Does one work better, if they work less?

In the Atlantic article by Cody he discusses the unique ways of Parisian people and how they take off for an entire month whereas Americans would rather work overtime. Now there has been many experiments tested around this idea of working less for instance if an individual has homework for several subjects they give themselves a time limit for each subject, so that they won't get tired and find themselves slacking off instead. I also understand why this idea should be past down into the work force since it would benefit the employees, the owners, and the consumers that use the product. Sadly I don't see this idea passing off well in the United States mainly because people in this country don't mind overtime because the extra money especially for those living paycheck to paycheck. Also if employees were to riot for this type of change businesses could easily fire them all and find workers for cheaper through globalization. So yes people do work better if they work less and it can lead you to not working at all.