Is the BrewDog founder right that ‘work-life balance’ is holding back Britain?

James Watt’s solution to the UK being ‘one of world’s least work-oriented countries’ is for us to take work home. Organisational behaviourist André Spicer says he may be on to something – but there’s an art to dealing with an in-tray out of hours

BrewDog co-founder James Watt has been busy upsetting people again – mostly, the demographic that drinks his craft beer.

The outspoken arch-disruptor, who stepped down as the game-changing company’s CEO last year but remains its “captain”, as a major shareholder and on its board, has faced a backlash for declaring that employees do not need a "work-life" balance – and only those who hate their jobs are obsessed with finding it.

Put down your pint of Punk IPA, millennials – he’s talking about you.

Instead, Watt is urging more Britons to embrace what he calls “work-life integration” – that is, combining your work with your personal life and relationships.

Which is easy enough for him to say: his fiancée is influencer, reality TV star and “raw dog food” entrepreneur Georgia Toffolo. Having turned his own hobby into a multibillion-dollar brand, and seen his fiancee find success with her love of pets, Watt thinks everyone can now follow their lead.

His rubbishing of those who want a work-life balance is the latest Instagram salvo from Watt, who has long criticised the UK’s notoriously poor productivity. And there is some research evidence that supports his case for better work-life integration: when people find meaning in their work, they are more motivated.

Having turned his own hobby into a lucrative career – in 2022, BrewDog was ranked 14th most valuable beer brand in the world, ahead of Carlsberg – and having seen his fiancee do the same with her love of dogs, Watt sees no barrier to everyone else following their lead.

But even if that were possible, research suggests that people who take work into the living room, bathroom and bedroom are not necessarily more productive in the long term – let alone happier or healthier.

We know that working long and/or irregular hours damages health and hits individual productivity. In demanding professions, people working long hours at high levels of intensity are less productive than colleagues who take it a little easier.

But what of that caffeine-fuelled colleague who proudly boasts of burning the candle at both ends? A research study of these self-styled masters of the universe bestriding the world of investment banking has cautionary lessons. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it found that those who set boundaries around their working life – and actually had hobbies – remained at the top of their game for longer.

This begs the question of how to achieve a more sustainable form of work-life integration. Research suggests that to maintain a passionate attachment to work, you’re going to need three things.

Despite Watt’s latest treatise, you should put up a few boundaries – such as when you work and when you don’t. You might also set up parameters about space: where you do work tasks, and where you relax.

You’re also going to need some level of autonomy over schedules and working time. For instance, being able to schedule some parts of your work day tends to make people less stressed and more productive. Hybrid work has also meant that some employees can work from home for a day or two a week. This tends to increase satisfaction as well as productivity.

You will also need support in handling those little challenges that life throws at most of us – such as checking in on babies, children and elderly parents. I’d bet several bowls of superior pet food that Watt and his fiancee have 21st-century equivalents of domestic servants to lend a hand.

A good work-life balance might sound seriously underambitious to successful entrepreneurs like Watt. However, we can work towards a more successful integration of work and life by developing a few boundaries, granting employees a little autonomy, and giving them a bit of support.

We can perhaps draw inspiration from philosopher queen Dolly Parton. She advised: “Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

Professor Andre Spicer is executive dean at Bayes Business School, City St George’s, University of London