Luxembourg, Ireland, and Belgium are all top contenders for the best place to work in Europe, according to the findings of two work-life balance studies out this week.
HR Platform Remote and JobLeads, an international job site, crunched publicly available databases to determine where workers are best off.
JobLeads ranked European countries using their retirement age, hours worked per year, burnout, remote work rates, and sick days. The results were then standardised and weighted on a scale of 10.
Remote evaluated the 60 richest countries worldwide by gross domestic product (GDP) on measures such as safety and LGBTQ+ friendliness, along with traditional work markers like base pay, the average length of a work week, and statutory holidays. Each metric received a weighted score and countries were then given a total score out of 100.
Luxembourg, Ireland top of the pack
The studies disagreed on which European country landed at the top: for JobLeads, that was Luxembourg and for Remote, it was Ireland.
Luxembourg offers work conditions that are “particularly balanced,” the JobLeads report found, with a 35-hour work week over roughly 35 professional working years. Workplaces also give an average of 14 days of sick leave in Luxembourg, which is much higher than the European average.
That means Luxembourgish people spend, on average, 47.8 years of their lives not working, which JobLeads says is the second-highest number in Europe, just behind the Italians with 51 years.
However, Luxembourg has a slightly higher-than-average burnout rate at 11.6 per cent of their salaried workers, which the researchers believe could be tied to a high rate of full-time employees working from home.
Remote did not include Luxembourg in its study, given it evaluated the world’s biggest economies.
It gave the No. 1 spot to New Zealand, but Ireland was close behind as the top scorer in Europe, partly because it is among the safest countries to live and work in, the researchers said.
In Remote’s study, seven European capital cities made it to the top 10 global ranking of best countries to work and live in, including Belgium, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Spain, and Finland. Canada and Australia rounded out the top 10.
The United States dropped from 55th to 59th place on the list, just above Nigeria, due to declining public safety and LGBTQ+ friendliness.
Belgium ranks high in both studies
Belgium, while not the top country in either study, performed well in both – placing third in Remote’s study and fourth in JobLeads’ analysis.
Both studies noted that Belgians worked a 34.1 hour work week – at least an hour less on average per week than their colleagues in Luxembourg, France, and Sweden, which topped the JobLeads report.
Belgium scores high on Remote’s study as well, notably for statutory holidays, sick and maternity leave.
It tied with Sweden for the highest rate of employees who reported some form of hybrid or remote work, at 14.3 per cent. The country lost points for its retirement age, which at 66 is higher than the countries at the top of the chart.
Germany performs well internationally, less so in Europe
Work-life balance in Germany is often considered strong when compared to the world’s biggest economies, rather than its neighbours in Europe.
Germany came fourth in the Remote study because of an increase in the country’s statutory sick pay in 2025. The criteria for general happiness and LGBTQ+ friendliness had also risen since Remote’s 2024 survey.
But when compared to its European neighbours, Germans are some of the oldest to retire at 67, have one of the longest work careers at 40 years, and have a relatively high burnout rate at 10.2 per cent.
On average, Germans do work fewer hours per week and per year than their European peers. Like Luxembourg, 12 per cent of their workforce is working remotely at least some of the time.
Big difference in results for France
One country scored fairly differently in the two reports: France. It came second in JobLeads study and 16th in the Remote report.
French people work roughly 37 years over their lifetimes, and have the youngest retirement age in the study at 64 despite recent changes, the JobLeads study found.
They also work a relatively short week at 35.6 hours, but not “as little as we might think,” according to the researchers, who noted that Belgium, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands have shorter work weeks.
The French also have lower rates of burnout compared to their peers in Belgium and Sweden, despite still having at least one-sixth of their workforce in hybrid or remote work.
But internationally, France barely cracked the top 20 in the Remote study. It was docked points for statutory sick day policies, the relatively low minimum hourly wage at €14.12, and the fact that researchers deemed it less safe than its European counterparts.
