debts. A good example and counter-example of this can be seen in the changing fortunes of the American model of economics. In the 1950s the economy grew as people worked long hours and had large disposable incomes to feed back into the larger consumer economy by purchasing automobiles, houses, and luxuries. Since the economic crash of 2008, there have been fewer jobs to go around and most people make due with part-time labour. The result of an idle labour force was a long-lasting recession that has only abated in recent years as people began to work more.

When people have less time to spend either on their hobbies or with their family, they rightly feel deprived. Every person should have time for both a fulfilling public and private life. Work constitutes the bulk of public service for most people and home life the private. Those with families feel particularly justifiable anger, which can boil over to general unhappiness or depression at best and neglect or abuse, at worst. Even the childless still have loved ones, hobbies, and a variety of other pursuits. At the end of their lives, everyone strives to be able to look back proudly on their career and fondly on their daily life.

In my opinion, the tilting of work-life balance towards work is primarily a negative because it robs people of some of their most meaningful moments. People must individually find ways to not only survive but also prosper in a world where the private sphere shrinks with each passing year.

Word Count: 299

1. These days, most people find themselves working longer hours, cutting into their home time. 2. Though this brings economic stability to a nation, it also deprives people of a rich personal life.

• Paraphrase the main topic for the whole essay.
• Write your opinion – make it 100% clear.

1. The foundation of economic prosperity is a flourishing middle class unburdened by debts. 2. A good example and counter-example of this can be seen in the changing fortunes of the American model of economics. 3. In the 1950s the economy grew as people worked long hours and had large disposable incomes to feed back into the larger consumer economy by purchasing automobiles, houses, and luxuries. 4. Since the economic crash of 2008, there have been fewer jobs to go around and most people make due with part-time labour. 5. The result of an idle labour force was a long-lasting recession that has only abated in recent years as people began to work more.

• Write a topic sentence with a single main idea.
• Begin your example or explain your main idea.
• Make your example more specific – don’t run away from it.
• Continue with the same example. Here I contrast the past with the present day.
• State the result of your example.

1. When people have less time to spend either on their hobbies or with their family, they rightly feel deprived. 2. Every person should have time for both a fulfilling public and private life. 3. Work constitutes the bulk of public service for most people and home life the private. 4. Those with families feel particularly justifiable anger, which can boil over to general unhappiness or depression at best and neglect or abuse, at worst. 5. Even the childless still have loved ones, hobbies, and a variety of other pursuits. 6. At the end of their lives, everyone strives to be able to look back proudly on their career and fondly on their daily life.

• Another topic sentence with a new main idea for the other side.
• Begin to support/explain your main idea.
• Here I futher explain my main idea.
• I make it more specific by talking about families.
• I example it to childless people here.
• My last sentence summarises why having a personal life is important.

1. In my opinion, the tilting of work-life balance towards work is primarily a negative because it robs people of some of their most meaningful moments. 2. People must individually find ways to not only survive but also prosper in a world where the private sphere shrinks with each passing year.

• Repeat your opinion.
• Add in a final thought/extra detail for full points for task achievement from the examiner.

What do the words in bold below mean?

These days , most people find themselves working longer hours, cutting into their home time. Though this brings economic stability to a nation, it also deprives people of a rich personal life .

The foundation of economic prosperity is a flourishing middle class unburdened by debts . A good example and counter-example of this can be seen in the changing fortunes of the American model of economics . In the 1950s the economy grew as people worked long hours and had large disposable incomes to feed back into the larger consumer economy by purchasing automobiles, houses, and luxuries. Since the economic crash of 2008, there have been fewer jobs to go around and most people make due with part-time labour . The result of an idle labour force was a long-lasting recession that has only abated in recent years as people began to work more.

When people have less time to spend either on their hobbies or with their family, they rightly feel deprived . Every person should have time for both a fulfilling public and private life . Work constitutes the bulk of public service for most people and home life the private. Those with families feel particularly justifiable anger, which can boil over to general unhappiness or depression at best and neglect or abuse , at worst . Even the childless still have loved ones, hobbies, and a variety of other pursuits . At the end of their lives, everyone strives to be able to look back proudly on their career and fondly on their daily life.

