Up until recently, the term “going Dutch” meant sharing a restaurant bill to save money. Rightly or wrongly, that is what the Dutch are known for: being cheap. But that might be about to change, as going Dutch could mean something entirely different.
It is Tuesday morning on a sunny spring day, and I am in a big department store in the center of Amsterdam. Quiet, you’d think. But think twice. It is buzzing with people, and not just the retired kind, or the stay-at-home moms. I see couples with babies, couples without babies, young women and men alike.
A week later in a café on one of the canals, I notice the same phenomenon: it is filled with the kind of people who, being in that key 18 to 65 demographic, you would expect to be hard at work.
If all these people are all hanging out like it’s a Saturday, who is running our economy?
After some research, I find that the Dutch have one of the lowest percentages of working hours per week. In fact, we spend an average of 34.5 hours per week on the job. Almost 50 percent of the workforce—many men, but mostly women—work part-time or squeeze their work week into just four days.
When I think about it, many of my friends work four days a week, and some even work three. “Do they never take a holiday?” you might be thinking. They sure do. They go skiing in winter and spend a few weeks on a beach in summer. And Dutch employers, by law, have to add a holiday bonus to salaries in May, sometimes doubling an employee’s compensation for that month.
“No wonder the Dutch are cheap,” you’re thinking. “Their country must be bankrupt.”
Back to my research: according to a report by the World Economic Forum in 2014, Holland is in the top 10 of the world leading countries. The Dutch remain in eighth place in the “Global Competitiveness Report.”
But how? Several reasons lead up to these positive results.
1. Educated population. A good educational system leads to confident, efficient, and fast-thinking graduates.
2. Sharp infrastructure. Holland is a tiny country, so connecting A to B can’t be that hard. Nonetheless, it is regarded as well organized, making life efficient.
3. Investing in innovation. The Dutch invest in innovation—a lot. We tend to think outside of the box, which has led to many leading projects using new technology, with a high international success rate.
4. High employment rate. We might work fewer hours per person, but there are many people working. Currently, only 7 percent of the working population is unemployed. So we do the same amount of work with more people, hence the big chunk of part-timers.
5. High efficiency. A study from Stanford shows that productivity per hour decreases after 55 hours, so a work week running over 55 hours doesn’t necessarily result in a better outcome. Apparently, the Dutch work very efficiently, producing more work per hour in the end.
Taking time in your life to kick back, exhale, and spend quality time with loved ones to improve the quality of your life isn’t a novel idea. But to see how this can result in a successful economy might shed a fresh light on the way we are rushing through life. It improves creativity and efficiency, moving an economy forward in a more qualitative way.
Seeing how the Dutch approach the work-life balance could possibly lead to people saying: “Hey, are you going Dutch?” By which we now all know the person is referring to the four-day weekend his sister is taking to go camping with her family, or a colleague having the Friday off to take his girlfriend out for the day, celebrating their anniversary. And yes, he will pay for the entire bill at lunch.
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