There is a version of working hard that is sustainable. Most organisations have not found it.

The model that replaces it – long hours, always available, output as the only measure – is expensive in ways that are not always visible until something breaks. People burn out, they leave, or natural attrition doesn’t happen where you expect it because there is too much challenge to move on. And projects fail because the A game is no longer achievable.

Better Balance is for organisations and individuals who want to look at how work is structured and find a version that is genuinely sustainable, not as a welfare exercise, but as a practical one. It’s also a realistic approach – not everyone can have it all, and the world isn’t fair, nor is it Utopia. Trying hard isn’t always enough to avoid these things, and it goes beyond the individual, the team, the company, the industry, the country…

But that doesn’t mean that incremental changes can’t be made that start to restore that balance.

It might mean looking at how time and energy are allocated across a team, where the invisible work lands, which commitments are costing more than they are delivering, or how to build working patterns that last. It could also mean working with individuals on their own working rhythms, capacity, and the decisions that have led to an unsustainable position.

The framing here is practical and honest. Sustainable working isn’t necessarily about doing less, but it is about the right people doing the right things, at the right intensity, with enough recovery built in to keep doing them.