🔋ATP#9: Want to Be More Productive? Work Less (Seriously!)

One of the biggest differences I’ve observed between Germany (my home country & where I lived for most of my life) and Chile (where I moved a little over 6 years ago): The work culture.

People stay at work far later here. You can smell the exhaustion, but nothing seems to move faster.

In Germany, the 40-hour workweek has been a reality for over 100 years, and in the public service, where I worked most of the time, it’s actually 39 hours/week. People arrive early and leave early. Plus: 30 days/year (6 weeks) of paid time off.

Average of yearly hours worked in Germany: 1,343.

Chile is a bit different: They’re just now reducing working hours from 45 to 40 hours/week in 1 hour/year decrements. It’s now at 43. Paid time off? 15 days/year (3 weeks) for most.

Average of yearly hours worked in Chile: 1,953.

And it’s not something you just see on paper: The work culture here is crazy, and on top of the many daily working hours, many people work extra hours or have a side hustle because the salaries are so low. They literally work themselves to death, and you can feel the exhaustion everywhere.

“But if they work so much, at least they must produce a lot,” you might say.

No.

Chile is #3 in the ranking of countries with the most working hours/year (data from 2023):

1. Mexico (2,207 hours)

2. Costa Rica (2,171 hours)

3. Chile (1,953 hours)

…but it ranks low in productivity per hour worked (same goes for Mexico and Costa Rica, by the way).

The equation “more working hours = more productivity” is wrong.

In today’s newsletter, we’ll cover:

• What working time reduction is

• Psychological and health benefits associated with working time reduction

• What working time reduction means for human productivity

• Potential mechanisms behind the benefits.

What is working time reduction?

It’s working fewer hours/week for the same salary, e.g., 4 instead of 5 days with 8 hours/day.

This would result in 32 hours per week, and several trials have been conducted (and are still ongoing) in different European countries to examine the effects of reducing working time to such a 4-day scheme.

Working time reduction differs from part-time work because the latter typically involves a reduction in salary. It’s also different from a compressed hours model, where the weekly hours are compressed into fewer days (e.g., 40 hours compressed into 4 days).

Psychological and health benefits associated with working time reduction

The benefits observed in working time reduction studies are mindblowing:

Better sleep

Working time reduction improves sleep, not only on working days but also on weekends.

This improvement may be due to a better disconnection from work and more time for recreational activities.

Better sleep improves:

• Memory

• Cognitive functions, e.g., decision-making & attention

• Toxin removal (prevents chronic diseases such as dementia)

• Emotion regulation

• Appetite regulation

• …and more.

It’s a huge benefit for workers.

Less burnout

Burnout and stress affect up to 67% of workers.

Working time reduction has been shown to reduce burnout and stress-related symptomatology in employees.

With ever-increasing numbers of mental health problems worldwide, working time reduction could be a powerful tool to improve employee well-being and long-term talent retention.

What does working time reduction mean for human productivity?

This may be the most interesting aspect for employers, especially because many believe that with fewer working hours, productivity decreases.

But: The opposite is true! Productivity increases when people work fewer hours.

This is particularly true for jobs where results can be expressed in numbers, but it also holds for jobs where results aren’t easily quantifiable - outputs are of higher quality.

So, fewer working hours not only benefit workers, but they also have a direct effect on productivity!

Another clear benefit for employers is reduced health and safety risks: Exhausted staff have an increased risk of getting sick or having workplace accidents, which can be complicated for an organization, financially and legally.

Fewer accidents and sick leaves are another massive advantage of working time reduction.

Potential mechanisms behind the benefits

Which mechanisms lead to the observed increases in productivity?

Here’s a recently proposed model:

Source: Rae, C. L., & Russell, E. (2025). How can a 4-day working week increase wellbeing at no cost to performance?. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 29(1), 5-7.

The model establishes 2 routes: rest & motivation.

Rest:

Better-rested workers create better work outputs. Improved sleep plays a crucial role, enabling individuals to perform at their best.

Motivation:

The limited working hours and the willingness to maintain this benefit motivate workers to achieve peak performance and minimize time wasted in the workplace.

If you work with time blocking or Pomodoros, you probably also noticed that limiting your allowed time on a task can increase productivity. Something similar happens here.

Wrapping up

Research on working time reduction indicates that the logic “More hours worked = more productivity” is wrong. We need a shift away from hustle culture toward a healthy work culture.

Research is still ongoing, and we require additional data, particularly regarding the long-term effects of reduced working hours and whether the same benefits persist years later.

Of course, working time reduction isn’t possible in any job, and it may not be possible for you if you’re employed and can’t decide over your schedule. If you can reduce it, try it!

However, even if you can’t, your productivity could still benefit from setting time limits for yourself, such as using the Pomodoro technique.

And the bottom line is clear: The number of hours worked is a bad indicator of productivity.

We’re humans and not machines.

Until next time!

Best wishes,

Patricia (Dr. Schmidt) from creatorschmidt.com.