The discussion on work-life-balance has been increasing and being central to many job seekers when choosing where to live, work and raise their children. Because it is a recent phenomenom, the literature is not capable to support solid findings on correlations of reduced work hours with drawbacks or productivity. But there are some cultures that has some wellbeing practices, such as the called “Ciestas” in Italy, which is a break time in the middle of the day to allow workers to have a quick nap or have a proper rest.
It is also very common that people migrate to countries and places to pursue a certain lifestyle, for example, moving overseas to a coastal country with a mild weather, seeking to enjoy more of the outdoors activities in opposition to extreme weather conditions in their home countries.
There are some interesting findings indicating that people tend to be more productive with reduced working hours, and some nordic countries have decided to implement some changes to test how their own citizens would react, but in these same countries there are some concerns in regarding natality and population shrink, factors that could be impacting their decision making.
Overall, I believe it is too soon to assess the effects of reduced working hours and side effects in productivity and impact on businesses. It is not uncommon that premature analysis of a new scenario is later on found to be innacurate, as it was the case with the working from home and hybrid methods that is still unclear whether it improves or decreases the productivity.