Are Leisure And Work Productivity Correlated? A Macroeconomic Investigation

It is common sense to state that working without being mentally fatigued leads to increased labor productivity. Extensive overtime and putting in long hours on a regular basis without using proper de-stressing methods inhibit work productivity. Recently, several countries have manifested an interest towards reducing the daily work quantum (in 2015 Sweden started the shift to a 6 hours workday, France regulated in 2000 the 35 hours workweek) with the aim of improving the quality of life as well as increasing companies’ economic performance. But does disposing of more free time automatically lead to having a better life or superior business returns? Of course not – spare time also needs to be used effectively in order to achieve these goals. Every person is unique and therefore each individual will opt for different pass time activities to attain mental tension relief. But, there is evidence which sustains that allocating more time to leisure is directly correlated with increased work productivity, as will be shown in the present paper. Moreover, the investigation shows that not all ways of spending leisure time are effective in achieving the desired objective, some displaying an inversely proportional relation with labor productivity.