I believe there are many reasons why people decide to work more than 40 hours a week. Personally, when I was able to, I worked as many hours as I possibly could. During my internship, I'd stay late, just because I was extremely wrapped up in my project. I had the stride and motivation to keep going and I didn't want to lose that feeling. Other reasons why employees work long hours, is because of their financial necessities, such as paying off student loans or buying a house, or because they believe their supervisors will notice their dedication.

I Believe that american workers maybe working a good amount of hours but not because of any peer pressure. They work because they are motivated as well as they get paid what they deserve for their work. I belong to India and there we have work more comparatively to the american corporate and moreover with this kind of work load they don't get paid for any extra hours for their overtime. Comparatively American can be said to work with motivation because they do it in consensus and get paid for their extra work and efforts.

I highly think this is due to the culture around work and the value system found in the workplace. Often times, the worth of an employee is measured by how much they can output/get done. So, in a competitive environment where employees are trying to stand out and be seen as the cream of the crop, it is natural for people to start working much more than the standard 40 hour work week. Being seen as busy and producing much for the company makes other employees want to do the same and out do one another. This kind of environment can vary from company to company, even within different departments within a company. It very much depends on how the leadership sets the value system and how they lead by example. I have worked in Supply Chain in my company where you are expected to do more than 40 hours and to be available/responsible for work even after hours. Managers, directors, and more of the leadership were constantly up late at night or working through the weekends and expected their reports to do the same. Within the same company itself, when I transitioned to R&D, the culture was almost flipped; while there was still the expectation to finish work, it was not to be at the expense of your life outside of work. 40 hours was what you should do, and doing more would be at more exceptional cases, and taking breaks/vacations were more encouraged. This is exactly what the leadership there did, and they held their reports to that standard as well: having a more robust work-life balance.

Studies show that Americans work longer hours and have more stress-related illness than their European and Japanese counterparts. Some of this is due to stagnant wages and outdated overtime laws, but some of the problem is embedded into, particularly in technology and finance jobs. I believe that motivation is part of the reason why Americans work longer hours relating to excitement and challenges to meet timelines of projects. Instead of constantly trying to motivate everyone to work more and stress out, maybe we need to calm everyone down. It could reduce anxiety, commuter road-rage, heart attacks and maybe even reduce our national carbon footprint.

I will add another fact, that american workers get less vacation than other workers in other countries. One aspect of why they work more that I haven't seen above is that they want to make a good impression. People who want to move up the ranks will take it upon themselves to work harder and longer than their peers in order to get their work done on time and done well. People notice when you work long days. They will take that into account when deciding who should get a promotion, along with the work that you've done. Some people do have the passion and want to work more, some people are paid hourly and need the extra money, and others don't want to be outshone by their peers. The main factor why I believe that people work that long is because they hope for upward mobility through the ranks and want to make a good impression, doing more the the expected norm. Whether or not that's a good thing is another discussion.

I sincerely feel American workers are motivated to work as here if you put in the hours of work you get paid more. I don't think they are under any pressure from there peers, its all about going up the ladder and everybody here wants to go to the top.
Overworking when forced does lead to the feeling of getting exhausted and demotivated but in this case, I don't think they are overworked as I said before they are volunteering for the same and there's no need to feel demotivated.

As compared to the rest of the world, Americans do on average work more, and this overworking could definitely been seen as detrimental for motivation, happiness, and overall production. From my point of view, the reason for this overworking is the immense competition for jobs in today's current economic market. It is difficult to find a job in the first place, and once you do, there is always someone who would love to have that job rather than you. Therefore, employees are always looking to put in as much work as possible to assert themselves as a necessity or an asset. This leads to overworking and in turn, possibly a detriment to motivation and productivity.

To me overtime can be both a motivator or a demotivator. The reason being is that maybe people work overtime shifts for earning a few more bucks for something they want or need. Another reason I see that people work overtime for motivation is to impress their boss. However, if employees are forced or peer pressured in working overtime then yes it will demotivate people. They are doing something, they don't want to because they don't want to look weak or uninterested, which may decide on their permanence in their job.

