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Events over the last 5 years have shone a light on work-life balance – as loss, ill health, home working and high inflation have changed working lives at an incredible pace.

The UK government is expected to strengthen employment rights including flexible working. However, nursing staff are often left behind, as the nature of their work and the service they provide often cannot accommodate the benefits awarded to workers in other industries.

In Scotland, a reduction in the working week was agreed as part of the 2023/24 Agenda for Change pay deal and is due to be fully implemented by 1 April 2026, with similar reductions being explored in Wales. But this is of little benefit to nursing staff who may work after their shift to ensure safety and continuity of services. It’s simply not possible, in many instances, to take advantage of efforts to improve work-life balance.

However, we have done this before. The crises of the early 20th century led to momentous improvements in the working lives of our grandparents.

Nursing is a large and influential profession, with the ability to grow its own change, is it time to do so again?

What radical changes and ideas could meaningfully shift the scales of work-life balance for nursing staff?

References

¾ÅÓÎÌåÓý Scotland (2025) Agenda for Change Review. Available at: rcn.org.uk/scotland/Get-involved/Pay-and-other-campaigns/Fair-pay-for-nursing-Scotland/Agenda-for-Change-review  

Further reading 

ACAS (2024) How flexible working can benefit your team and your business. Available at:   

Department for the Economy (2024) The 'Good Jobs' Employment Rights Bill. Available at:

DWP (2023) Health Adjustment Passport. Available at:

Kirk, K (2024) Time for a rebalance: psychological and emotional well-being in the healthcare workforce as the foundation for patient safety, BMJ Quality & Safety, Volume 33 (8). Available at:  

NHS Scotland (2025) Flexible Work Pattern Policy. Available at:   

Northern Ireland Government (no date) Flexible working. Available at:   

¾ÅÓÎÌåÓý (no date) NHS pay in Scotland. Available at: rcn.org.uk/scotland/Get-involved/Pay-and-other-campaigns/Fair-pay-for-nursing-Scotland 

¾ÅÓÎÌåÓý (2021) Nursing Workforce Standards: Supporting a safe and effective nursing workforce. Available at: rcn.org.uk/Professional-Development/publications/rcn-workforce-standards-uk-pub-009681  

¾ÅÓÎÌåÓý (no date) Work life balance. Available at:  
rcn.org.uk/Professional-Development/Your-career/Nurse/Career-Crossroads/Career-Ideas-and-Inspiration/work-life-balance  

Sirgy M and Lee DJ (2015) Work-Life Balance: A Quality-of-Life Model, Applied Research in Quality of Life, 11. Available at:

Scottish government (2025) Ministerial Scottish Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce: report and recommended actions. Available at:

The Harvard Gazette (2023) Benefits of work-life balance extend to heart health, study suggests. Available at:

UK Government (no date) Flexible working. Available at:   

West et Al (2020) The courage of compassion: supporting nurses and midwives to deliver high quality care; The Kings Fund. Available at:

Wood S (2018) Work–life balance supports can improve employee well-being, CIPD. Available at: