I think Americans are putting in more time for a variety of reasons. Some could be because they are motivated to work on the project and are “workaholics”, others because deadlines are coming up and they need all the time they can get, some because they need the overtime money. There are plenty of others reasons but I think these capture the majority of why they are working so much. I’ve had to work overtime in order to meet a project deadline and it was not the best being stuck at work, when I wished I was relaxing at home. I also agree with you that overworking employees can be detrimental to their motivation and even their health. If you constantly have to work overtime then that kills your desire to work and do your best. Everyone has a breaking point and overworking yourself brings you closer to it inch by inch until one day you finally snap. It’s just reality here in the States where working overtime is just a common sight to see.

I agree with srg36 -- I believe that its primarily due to peer pressure. Americans are vastly overworked. According for the Center for Progress, Americans are overworked in several ways:
1. We have no maximum work hour limit. Although this might be beneficial to a point, it also does not punish companies that overwork their employees.
2. In the US, more than 85% of men and 66% of women work more than 40 hours a week.

In addition to that, not all companies grant sick days or personal days and even vacation days are often docked.

All of this, in combination with our sorely lacking maternity and paternity leaves, simply means that our workforce is overworked and under motivated to get the job done.

I believe that less work hours would honestly help us and probably make us more productive as a nation overall.

I agree that Americans tend to be overworked. It really does come down to company culture though. I have worked in a bunch of companies and some of them its strictly 8-5 and others the schedule is more flexible but you may end up working more. It is a really interesting dynamic, while so many people are overworked and trying to do more with less we have all these other people who are unemployed. It seems to me that as a country we are very honest about how much it really costs to employ people and how much work each person is actually capable of doing. And a lot of this has been a result of technology improvements over the years which is supposed to improve our productivity.

I believe that Americans are working longer than 40 hours a week because they are motivated to outcompete their fellow peers. The job market today is very competitive and in order to keep your job you need to be outperforming other workers, while your company may be looking to get replacements with some younger workers right out of college who are fine with putting in the extra work because it is one of their first positions. This motivation to is driven by pressure from peers outside of work who may all have jobs and who may be getting promotions. The competitive nature to want to succeed over your peers( who may not even be in the workplace) can push individuals to strive and work harder so as to prove that they are earning a better position. Also, some jobs just require too much work to be done that it would never get completed in an 8 hour period regardless of how hard you work in those 8 hours.

I agree with some of the comments above saying that Americans are overworked and that some of it stems from the the fact that their peers work for the average 40 hour work week or longer. I have heard stories about people that have times through out the day where they try and look busy because they have nothing to do. It could be needed to work so much for the companies gain. Some companies need to have continuous work happening in order to compete with other companies. I do think that people are motivated for that reason but it can be counter productive to overwork employees. With paid time off being offered for much longer than in the U.S. other countries aren't falling behind. The long hours are a mixture of because their peers do and because they are motivated. However, I think where the motivation comes from can be from a great place or a not so great place and could hurt in the long run.

I think WMS7's experience working overtime to complete a project on time is likely a main reason people work overtime. while many people are motivated, the motivation is not necessarily to finish the project early but to finish the project in general. poor performance at work will eventually lead to being fired. That being said, overworked and sleep deprived employees ultimately harm the company in the long term as productivity inevitably decreases.

https://hbr.org/2006/10/sleep-deficit-the-performance-killer
https://hbr.org/2015/08/the-research-is-clear-long-hours-backfire-for-people-and-for-companies

I think it depends on the individual's inner motives, goals, incentives, etc. Yes, Americans typically work more hours than most other countries sure. I personally work a bit more than 40hrs but that's to minimize the workload for the next week or to open room for more priorities. Peer pressure could be likely especially if that's the expectation of a company or the culture there. Overworking can lead to demotivation depending on the individual's motives. If the person is a workaholic then I'm sure that it won't matter. However, the opposite can be said about a non-workaholic who may become depressed.