There are more things to consider and i believe we can not get any general statement about this in regards all the different personalities. Some of the resons why people would work more than 40 hours are:

- They really passionate about there work and they give all they can.

- Having a great team.

- People take there Value from how much work they do.

- People have nothing else to do accept to work.

- Just doing like others not for any particular reason.

- and some they only do it if they were asked to do so.

Motivation depend in the personality.

 I believe the likely reason most employees overwork themselves in order to meet deadlines or if applicable: overtime. This can be due to poor management on the individual themselves or due to poor planning on the project managers end. Overall, being overworked can take a toll on an individual. How does the saying go? "Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life," to some individuals, this may not be applicable because they simply did not know the work they got into. Motivation relies on a lot of factors, whether the person genuinely enjoys their job, too much assignments, or simply they are working to live. It's overall subjective to the individual.

I think that whether working overtime is associated with more or less motivation depends on why the individual is working longer hours. If they are genuinely passionate about their work and strive to go above and beyond, then it can be very satisfying to see the results of putting in those extra hours every week. However, if working overtime instead just stems from peer pressure due to the company culture, the employee can easily become demoralized. Especially in the US where "hustle culture" is highly prevalent, they could feel like they don't have a choice in the matter if they don't want to look like a slacker, not only to their coworkers or boss, but to their friends and family as well. But even if someone does have the intrinsic motivation to work extra hours, burnout can still occur, especially if they are neglecting time for rest or leisure in favor of constantly working.

I think the biggest reason that people work themselves so hard is that they fear what will happen if they do not. Management has become so accustomed to attempting to cut costs wherever they can that manpower has become one of the easiest ways to cut costs. The United States is also relatively unique amongst first world countries for their lack of social and worker protections. Losing a job in the US means more than just a loss of income. It means a loss company provides health insurance, and private insurance is massively more expensive. And bills don’t stop coming if you lose your job, so those will also weigh on a person’s mind. I believe that the US has created an incredibly toxic work culture, which leads to things like burnout and people simply hating their jobs. I do not know how to fix it, but I believe that there will come a point where the whole system will come tumbling down because the workers who actually make the company function will eventually get tired of being pseudo forced into working a crazy amount.

I do agree with the previous posters that Americans work more because there is a cultural mindset of working longer per day = being a better employee. If someone leaves work at 5 pm in a 8-5 job but other employees are leaving at 6 or 7 pm, it makes the individual look "lazy", even if they did the same amount of work as someone who stayed later. It could also be company culture that people put in more time because of short deadlines and/ or other factors. I do not think that by staying longer at work correlates to getting more work done; I think some people can testify that some days, you're waiting for someone to get back to you with work or that it's just a slow day. Some days, I don't have much to do so I complete my tasks and ask for more work if there is anything within my scope to complete, but other days, things are hectic that I did stay longer if I had to (before COVID). 

However, I do think that even though people now are not commuting to work (if they are lucky to keep their jobs and are non-essential employees), the lines blur between work and personal time, which would create a mentally stressful environment in the one place that should be free from work. People can work as much as they want to complete tasks without any interruption or daily deadlines (ex: picking up kids from school, appointments, etc). With increased stress, motivation goes down because many companies do not provide benefits like paid holidays, good health insurance, sick days, etc that would allow people to take a mental health day without any repercussions to their work and the quality they produce. 

Many Americans put in more hours because they give into the peer pressure of working long hours but also because they have too much work to do. Each industry is different, but some companies do push their workers to continuously work after hours and even at home late into the night. Some people are motivated in the beginning to prove to themselves, their bosses, and the company that they can give it their all to get a promotion but eventually it turns into peer pressure. It becomes a new standard that if you don’t put in your all into your work and work long hours, then it seems like you’re not doing your work. It definitely is overwhelming and demotivating after a long period of time. Many Americans will feel guilty for even taking time off or going home on time or even leaving early for other obligations which is considered unhealthy. Many people also work during their time off or when they are on vacation so that things do not fall apart at work. I do believe that a work life balance is very important to stay motivated and efficient at work.