In my opinion, the tilting of work-life balance towards work is primarily a negative because it robs people of some of their most meaningful moments. People must individually find ways to not only survive but also prosper in a world where the private sphere shrinks with each passing year .

these days nowadays

cutting into taking away from

economic stability strong economy

deprives not having

rich personal life fulfilling private life

economic prosperity good economy

flourishing middle class more money for consumers

unburdened by debts not owing any money

changing fortunes varying levels of money

American model of economics capitalism

disposable incomes money to spend

feed back give back

larger consumer economy the economy as a whole/people buying

economic crash when the economy does badly

to go around for all

make due put up with

part-time labour not working full-time

idle labour force not having work

long-lasting recession economy shrinking for a long time

abated stopped/slowed down

rightly correctly

deprived doesn’t have

fulfilling public and private life happy at home and at work

constitutes makes up

bulk most of

public service pulic life

particularly justifiable good reason for/to feel

boil over have an impact on

depression feeling very sad

neglect ignore

at worst in the worst situation

childless no children

pursuits hobbies

strives tries to

look back proudly feel good about your achievements

fondly warmly

tilting unbalancing

work-life balance time split between work and home

robs takes away

prosper flourish

private sphere shrinks less personal time

each passing year every year

Pronunciation

ðiːz deɪz ˈkʌtɪŋ ˈɪntuː ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪk stəˈbɪlɪti   dɪˈpraɪvz   rɪʧ ˈpɜːsnl laɪf ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪk prɒsˈpɛrɪti   ˈflʌrɪʃɪŋ ˈmɪdl klɑːs   ʌnˈbɜːdnd baɪ dɛts ˈʧeɪnʤɪŋ ˈfɔːʧənz   əˈmɛrɪkən ˈmɒdl ɒv ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪks dɪsˈpəʊzəbl ˈɪnkʌmz   fiːd bæk   ˈlɑːʤə kənˈsjuːmər i(ː)ˈkɒnəmi   ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪk kræʃ   tuː gəʊ əˈraʊnd   meɪk djuː   pɑːt-taɪm ˈleɪbə ˈaɪdl ˈleɪbə fɔːs   lɒŋ-ˈlɑːstɪŋ rɪˈsɛʃən əˈbeɪtɪd   ˈraɪtli   dɪˈpraɪvd fʊlˈfɪlɪŋ ˈpʌblɪk ænd ˈpraɪvɪt laɪf ˈkɒnstɪtjuːts   bʌlk   ˈpʌblɪk ˈsɜːvɪs   pəˈtɪkjʊləli ˈʤʌstɪfaɪəbl   bɔɪl ˈəʊvə   dɪˈprɛʃən   nɪˈglɛkt   əˈbjuːs æt wɜːst ˈʧaɪldlɪs   pəˈsjuːts straɪvz   lʊk bæk ˈpraʊdli ˈfɒndli   ˈtɪltɪŋ   wɜːk-laɪf ˈbæləns rɒbz   ˈprɒspə   ˈpraɪvɪt sfɪə ʃrɪŋks   iːʧ ˈpɑːsɪŋ jɪə

Listen and repeat:

Vocabulary Practice

Remember and fill in the blanks:

____________ , most people find themselves working longer hours, ____________ their home time. Though this brings ____________ to a nation, it also ____________ people of a ____________ .

The foundation of ____________ is a ____________ ____________ . A good example and counter-example of this can be seen in the ____________ of the ____________ . In the 1950s the economy grew as people worked long hours and had large ____________ to ____________ into the ____________ by purchasing automobiles, houses, and luxuries. Since the ____________ of 2008, there have been fewer jobs ____________ and most people ____________ with ____________ . The result of an ____________ was a ____________ that has only ____________ in recent years as people began to work more.

When people have less time to spend either on their hobbies or with their family, they ____________ feel ____________ . Every person should have time for both a ____________ . Work ____________ the ____________ of ____________ for most people and home life the private. Those with families feel ____________ anger, which can ____________ to general unhappiness or ____________ at best and ____________ or ____________ , ____________ . Even the ____________ still have loved ones, hobbies, and a variety of other ____________ . At the end of their lives, everyone ____________ to be able to ____________ on their career and ____________ on their daily life.

