Almost one in three people have been in a relationship which has suffered because of work pressures, according to a new study yesterday.

A survey of 2,000 workers by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health found that a poor work-life balance could “drive a wedge” between partners.

Of the 29 per cent who said they had been affected by a poor work-life balance, the main problems were long working hours and high workloads.

Luise Vassie, executive director of policy at IOSH, said: “The struggle to achieve a good work-life balance is an ever growing issue in today’s society. It seems that too many of us are letting work take hold of our lives – and our home life is often suffering as a result.

“People are working harder than ever, but as our results show, too many are seeing their relationships outside of work suffer as a consequence. This isn’t solely a problem for the employee – an unhappy worker is often an unproductive one.”

Almost two thirds of those questioned said their work-life balance was poor or could be better.