Today is: National Leave the Office Early Day Staff reports Laura Stack, a speaker, "Productivity Pro," and author of Leave the Office Earlier, found Americans were working 49 hours a week on average, about 350 hours more per year than Europeans. These long hours affect work-life balance, health, and relationships. Stack created National Leave the Office Early Day so that people would have some time for themselves to recharge and let go of stress. But the main focus of National Leave the Office Early Day is not on the getting out early part. Instead, the focus of the day is on using time wisely and increasing productivity and efficiency. By doing these things, more will be done in a shorter period of time, which will allow workers to leave early and to lower the number of hours they work in a week.