I think that it is a combination of the culture in America as well as the individual's inner motives. America's businesses are valued at how successful they are, and 50-60 hour work weeks stem from the idea that working longer means that more work will be done and the company will make better numbers. For motivated individuals, this is true. It is also true for managers who just cannot do everything that they need to do in only 40 hours. However, this has created a culture where people stay late at work because everyone else is staying at work. Often times I have heard people make the joke, "Working a half day?" to someone who is leaving the office at 5pm. In these cases, demotivated employees are not accomplishing anything more and are still putting in the bare minimum - they are just spending a few extra hours a day doing nothing, they are not being overworked.

I believe American's overworking is a mix between motivation and just having too much work to do. Right now because I am young and new to the field, I enjoy being given tons of task and responsibilities. I end up working late because I am motivated to finish my projects so I can be assigned new ones. I would say I am very motivated to learn as much as I can in this field. When you work too many hours, it really gets to you and demotivates you from wanting to work. The best thing to do when you feel like your burned out is to take a moment and breath. Let your boss know and work with him/her. Your best work is done when you want to do it.

I believe that Americans are overworking due to a combination of factors including motivation, peer pressure, and more work to complete overall. Motivating factors in this economy is to make as much money as possible to be able to live a decent life. School tuition is very high, so in order for people to be able to pay for higher education, whether it is for their children's education or their own, they have to work more hours to have enough money to pay off tuition. Same concept goes for housing, food, phone bills, etc. - we live in a pricey world and you really need to have a six figure salary to really get by decently nowadays. Peer pressure may also be a contributing factor that Americans are working longer hours because they don't want to be looked at as being "slackers" at work. Also, with all the downsizing companies are experiencing, an individual may be assigned more work to make up for the work that used to be covered by laid off employees.

I think that an interesting thing to add to this thread is that while many people put in extra hours to increase productivity, research shows that it can actually make you less productive. There are a lot of different studies and sources that discuss this. I attached the link of one for an example. According to the article attached, research at Stanford correlating hours worked to productivity found that "employee output falls sharply after a 50-hour work week and falls off a cliff after 55 hours-so much that someone who puts in 70 hours produces nothing more with those extra 15 hours". Despite this fact, a poll showed "4 in 10 Americans said they work more than 50 hours every week and 2 in 10 more than 60 hours". I believe sometimes putting in extra hours may be necessary to meet deadlines. However, I do not believe these circumstances should last throughout the entire work year. Not only is overworking making employees unhappy, but in most cases these studies are showing it is not leading to increased productivity anyways. However, I think that this is a hard fact to believe, therefore people continue to overwork to strive for more productivity.

I think there are a few factors to this question. Some people can very well be very involved in their project and want to see a project come to fruition. Which can very well be a motivating factor that causes some to work more than 40 hours a week. Another factor could be through watching others and believing that the norm is to work more than 40 hours a week. There are times at work currently when I feel awkward leaving work when the rest of my team is hard at work so that may entice me to stay longer than needed that day. This does not demotivate me but I can surely see over time how it can have an affect on some people. Overall, overworking can stem from a variety of factors and it is difficult to truly know if it will be a demotivating factor.

There are many considerations to take into account when answering the question. I think it depends on what job or industry we are talking about. Everyone is different so it depends on if that person is staying late because they have to make up for lost time, because they are motivated to do better, or because they are expected to. As many of us have stated, America is a combination of all these things which drive us to be such a hard working nation. In my opinion, overworking can be demotivating and motivating. If its a simple job like working at a restaurant and you put in extra hours then no one really notices and its certainly not an incentive to do it again. But if your staying late because you want to do better, or get a head start, then that may get some higher ups attention and it may motivate you to be noticed and considered for a promotion or something like that.
This question also made me think of a TV show I watched called "The Newsroom" on HBO. There was a clip about "Why America is not the greatest country in the world anymore". I'm not positive how or why this question made mw think of this clip, but I just thought I would share. I cannot seem to post this response with the link in my comment but please feel free to look it up.

I agree with you, I also feel people here are overworked which is very detrimental to their motivation. There will be times when work will piles up and it has to completed to meet its deadlines. I say this with experience, as a team we were understaffed at one point and the work just kept building up. Some team members and I worked almost twelve hours everyday. It was hard because we barely took any breaks and just kept working. It was very tiring both physically and mentally.