IELTS Writing Task 2

Work Life Balance Strategies

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Problem and Solution

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10 unique answers with expert feedback

Instructions

WRITING TASK 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Nowadays many people complain that they have difficulties in maintaining work-life balance.

Why is this the case?

What strategies do you recommend to maintain work-life balance?

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

Write at least 250 words.

Top rated answers

Here are the 5 highest scoring answers by real-users for this IELTS Writing Task 2 Problem and Solution topic.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

10 months 15 days ago

In today's internet world we have the luxury of working from anywhere in the world due to advanced internet and laptops. On the outer surface, working from home or anywhere seems like a gift but due to the advanced communication setup like zoom or google meet, now team members of our organization can call us after office hours and extend the work timings leading to work-life balance issues. Lets look on why these scenarios occur and what are its impacts and steps to improve the work-life balance in detail below. Firstly, work-life balance issue occurs when there is no fixed shift timings. In my organization, we tend to collaborate with people from other timezones and because of these collaborations, there is no dedicated personal time to spend quality time with our families. Secondly, since we take our laptops back home with us, we are not separating ourselves from work. Before covid, every organization used to do most of their works in desktop and once we finish our work, there is no way we can able to access the work we did. Therefore, it is impossible for our leaders to ask for support during non-office hours but with the advent and rapid innovation of laptops and other communication apps like zoom now we are in a position to support onshore teams due to dependency. Owing to these work-life imbalances, we are now seeing a surge in diseases like cardiac arrest, blood pressure and dry eye due to long hours of looking into system without doing any physical work. Not only physical health but also we are having people admitted for psychological evaluation too. Recently, Companies are taking steps in improving both mental and physical health of their employees by providing gym membership and access to meditation apps like Calma. More awareness is being created by the government as well . One simple method I follow to overcome work-life imbalances is to set status about my work time so that when people text me or call me they know that I am out of office in these hours. I also maintain a document which I share with all my colleagues where I add my work details so that they are also updated accordingly. To conclude, Health is wealth is not only a proverb but also holds and adds massive value to those who are following the proverb. To be a successful and respectful human being, we need to concentrate more on physical and mental heath which will indirectly increase your value in your job.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

10 months 17 days ago

In recent times maintaining work-life balance great challenge; as it is very hard to cope with changing society and stress. Many complain that life has become difficult on top of that their personal lives are on a verge of extinction. Another thing is many marital problems and mental disorders are affecting minds. People have been working more than required in order to achieve more success and benefits, hence to provide a better life for themselves and their future generations. Moreover this has created no quality time spending with family and friends; lack of communication indirectly surplus barriers in relationship and increases stress. However the greed of achievement, technology, financial gains, fame and luxury are contributing factors which indirectly creates workaholic individuals. For instance many are working day and night shifts which in turn also affects their sleep and health. Apparently one has to make a stategy in order to solve these problems; I recommend planning the day prior and setting small goals instead of bigger ones. Furthermore it is vital that one dedicates ample time for loved ones to keep the chemistry and feelings alive. I advice to take breaks from work and plan a holiday minimum twice a year and weekends to spend leisure time. In addition destressing activities like meditation and yoga helps us to reduce negativity and upgrades our positivity and mental, physical stength thus welcoming peace within us. In conclusion it is essential to work on ourself in order to keep the balance intact and prioritizing what is important to us as human beings.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

10 months 23 days ago

Many individuals are facing difficulties in maintaining their jobs and personal lives these days. This is because people are more career-oriented nowadays, leading to a cut-throat competition in the job market. Secondly, the companies have long working hours, this hardly leaves time for oneself. I believe that these issues can be eliminated by following the western work culture and creating strong boundaries which will be further discussed in the essay. To commence with, jobs have become an inseperable part of a person's life. More and more people are getting educated, they want to be successful and financially independant. The number of jobs in the market are same compared to the number of applicants. Companies are taking the benefit of this situation to exploit their workers demanding to work longer hours. Furthermore, the employer's global presence also contributes to the mismanaged work life as meetings with international clients gets extended due to time differences. For example, in a recent survey conducted by The Times, employees working at MNC'S reported that they are sleep deprived and hardly get some time for personal care due to unusual working hours. Sometimes they work 12 to 16 hours straight when required. To address this issue, several solutions can be considered. This can be started by creating strong boundaries at workplace and not working more than the required number of hours and take personal timeoff whenever necessary. Additionally, this problem can be sorted if the companies start following western work culture. For instance, in Canada, the employers are not supposed to contact any employee