In my opinion, the ____________ of ____________ towards work is primarily a negative because it ____________ people of some of their most meaningful moments. People must individually find ways to not only survive but also ____________ in a world where the ____________ with ____________ .

Listen and check:

Listening Practice

Listen to this rich guy talk about why there is no such thing as work-life balance:

Reading Practice

Here are some tips too!

https://www.roche.com/careers/country/india/service/folder/20_tips_for_maintain.htm

Speaking Practice

Use the ideas and vocabulary that you just learned to answer these real questions from IELTS Speaking part 3:

• When do people in your country usually retire?
• Should everyone retire?
• What are the reasons that people do not retire?
• Will retirement ages keep getting later?
• What do retired people do in your country?

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In the contemporary era, an increasing number of people are prioritising their profession over their personal lives. It is advantageous for the economic development of the country but detrimental to family relationships.

To commence with, workers choosing to stay in the workplace longer will help the economy of the nation. When a workforce of a country work tirelessly then businesses grow at a rapid pace, factories could produce more goods and service industry such as call centres and software development companies could better serve their customers. Consequently, cash flow, as well as the GDP of the country, rises. For instance, after the second world war Japans economy plunged but with the efforts of the dedicated workforce, which worked almost 10 hours a day, were successful in stabilizing it.

On the other hand, working for longer hours can distance one from their family members. When a person’s day is majorly consumed in the work, they generally fall short to concentrate on their family’s emotional needs. Also, fail to make necessary bonding with their children and spouse. A good example of this could be seen in Japan, where elderly citizen die alone in their apartments as nobody cares them perhaps because they do not have loving families. Most family members get to know about their family member’s death weeks after the crimination.

In conclusion, spending more time at work in comparison to home can bring prosperity to the nation but can deprive people of the most valuable part of life which is quality family time. In my opinion, people should strive to strike a work-life balance and try to harmonize not only their personal but also professional lives.

ESSAY TOPIC:

Please comment on my essay on :

Today the high sales of popular goods

reflects the power of advertising and not the real needs of the society in

which they are sold. Agree or disagree; give reasons.

Nowadays, advancements in technology has revolutionized many sectors of life . One of them is the use of modernized advertisement through digital media that play a pivotal role in booming the over all sell of consumer product. Many old people believe that there is no use of such advertisements and individuals always buy according to their needs but in my opinion, advertisement shown on digital media has great impact on viewer’s minds and people tempt to start buying those products which are not required to fulfill their daily demands.

To begin with, the predominate reason

of enhancing the sell through advertisements is that it creates a great impact

on individuals thinking. A common example of this can be taken from the

commercial adds shown on television and social media website about the diamond

jewelry. While watching a beautifully designed diamond jewelry, wore by a

gorgeous model, immediately attracts the attention of many females. Further, it

could easily convince her to buy that product, may be for upcoming occasion, in

spite of having many jewelry sets in the cupboard. Moreover, she starts

considering herself that she would look beautiful too and anxiously could try

to make arrangements of purchase, albeit, this product is not at all part of

her necessities.

Similarly, purposefully made

advertisements could certainly boom up the trade of consumer goods by providing

awareness of newly introduced good with promotion, for which people are usually

not aware of. In this way providing intense knowledge about a new product with

discount prices, they dramatically increase the sell. For instance, when new

electronic appliances, such as, candy maker and popcorn makers were introduced

by the Asian sky shop with 25 % discount on first day order. People specially

females, commenced ordering online immediately to get the offer, in spite of

the fact that they could easily make candies and popcorn by using traditional

In conclusion, I strongly agree with

the idea that powerfull advertisements

shown on digital devices can change

the behaviour of buyers by changing their thinking and giving awareness about

newly introtuced products, eventually enhance the sell of consumer products.

Hi, Dave. Is it appropriate to only write one advantage and one disadvantage? The question asks for advantage s and disadvantage s .

Yes, you are right – I should make the multiple advantages/disadvantages clearly signposted, Alice.

For students, to be safe, you can write a paragraph with ‘firstly’ and ‘secondly’ to make sure the examiner knows you are answering the question fully.

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