Do we work too much?

That’s what I googled about today and I decided to do a small research on it. Let’s go:

Standard working hours of countries worldwide are around 40 to 44 hours per week (but not everywhere: from 35 hours per week in France to up to 112 hours per week in North Korean labor camps) (Wikipedia)

In The Netherlands overall in 2010 the labor force worked on average 36.7 hours a week. (CBS, 2011) Dutch people on average travel 90 minutes a day between home and work. (mens en samenleving, 2015)

Add these figures up and the average dutch adult spends 2298 hours a year on work. This is 26,2% of their time!

In 2016, Dutch people spend daily an average of 8 hours and 12 minutes sleeping (2993 hours a year). This is 34,1% of their time. (gezondheidenco, 2016)

Out of the time average Dutch adults are actually awake, 5767 hours a year, 39,8% is spent working (including traveltime).

In Dutch households, people spend on average 2 hours and 45 minutes a day cooking, doing dishes, groceries, etc. (mens en samenleving, 2015) This is 17,4% of the time they are awake.

The Dutch spend around 9.1 hours a week on social activities (this includes visiting friends, phone calls, as well as talking to your partner), 6.1 hours a week on hobbies, 2.6 hours on sports and a total of 18.9 hours a week on social media. In the meantime, going out to a restaurant or drinking a beer only cost them 2.7 hours a week and traveling to friends and family cost them about 3.5 hours. (mens en samenleving, 2015)

This results in a total sparetime of 42.9 hours a week (2231 hours a year) or 38,7% of the time they are awake!

That leaves them with 4,1% of their "awake time" unaccounted for. From that, about 1.8 hours a week are used for care tasks, going to church and/or voluntary work. (mens en samenleving, 2015)

That gives us the next chart:

They spend more time at work (57,2% work + household) than doing the things they love (42,8% friends, family, hobbies etc). They spend more time with colleagues than with their partners.

A recent research from psychologist Anders Ericsson showed that people can only be productive during 4/5 hours a day and an 8 hour working-day could even have negative effects. (Welingelichte Kringen, 2016)

The 5 hour workweek seems to be a success. Employees are more productive, happier and invested in the business, says Stephan Aarstol. Having time to pursue your passions, nurture your relationships and stay active gives you more energy emotionally and physically. (Business Insider, 2016)

So to answer the title; Yes, in my opinion, as a Dutch man, we work too much. I personally do think it’s time to rethink how we use our time and focus more on things we really love! How about you?

Sources:
Wikipedia, "Working time":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time
CBS, "Gemiddelde arbisduur afgelopen jaren nauwelijks veranderd", 2011:
https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2011/14/gemiddelde-arbeidsduur-afgelopen-jaren-nauwelijks-veranderd
Mens en Samenleving, "Hoe brengen wij Nederlanders de dag door?", 2015:
http://mens-en-samenleving.infonu.nl/diversen/106107-hoe-brengen-wij-nederlanders-de-dag-door.html
Gezondheid & Co, "Nederlanders zijn langslapers. Hoe lang slapen we gemiddeld?", 2016: https://www.gezondheidenco.nl/228052/nederlanders-langslapers-hoe-lang-slapen-we-gemiddeld/
Welingelichte Kringen, "Experts zijn het eens: we werken allemaal te veel en krijgen daardoor juist minder gedaan", 2016: http://www.welingelichtekringen.nl/economie/577056/experts-zijn-het-eens-we-werken-allemaal-te-veel-en-krijgen-daardoor-juist-minder-gedaan.html
Business Insider, "My company implemented a 5-hour workday - and the rults have been astounding", 2016:
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-my-company-switched-to-a-5-hour-workday-and-how-you-can-make-it-work-for-you-2016-9?international=true&r=US&IR=T