Work-life balance ranks as the first priority when choosing a job

MadridFamily-work balance takes precedence over salary as a factor that workers consider when choosing a job, or at least that is the conclusion of a report by Foment del Treball presented this Wednesday, which analyzes the challenges of the Spanish labor market. Specifically, work-life balance has positioned itself as the "top priority" among those looking for a job or having to choose a job offer to pursue. It is the main criterion (36.2%), ahead of salary (26.8%) and flexible hours or workplace (23.6%), according to the report. And it is a particularly relevant element for workers between 30 and 35 years old, but not for young people who have just entered the labor market: although work-life balance has grown as a criterion, salary continues to gain ground.

However, the response to this need is not satisfactory: 63% of respondents believe that the balance between work and family and personal life is one of the "major shortcomings" of the Spanish labor system and that "there are not enough measures" to facilitate it, according to the study by the Catalan employers' association. Specifically, workers miss flexible hours as an element that could help in this regard.

Foment del Treball has acknowledged that this criterion "carries more weight" in company agreements and anticipates that the same will happen in the case of sectoral and regional agreements. "It is important [to negotiate it] so that the worker knows that the job will allow them to balance their life and therefore live better [...] It will be part of the negotiation table [with the unions]," stated the president of the Catalan employers' association, Josep Sánchez Llibre, during the presentation of the report in Madrid. Majority unions and employers' associations are precisely going to negotiate a new Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC).

Why are young people leaving?

If the change in priorities when choosing a job is transforming, the same does not happen with one of the structural problems, in the opinion of employers, of the Spanish labor market: retaining workers trained in the State. "An average of 8,672 native young people aged 25 to 34 have been lost annually between 2008 and 2025, half with university degrees," the report highlights.

"It is a trend that has been around for a long time and remains stable. What we have to ask ourselves is why it is not moving despite the change in [economic] cycle," reflected Juan Francisco Caro, director of Opina 360, the consultancy that coordinated the report. In the survey, Foment del Treball does not investigate the specific reasons why there are "always" more young Spaniards who go abroad to work, compared to those who stay, although it has pointed to the decision to have an experience abroad, or to the particularities of specific sectors such as the health sector, where conditions are more favorable abroad.

Ode to work

However, the presentation of the survey has served Foment del Treball to deliver a whole ode to work. "Work is the main source of social well-being [...] It is the key that opens the door to personal fulfillment," defended Sánchez Llibre. The president of the Catalan employers' association thus amended "those currents that devalue the culture of work and effort" and appealed to abandon "ideological pessimism" surrounding work. Later, he explicitly referred to the Minister of Labour, Yolanda Díaz, with whom relations have become strained in recent years. "She has demonized the employer," said Sánchez Llibre, who, on the other hand, did not lump the "approaches" of the Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, in the same category.

Book on absenteeism

During the presentation, Foment del Treball has once again warned about what employers consider one of the "biggest problems" in the labor market and which is already "negatively" affecting the Spanish and European economy: absenteeism. In the autumn, Foment del Treball will present the White Paper on Absenteeism, revealed Sánchez Llibre.