These 10 cities consider short work hours as source of pride

In America, employees work an average of almost 47 hours a week and rather choose to have more flexible time on the job than less time.

Normally a full-time employee works 40 hours or more in a week but at some Swedish firms, work period is cut to 30 hours.  Studies showed that lesser hours of work makes employees more productive and promotes better morale, according to CNN Money.

"The reason is that we actually care about our employees, we care enough to prioritize their time with the family, cooking or doing something else they love doing," the company's CEO Maria Bråth wrote last month in a blog post and shifted to six hours a day three years ago.

Here are the 10 cities with the shortest working hours according to Business Pundit.

Paris tops the list with only 1,604 of work hours per year.  As one analyst wrote, "Those who like time off should consider finding a job in Paris, where people work only around 35 hours per week ... and have 29 days of paid vacation." 

In 2000, officials implement the 35-hour work per week in order to encourage companies to hire more workers.

Lyon is a close second place with Paris having 1,631 working hours including 29 paid holidays each year lessening their total workloads. Employees work with an average of 31.3 hours per week. 

Moscow, Russia is third in the list although the economy in the said city is declining, but it doesn't stop employees to still work at shorter hours. The average working hours is 1,647 hours per year with 31 days of paid holiday.

Next comes Helsinki that also treats its employees well.   The average worker spends 1,659 hours per year in the office and is offered 29 days of paid vacation.  Finland has been ranked as the best country in the world in terms of employee training and preparation.

Vienna, Austria comes next with total working hours of 1,678 for its citizens and offers 27 days of paid vacation. The city has a population of 1.8 million where employees receive exceptional healthcare and excellent stable economy.

Milan, Italy is next in line and one of the top fashion cities of the world, where models show off the latest collection from famous fashion designers.  Workers engaged about 1,691 hours per year on average.   Residents enjoy the balance between work and life, working only for 32.5 hours per week, as reported by Hot Copas.

Denmark follows Milan with less than 1,700 hours where employees enjoy a 1,697 hours of work annually.  The city is usually listed as one of the happiest places to live.

Up next is Luxembourg with 32 days of paid holidays for its workers adding national holidays.  Average workers spend 1,703 hours every year.

Lithuania offers its workers 30 vacation days every year with working hours of 1,716 annually.

Belgian capital workers have an average of 1,717 hours per year and receive 18 days of paid vacation annually.

As compared to the workers in the U.S., working hours can reach up to 2,000 a year in the office and can be easily doubled with second jobs, overtime, and demanding jobs keeping them early in the morning and late nights.