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Moving to Denmark did not automatically make Brooke Black stop overworking. In a CNBC Make It essay published October 6, 2026, the Chicago-born writer describes carrying her workaholic habits into a country where a 37-hour workweek is common. Her experience points to an uncomfortable truth: better conditions can make rest more possible, but they cannot by themselves make someone feel comfortable taking it.
Why moving to Denmark did not change her relationship with work
Before moving, Black worked more than 40 hours a week in the United States and was on call most nights and weekends, according to CNBC’s summary of her essay. She expected Denmark’s work-life balance to be different. Instead, she doubled down on overwork, to her detriment.
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That disconnect matters. A shorter standard week or colleagues who leave on time can change the boundaries around a job; they do not instantly erase the belief that working late proves commitment. Black found that habits she had understood as dedication in the US did not help her fit with Danish colleagues. Working through her own time off also meant she could miss the benefit of a system that makes time away more normal.
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What the 37-hour workweek in Denmark means
Denmark’s commonly cited 37-hour week is generally established through collective agreements or individual contracts, not a single statutory rule requiring every worker to work exactly 37 hours. Arrangements vary by sector and employer. Secondary sources describing Danish employment conditions also report a separate legal framework that limits average weekly working time to 48 hours, including overtime, and requires 11 consecutive hours of daily rest. Check current guidance from the Danish Working Environment Authority at at.dk and the Danish public-service portal at borger.dk; a worker’s agreement and applicable rules determine the details.
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The practical distinction is important: 37 hours is a widely used working-time norm, while the 48-hour average limit and daily-rest requirement are described as legal protections. Neither figure means every Danish job runs the same schedule or that overtime never happens.
How holiday time and summer shape the work year
Denmark’s Holiday Act provides 25 days of paid holiday a year, with holiday accruing at 2.08 days per month under the system effective from September 1, 2020. Three weeks can be taken consecutively during the main holiday period, May 1 through September 30. Public holidays are separate; secondary sources count 11. Some collective agreements or contracts add five extra days, often called feriefridage, which helps explain why 30 days of leave is common in practice but is not the statutory entitlement for everyone.
Because many parents take summer leave around the same time, work can become busier in some months and quieter in others. Black’s account notes that this shared summer break could make some periods more demanding than she was used to in the US—and that she still worked during her own time off. The existence of leave does not guarantee that a person will protect it.
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Why overwork can feel out of place
Secondary accounts describe Danish workplaces as less likely to treat long hours as a marker of status. One American who worked in Aarhus until retirement characterized extra hours as something colleagues did not admire; that is an individual account, not a rule that applies to every workplace. Another American expatriate has described work-life balance as good compared with the US, while saying his own hours rose from 37 to roughly 44 or 45 a week when working from home. These examples illustrate variation, not a national guarantee.
The broader cultural contrast often drawn is between a Danish emphasis on equality and a US ideal of hustle and going the extra mile. For an American accustomed to proving value through availability, a workplace where people leave after their agreed hours can create a different kind of culture shock: the old signals of dedication may not be expected, or may even make collaboration harder.
The trade-offs behind the promise of balance
Work-life balance is not a promise that every part of life will be better. The available accounts describe average incomes in Denmark as lower than in the United States, but do not establish a current, comparable figure. Pay, taxes, benefits, job security, and costs depend on the person’s circumstances, so a simple national comparison cannot settle whether a move is worthwhile.
Nor does the 37-hour norm mean every worker has the same bargaining power or workload. Collective agreements, contracts, occupation, and employer practices matter. The useful comparison is not just hours on paper, but also whether after-hours availability is expected, whether leave is taken in practice, and how much control someone has over their schedule.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsWhat Americans moving to Denmark can take from her experience
Black’s story is not that Denmark’s working arrangements are ineffective; it is that a better structure cannot do all the emotional work of changing a habit. If you are moving from the US and find yourself unable to relax, consider these questions:
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- What does your agreement actually say? Confirm your contracted hours, overtime arrangements, holiday entitlement, and any applicable collective agreement rather than assuming the national norm covers your role.
- Is availability part of your job—or an old reflex? Distinguish genuine on-call duties from checking messages because you fear appearing uncommitted.
- Have you planned around the summer slowdown? Ask your team when colleagues typically take leave and how workloads shift across the year.
- Are you treating rest as a reward? Black’s takeaway, as summarized by CNBC, is that rest does not have to be earned through exhaustion first.
Relocating can create room for a different way of working. Learning to use that room may take longer than the move itself.
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