...unless you can get more done by working shorter hours.

In my experience, the people that work the longest hours waste the most time at work. Work expands and contracts to fill time.

Never underestimate the power of the illusion of getting more done by working longer hours. Many employers find people who work shorter hours to be snide or arrogant even if they're accomplishing more. Many employers still think that they need an army of complacent slave horses working at top speed to be an effective way to eliminate contempt and organic corruption in their employee pool.

It's the wrong way of thinking of course, but it's rampent.

And think about it this way... if a company was full of amazingly productive people who got 40 hours worth of work done in 20 hours, do you think they'd let them leave at 20 hours into the week but still pay them for 40 hours worth of work? No, they'll just find a way to double the workload to make even more maximization of their production capability.

Yes it seems to be human nature to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, unfortunately.

I remember even reading about a company that years ago cut back everyone to 30 hours per week (with 3/4 pay) due to a recession at that time. They discovered that everyone was more productive at 30 hours and happier as well. Once the recession ended and the company was on more solid ground, they went back to 40 hours. Go figure.

37 signals doesn't keep office hours and I'm sure there are others out there. Just gotta keep looking.

Unless you're super-human, there will still be someone willing to do exactly what you're doing but for more hours. But again, I agree with you.

There's always someone better, stronger, faster!