Forget 40 hours: The Dutch get their work done in just 32 hours a week

While Americans cling to their hybrid schedules to have some flexibility with their jobs, workers in the Netherlands have quietly abandoned the five-day workweek, working an average of 32.1 hours in 2024. And the country’s staffers have women to thank for the change. The new work standard could help keep people in the labor force, as working women in the U.S. have dropped out in droves amid RTO pushes.

Ever since the pandemic, American workers have clung to their remote schedules for as long as possible as CEOs drag their staffers back into the office . Loving the freedom that comes with flexible schedules, some have even pushed for four-day workweeks—but for one tiny European nation, that dream’s already a reality.

Workers in the Netherlands between the ages of 20 and 64 wo