American employee mimics the European workday by working 1.5 hours less than his company expects: 'I will make sure that 90 minutes is filled with non-work related activities.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Jun 10, 2026 12:30 PM EDT

He's taking back 1.5 of his 24 hours.

We all wish we had more hours in the day to do the things we actually want to do. So many of your waking hours consist of doing things for your boss, and that is nowhere near as fun as doing things for yourself. If you would rather look at a spreadsheet for an hour a day than have lunch with friends or read for pleasure, you're a different breed of human. 

How can we make more time in the day when so much of it is filled up? For starters, you can wake up a little earlier and go to bed a little later, creating more waking time, but sleeping less can come at the detriment of your health. You can turn off your phone more, so that you're not wasting your life scrolling through short-form video content, but who wants to do that? You've got to cut out something pointless if you want more time to yourself, and finding that time is truly harder than it looks. 

The employee in this story decided he would give himself more time in the day by modeling European employees, who work less and take more PTO, which means they work 1.5 hours less a day than the average American employee, who is pressured to have a sigma grindset by every boss and manager they've ever had since they were teenagers. This guy decided that if he wasn't going to have more vacation time, he was going to create it himself. 

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  • A model pretending to be an employee playing with a basketball at his desk to pass the time, doing something that has nothing to do with his actual job,
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    A model pretending to be an employee playing with a basketball at his desk to pass the time, doing something that has nothing to do with his actual job

  • I have a new goal to work 1.5 hours less each day at work

    So, I was listening to a Planet Money today and they cited a statistic that I took major note of and turned it into a goal of mine. Due to PTO policies, Europeans work 1.5 hours
    via u/Serraph105
  • less each day at work than Americans do. 5, days a week, that's 7.5 hours per week, (basically a 32.5 day work week), and 390 hours a year, or 48.75 work days a year, if
    via u/Serraph105
  • you consider 8 hours to be a work day. I've been in the US workforce since 2010, putting in over a month of extra work in comparison to our neighbors across the
    via u/Serraph105
  • pond, and I'm officially done, and I'm taking it back starting today. 6/9/2026 for my own records. So, while I can't simply
    via u/Serraph105
  • not be at work 1 extra day a week, I can, and intend to, commit to not doing work 90 extra minutes a day, on top of my 75 minutes of current break time (45 minute lunch,
    via u/Serraph105
  • plus two 15-minute breaks). I will be setting an hour and a half timer on my phone each day, pausing it if something immediate comes up, and starting it again once I
    via u/Serraph105
  • get done. I will make sure that 90 minutes is filled with non-work related activities (internet, reddit, going outside, etc). I have no more intentions
    via u/Serraph105
  • of waiting around until we make the system as a whole, better. I'm simply going to make my system of work better, and I encourage others to do the same, if at all possible.
    via u/Serraph105
  • I welcome any and all ideas on how to do this even better than my current plan.
    via u/Serraph105
  • dabenu I'll tell you what. I'm in Europe, have a 32h work week, get about 25 days pto, unlimited sick leave, and I still slack off about that much.
    via u/dabenu
  • Smokedealers84 How about you don't time yourself and just do whatever you wanna work and when you want to... you don't need a rule or moral high ground to slack as long you are doing. your part to not lose your job.
    via u/Smokedealers84
  • Serraph105 OP If the system I have set up doesn't work for me on a personal level, I will make adjustments to it so that it does, but I am currently intending to both try it, and stick to it.
    via u/Serraph105
  • Icy-Butterscotch-651 Yes. If you work in corporate make sure your calendar is private and block off the time. I make sure to have an hour block in the morning and at the end of the day for heads down time. If I have nothing to do I use that time to run errands/live life
    via u/Icy-Butterscotch-651
  • Cheezburger Image 10637712128
    via Ramsés Cervantes (Unsplash+)

    A woman representing an employee who blocks off her first and last hours of the workday so that she can attend to personal matters, like grocery shopping, during that time. 

  • SlipperyWidget I work in Norway, I start at 7am I leave whenever Im done, average about 6.5hours work a day, salaried at full time pay. Some days I work 7.5hours, somedays 6 hours or less. Nobody cares as long as work is done and clients are happy.
    via u/SlipperyWidget
  • I get 2 months of paid vacation a year, plus any extra public holidays. You americans are getting so screwed over its not even funny. also healthcare is free.
    via u/SlipperyWidget
  • 3325 STIFT STORHEIN
    via Ed Wingate

    A representation of a Norwegian man, who gets two months off from work every year, and has a much better work-life balance than your average American worker.

  • BirdBruce The beautiful thing about WFH is that I'm not working unless I'm working. Otherwise, I'm watching a movie, playing a game, making some music, whatever. Sometimes I'll even skip out to the gym for a little bit, since my entire job can be done on my phone in a pinch. The hours s k and it doesn't pay sh, but that trade off is golden.
    via u/BirdBruce
  • irbilldozer You gotta pump them numbers WAY up.
    via u/irbilldozer
  • Serraph105 OP I'll try. Alway looking to improve myself.
    via u/Serraph105

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Tags

europe Norway time slacking off PTO america workday break company
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