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

10 months 29 days ago

Work-life balance is essential for every individual irrespective of their field or profession. However, In most of the situations it is difficlut for people to maintain both work and personal life in terms of various factors. This essay elucidates on the challenges and attainable measures to resolve the challenge. To begin with, the major cause of this problem is the time management and work pressure. Particularly, the problem starts with the mode of the job done by the people in many cases it is observed due to the inadequate salary many populance are performing dual jobs to fulfill their needs, which in turn affects the time spending on their personal life. In addition, almost all the companies are persuading their employees to work for extra hours in a week to complete the commitment earlier for customer satisfaction this eventually creates a pressured work environment. For instance, Infosys had recently announced their hires to work for 6 days and no incentives has been introduced for the loss of one day in thier weekend, which actually turned into a serious discussion in the city. The possible solution for this acute problem could be starting with the waging system of the organisation, because if the payroll is increased that resolves the requirement of acquiring multiple jobs, and provides satisfaction. Secondly, managing the planning of assignment, and priortizing the tasks provides a clear vision on the deadlines predominantly supports on decreasing in work pressure hence, the duties are under control. To illustrate this, as stated in BBC, few organisations have established a remote working model with conditional requirements and allowing the hired man to produce their productivity on their own pace within the end time to arrival has been a great success. To summarize, in my opinion the best strategies to settle the issues in work-life balance can be concluded if provided with liberty to work and shine with self paced environments, achievable targets, and decent income.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

11 months 1 day ago

To start with , young minds are not able to maintain a well balanced work and personal life due to constant pressure of performing well at work place and at the same time maintaining a good personal relationship with friens and families. This piece of writing will discuss what are the main causes behind this shift and few of the methids to adapt in order to have well balanced work-life. To start with , as we are rapidly shifting towards a digital revolution and constantly there is a learning curve that is required to keep up with the competition and to perform well among our peers. This constant shift adds a immense pressure at our work places to keep innovating and moving ahead. Furthermore, due to digital accessibillity to one another using social media as lead to think that we as human being are primitve social animal and do require a constant interaction with fellow beings to help us maintain a good mental and physical lifestyle. To quote a example : we are so immersed in our work and performance ,eventually that has lead to many of us not having time to take care of our elderly parents and gradually deteriorate their health and in-turn effecting our work-life balance furthermore. In contrast to problems , there are good amount methods and ways to organise yourself to improve your balance betweek work and personal life. The best practice is to draw a border between work and life and know when to switch between them and not inter-connect.Switching off your mails and work messages post work hours can help evantually maintain a good balance. Along with this , In this digital era we tend to isolate ourselves with social media rather than to interact with friends and fellow beings which is highly recommended to help ourself. To conclude , yes there has been challenges in maintaining balance between personal and profession life, However as we evaulate our strategies and well sought out plan we can eventualy over come the issue and have well laid out work-life balance.

All Answers

Here are all the answers by real-users practicing writing for IELTS writing Task 2 Problem and Solution on our IELTS Prep App.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

The topic for maintaining work- life balance is becoming increasingly popular in this fast-paced world. This essay will discuss about the few cause of difficulty of maintaining work-life balance and few solutions that can be used to overcome the causes. There are various reasons that could be attributed to the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult for a lot of people to maintain work-life balance. One of the major cause is commuting to work. A lot of people usually live far off the city area where they find cheaper accomodation to cope up with the cost of livig. Thus, they have to travel long distance to commute to work. They either use car or public transport. The traffic could cause long time for them to reach the work or the distance itself is too long that it takes long time to reach work. The daily commute leaves them with less time available to spend on other leisure activities outside of work. Another reason for lack of work-life balance could be because of the house work people usually do such as cooking or cleaning. These house work usually take a lot of time and energy of the people. Therefore, it restricts the time left for the people to spend on other activities. The commute problem can be resolved by communicating with the company and arranging time schedule that can avaoid peak hours. They could also work from home if possible to avoid unnecessary time spent on commuting. The time spent on house work can be reduced by outsourcing the work to maids. The outsourcing will ensure they are not spending unnecessary time on house work. Therefore, the problem of maintaing work-life balance can solved as indicated above in the essay by avoiding peak-hours commuting, working from home and outsourcing home schores.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

