Hear from the author of *If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy?* as he shares why not working any more than 40 hours a week may be the smartest thing you could do.

1. WORK SMARTER—NOT
HARDER—TO GREATER
POSITIVITY & SUCCESS
RAJ RAGHUNATHAN
LEAP conference, SLC, 2017

2. Who would you pick?
Practices 80 hours/week Practices 40 hours/week

3. The Yerkes-Dodson curve

4. The Yerkes-Dodson curve
 So long as you show up for work, you are better off
being on the happier (vs. stressed out) end of the

5. The functionality of happiness

6. Happiness and sick leave
0
5
10
15
20
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Least happy Medium happy Most happy

7. The functionality of happiness

8. Quality of friendships and
turnover
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Best friendships Medium friendships
No friendships

9. The functionality of happiness

10. When does stress lower
productivity?

11. The biggest determinants of
happiness

12. The biggest determinants of
happinessIntimate
relations
Socializing
Intimate
relations
Alone

13. The biggest determinants of
happinessIntimate
relations
Socializing
w/ Boss
Alone

14. 3 promoters of social life
 Work-life balance:
 40 hour work week

15. Rank Countries # hours/week GPD/Capita
Top 5 Mexico, Costa Rica, Korea,
Greece, Chile
40.77 (52)
6 – 10 Russia, Latvia, Poland,
Iceland, Estonia
36.80 (48)
11 – 15 Hungary, Portugal, Israel,
Lithuania, Ireland
35.47 (46)
16 – 20 US, Czech, Slovakia, New
Zealand, Italy
33.93 (44)
21 – 25 Japan, Canada, Spain, UK,
Australia
32.55 (42)
26 – 30 Finland, Luxembourg,
Austria, Sweden,
Switzerland
31.13 (40)
31 - 36 Slovenia, France, Denmark,
Norway, Netherlands,
27.86 (37)

16. Rank Countries # hours/week GPD/Capita
Top 5 Mexico, Costa Rica, Korea,
Greece, Chile
40.77 (52) 15,732
6 – 10 Russia, Latvia, Poland,
Iceland, Estonia
36.80 (48) 21,975
11 – 15 Hungary, Portugal, Israel,
Lithuania, Ireland
35.47 (46) 27,460
16 – 20 US, Czech, Slovakia, New
Zealand, Italy
33.93 (44) 33,862
21 – 25 Japan, Canada, Spain, UK,
Australia
32.55 (42) 45,939
26 – 30 Finland, Luxembourg,
Austria, Sweden,
Switzerland
31.13 (40) 71,126
31 - 36 Slovenia, France, Denmark,
Norway, Netherlands,
27.86 (37) 53,917

17. Relation between work-hours/week
and GDP per capita
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Correlation betwen work week hours and GDP
PC

18. Work-week hours and GDP PC in
US

19. Work-week hours and GDP PC in
US

20. Introduction of work limits and
subsequent productivity
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Korea
(2004)
Japan
(2015)
Australia
(2010)
China
(2005)
Singapore
(2012)
Before After

21. 3 promoters of social life
 Have greater work-life balance
 40 hour work week seems best
 Cut commute time

22. The biggest determinants of
happiness
Commuting

23. The ‘Happiness’ Triangle
Where You Live
Where You WorkWhere You Shop
The Smaller this Triangle, the Larger Your Happiness

24. 3 promoters of social life
 Have greater work-life balance
 40 hour work week seems best
 Cut commute time
 Promote socializing within organization

25. Ideas for promoting
socialization
 Volunteering for social cause
 Retreats
 Recreational facilities

26. Summary
 Spending less time at work (up to a point) can
actually increase productivity
 Why?
 More time for socializing, which promotes
happiness
 Happiness improves productivity
 Ways of improving social life and happiness:
 Limit to 40 hour work-week (= about 30 hours of
focused work)
 Cut commute time
 Cultivate social life at work