The 40-hour workweek has been a standard for employees for more than 50 years. It led to the United States developing one of the most productive workforces in the world.

Full-time workers have repeatedly told Gallup pollsters they work an average of 45 to 47 hours a week. Eighteen percent say they work at least 60 hours weekly. Here in Hawaii, 6.2 percent of workers have multiple jobs as they try to overcome the high cost of living.

Working more hours is often viewed, or portrayed, as giving the U.S. a competitive edge. Some politicians flatter hardworking American workers by saying that it leads to enhanced productivity in the long run. They give the impression that this county has the most productive workers in the world.

In the U.S. people work more, but that doesn’t make us the most productive workers in the world.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

But that isn’t true. Germany ranks as the most productive nation in the world, according to a survey by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, and their official work week is just 35 hours long. And, after the global recession of 2008, some companies promoted further shrinking the work week to avoid laying employees off and to help hire others.

An argument in favor of Germany’s general work philosophy is its status as the financial powerhouse of the European Union. Germany emerged quickly from the Great Recession and since then the country has enjoyed great economic success, even though — or perhaps partially because — its employees work fewer hours.

It leads to a question: Is there a limit on how many hours a week Americans should work, if they want to be most productive? In a study cited by Salon, when people work more than 40 hours, there are diminishing productivity returns for their time. Generally speaking, the more overtime people work, the less effective they become.

Mexico is a standout on this front. It ranks number one for the most hours worked annually per employee, and it is where workers are among the least productive workers overall.

Where does the U.S. rank on the list of the world’s most productive workers? Third — behind Germany and France. Both countries have shorter standard work weeks.

We could likely boost worker productivity by having people work less, whether through shorter work weeks, more vacation time, or both.

Internationally, Sweden is trying to calculate the most productive number of weekly work hours for employees. An ongoing year-long study that began last July is comparing the productivity of employees who work six hours per day with those who work the traditional eight hours, to see if there is any difference in their output. Sweden is also measuring employee sick days, illness rates and overall happiness. Both groups of workers are being paid the same wages.

Our Lost Holidays

Could it be that we have something to learn about work-life balance from countries like Germany and France, the latter of which having long been stereotyped as having short work days, generous vacation policies and long lunches?

Americans also take little vacation time. The main reason is likely that the U.S. is the only developed country where the government doesn’t mandate a minimum number of vacation days. That’s right, zero. Germany gets 24, Sweden gets 25 and France gets 30. We aren’t guaranteed any.

The average American employee ends up receiving 13 days of vacation. But many people do not actually use their full slate of holiday time. Just 25 percent of Americans take all of their allotted vacation time, according to 2014 Glassdoor’s Employment Confidence Survey. Most people take less than half and 15 percent take no time off at all. And three in five working Americans do some work while away on vacation.

The main reasons why Americans don’t use all of the vacation time they accrue: cost, workload and a feeling that they are indispensable at work.

One in three people polled in a 2014 survey by the GfK Public Affairs research company and the U.S. Travel Industry said they simply cannot afford to take time off. Two in five people were afraid of returning to an overwhelming amount of work and 35 percent said no one is capable of filling in during their absence.

The Importance of Recharging

Taking time off from work is important on many levels.

Research shows that taking a mental break from work tends to improve alertness, increase productivity, solidify memories and encourage creativity.

A study from Illinois found that a brief break from a task can help to improve the ability to focus on that work for longer periods of time in the future.

So we could likely boost worker productivity by having people work less, whether through shorter work weeks, more vacation time, or both. This could happen through legislation or if companies simply instituted more generous paid-leave policies.

Google’s Larry Page is on board. In his analysis, the jobs of the future will be part-time — and that can only help the workforce (and perhaps the environment). Netflix employees are given unlimited vacation time, as long as they get their work done. Evernote CEO Phil Libin offers his employees up to $1,000 to use on their vacation every year. Many other tech-related companies have also adopted more liberal vacation policies with an eye toward promoting creativity in the marketplace and improving their bottom line.

Most of the rest of us are unlikely to see such workplace generosity anytime soon. But our productivity might well increase if we enjoyed more guaranteed paid vacation days and didn’t work quite so many hours.

Now it is time to convince more of our bosses that less is more.