Nowadays, it was concerned that numerous people are struggling to maintain their work-life balance. This was mainly due to the increase in workload and inappropriate working hours. Firstly, in most of the fields due to limited working staffs, others had to work overtime, this results in people suffering from maintaining the work-life balance. This leads to mental stress and are not able to maintain a healthy lifestyle. For instance the nurses work for 12 hours daily which is not appropriate to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, in the fields of information technology, staffs had to learn new technologies which cannot be done during working hours, instead they allot sometime at home to update themselves and increase the quality of their work. There are several lifestyle modifications that helps to maintain work-life balance. Staffs should not bring home their work or carry the baggage from the working environment. Instead, they have to spend a lot of time with the family avoiding screen time. People have to consider going for picnics and tours to relieve from the stress of work. Despite these measures, the management has to fix the working hours and hire adequate number of staffs for comfortablework-life balance. The health care workers have to be given limited working hours for the sake of their mental pressure and stress. In conclusion, working professional has to be given a fixed working hours and the job has to be divided among the staffs equally and adequate number of staffs has to be hired for comfortable work-life balance.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

IN RECENT TIMES, MOST INDIVIDUALS COMPLAIN THAT THEY ARE FACING ISSUES TO MAINTAIN PRESONAL AND WORK LIFE. THE MAJOR CAUSE OF THIS ISSUE IS THE HIGHER MANAGEMENT PRESSURE AND EXTEND OF WORKING HOURS, BUT HAVING HYBRID WORK ENVIRONMENT AND FOLLOWING COMPANY WORKING HOURS CAN IMPROVE THIS SITUATION. NOWADAYS MOST OF THE POPULATION ARE FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO HAVE A WELL BALANCED WORK LIFE. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF REASONS BEHIND THIS. ONE AMONG THEM IS THE INCREASED PRESSURE FROM HIGHER AUTHORITIES. MOST OF THE COMPANIES ARE MORE FOCUSED ON ACHIEVING THE PROJECT DEADLINES THAN CARING ABOUT THE EMPLOYEES WELL BEING. INDIVIDUALS HAS TO STRICTLY FOLLOW THE DEADLINES AND MEET THE COMPANIES EXPECTATIONS WHERE THE EMPLOYERS EXPECT THE GOOD QUALITY OF DELIVERY WITHIN A PARTICULAR TIME PERIOD. MOREOVER, EXTENDING WORKING HOURS ON DAILY BASIS HAS ALSO BECOME A MAJOR CAUSE OF THIS ISSUE. EMPLOYEES HAS TO WORK FOR MORE THAN THE SPECIFIED TIME INORDER TO COMPLETE THE ASSIGNED TASKS. FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE SURVEY CONDUCTED BY WORLD TECHNOLOGY ORGANISATION, 70% OF THE PEOPLE PROVIDED FEEDBACK MENTIONING THEY ARE NOT GETTING ENOUGH TIME TO SPEND WITH FAMILY DUE TO THE WORK PRESSURE BEING EXPERIENCED IN COMPANIES LIKES MICROLAND AND AMAZON. A NUMBER OF STEPS CAN BE TAKEN TO HAVE A WELL BALANCED WORK LIFE. FIRSTLY, COMPANIES CAN IMPLEMENT HYBRID WORKING CULTURE. THIS HELPS EMPLOYEES TO EXPREIENCE FLEXIBILITY IN THE WORK THEY ARE DOING. ADDITIONALLY, INDIVIDUALS CAN WORK FROM HOME IN TWO DAYS A WEEK AND GET A CHANCE TO SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY. SECONDLY, RESTRICTING TO THE WORKING HOURS WITHIN THE COMPANY POLICY WILL HELP INDIVIDUALS TO PARALLELY MAINTAIN THEIR PERSONAL AND WORK LIFE. FOR INSTANCE, 60% OF THE COMPANIES IN BANGALORE PROVIDES HYBRID WORKING ENVIRONMENT WHERE EMPLOYEES STAY IN THE SAME COMPANY FOR LONGER PERIOD. TO CONCLUDE, INDIVIDUALS FACE MANY CHALLENGES TO HAVE A WELL BALANCED WORK LIFE. HAVING A PROPER WORKING ENVIRONMENT WILL PROVIDES PEOPLE THE FLEXIBILITY TO MAINTAIN THIER DAILY LIFE.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

Work life balance is a very importantant area to be maintained by each employed individual and nowadays many are failing in it. This depends on the organization we work or the attitude of employee and it can be easily adjusted if we decided. Mainly people who are living in developing country is facing difficulty to maintain a good work life balance because the country itself is aiming to grow in fast pace for their faster economical growth. Due to this, each employer will try to generate high returnns of income in short span of time. Hence the individuals who are living and working in such coutries will have to take extra efforts or to hold huge business pressure to achieve their organizational goals. Since people are concentrating more on their official matters, they will get only less time to spend with their families. This create problems in their personal life and loose the work life balance. This situation can be handled only if the concerned individual decides and planned well his official and personal duties. Organizational goals cannot be changed by an employee, hence we need to adjust accordingly. Solution for this problem is to finish the official works and need to reach home on time. While we are on office, focus less on personal responsibilities and when we are at residence avoid all kind of official works. On holidays we should spend some quality time with family by planning tour, watching movies, going for shopping, having food from good restaurants and make our dear and near ones very happy. Same like with family, we need to achieve our goals in the stipulated time period to get a better work environment. Also, we need to maintain a healthy relationship with our superiors, subordinates and peer colleagues. It is quiet necessary that we need to be adequately capable to keep the balance of work and personal life in a smooth way. We cannot change the attitude of our country or our company, hence an All working individual need to have a good plan how to maintain a strong balance between work and personal life.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

As new and new developments are happening all over the world,our life is also moving faster and busier in all aspects.Hectic work patterns have resulted in maintaing proper work life balance among people.This essay will deal with this topic in detail. The first and the foremost reason for the imbalanced work-life is the job pressure.Raising competition in all the sectors of bussinesses are putting extreme pressure upon the employees.Consequently,this have created an enormous amount of stress upon them.For instance ,in the field of sales ,meeting the target number within the time-limit is a heavy task for them.Overburning themselves indirectly shoots tension upon the employees forcing them to do overtimes.This is inhibing the time they need to spend with their family.In addition to that,individuals are not getting time for their own personal habits. However,this have not only resulted in poor work-life but also afftected their health both physically and well as mentally.Work holic people started arising which have contributed to deprived family releationships.Moreover,people started focussing on the financial aspects rather that personal family life and that have created a low quality of life. In order to overcome these issues,humans should start thinking from their personal aspects also rather than only focussing their work matters.Punctuality and disciplined way of finishing the things matters alot.We should try to focus on duty during the working hours after that target for the family life.Planning accordingly and doing things efficiently would helps much more.Replacing the old patterns with the new euipments and facilities with helps to finish a target within the allowed time. In conclusion,Work is trying to carve a human being both physically and mentally.Every individual is responsible for their own life and its balance is upon their hands.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

In recent times, individuals tend to have problems with balancing career and personal life. This essay will discuss the reasons and tactics to overcome this issue. Balancing one's career and personal life is a tedious task due to many factors. Nowadays, companies and institutions are more fast paced and result oriented, which eventually lead to their employees needing to work overtime. Moreover, job saturation and recession has increased the competition in many fields, which result in people over working to maintain their jobs. Additionally, individuals that live in metropolitan cities spend additional time navigating through traffic, which reduces their personal time even more. However, there are many ways one can make time for their personal life. It is vital that people learn to work within the office hours, while strictly keeping their personal hours separate. Furthermore, organizing one's tasks and scheduling one's day would get a lot of the work done diligently. Especially with advent of technology, there are many mobile apps that help people in task management. Certain methods like remote working options and residing closer to one's work place can decrease the amount of stress related to commuting. In addition, employees should make considerable changes in the working system to prevent burn-out. Work places should hold classes that could help bring up the company's morale and its employees wellbeing. In conclusion, people should remember that their career is just a means to an end, meanwhile family is time is transient and precious. It is human nature to strive for the best till one succeeds, nevertheless, we should ensure our wellbeing.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

In current days, we have been hearing alot about work-life balance issues that an individuals are facing. In this essay, we will discuss about the strategies and recommendations on maintaining this. To begin with, work life balance has been a major concern nowadays. The major reason for this is long working hours and tight deadlines by the companies. Companies signup projects with clients who are looking to deliver the work in very strict timelines. This in turn, creates a hassle for the employees to work for long hours. Since, most of the time is occupied by the work, individuals cannot actually do what they love. There would be no sufficient time for the workers to spend time with the families and work on themselves. Secondly, due to the stress that the work is causing many people are facing health issues nowadays. The best solution to maintain the work life balance is to have a strict working hours for the companies. The project managers in every company should have open dicussions with the developers and testers in the team before committing or signing for the projects. This ways, employees can share their views on the timelines and provide their feedback. Additionally, this discussions will also give an opportunity for the manager or project managers to foresee any future issues that can come up while delivering the project. Few additionaly changes that are suggested to maintain is skip unnecessary meetings which gives the individuals ample amount of time to work on the deliverables. To conclude, I would like to express that having a good balance between work and personal life is very important as this would make the employees happy and this leads to great achievements at work and in personal life.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

It is complained by the majority of pupils that balancing professional and personal life has become challenging these days. This essay will discuss that more working hours and living far away from family are the reasons and to tackle this, use of technology and frequent vacations with members of family. The main reason for disrupt professional and personal life is spending more time in office to meet both the ends. Stress caused by meeting deadlines lead to person giving less time to his family as he have to work for more number of hours. Secondly, some chooses to earn from different city or country to earn money. They are thriving to provide and save for their family consequently seeing them only once or twice a year. For instance, recent study states that majority of couples in UK living away from each other in order to make money were separated after 5 years of their marriage. To combat these problems, mobile phones and social media could be used to communicate and see each other and vacations to rejuvenate should be planned. Firstly, Stable pece of mind is required to work in every aspect of life, going somewhere with wife and children would be of great help in attaining serenity. Moreover, for people living in foreign countries, technology may act as boon as they can use it for seeing and talking with their loved ones.For example, I usually talk with my husband daily on skype as he is working in Canada and I am in India. To conclude, working more and being away from family are the main reasons for having difficulty to maintain job and home life. However, these issues can be solved by going somewhere to relieve all stress and anxiety and using internet for communication and virtual connection with the household members.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

In recent years, masses are complaining that they are not able to have a work-life balance and this has become a matter of concern in our society. Although, there are several reasons behind this but the leading causes are lack of job opportunities and increasing competition between businessman's to be at the top where they are ignoring the basic needs of their employees. Today in this essay I will discuss many other reasons causing this and to curb this phenomenon. To begin with, today in this modern world a standard living costs you time. In other words, every individual runs in a rat race and wants to give a good life style to his family, but due to workload and lack of employees at companies it has become an obstacle for the individuals to give a good amount of time to their families and loved ones while they are cathching their dreams. For instance, a bread earner of the family does not get enough time to enjoy his or her life and spend a quality time with their loved ones due to imbalance between work and personal life. Second major reason behind this is lack of time management skill and Low energy levels in workers. Due to lack of exposure some people are not able to manage their schedule causing intake of poor diet which includes major amount of fast food and packed food thus, many are not able to maintain their health which leads to easy fatigability and frustration. For example, if people are working 24 hours and seven days sometimes they do not have much time to follow a proper diet which indirectly effects their work and personal life. I believe if companies starts giving fixed amount of hours to the employees it will help them to manage their jobs and personal time. Additionally, more employment options and more placements will help in managing workload at workplaces. Thirdly, offices should start providing free health checkup and advise from an expert to stay healthy will increase capabilities of their employees to give their best. In conclusion even though their are enormous causes including less job options, toxic work environment and lack of self care to create and imbalance between work and life. But adapting few positive aspects can bring out the best from public.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

1 year ago

It is commonly argued that keeping balance between work and life is a struggle in the contemporary era. Many reasons contribute towards this, like increased competition and work pressure but the load can be compensated by doing recreational activities and stressing out more on doing exercises and meditation. Nowadays, as the unemployment is increasing, the competition for a certain job is increasing day by day and companies are finding more alternatives at a very cheaper labor cost. For instance, in India, a company got 10,000 resumes for 25 job vacancies. As many people are in line for a job, the company is increasing work pressure on individuals. As a result, they have to stay late night in the offices staking their mental health. Moreover, certain jobs also require the employees to work on the weekends, leading to stress, anxiety like diseases. The inviduals can employ certain steps to overcome work pressure and rejuvenate themselves from the hectic work life. At least one recreational activities should be incorporated in their routine once a week to release stress. It can be anything involving physical activity like playing cricket, trekking, bowling, skating etc. It not only helps to reduce mental stress but also energises an individual to work with more concentration. Moreover, meditation can also be included to calm the brain. For example, a study shows that doing meditation helps to release good hormones all over the body that fights anxiety and nervousness and reduces the pressure. In conclusion, even though the work pressure is increasing by leaps and bounds making it a struggle to maintain work-life balance, various steps can be inculcated in day to day life, like doing recreational activities and meditation to overcome this.

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