Here's a discussion of Europe vs. US work habits/attitudes.
During my summers doing temp office work I was always astounded by the culture of "face time" - the need to be at your desk early and stay late even when there was no work to be done and doing so in no way furthered and company goals. Doing your work and doing it adequately was entirely secondary to looking like you were working hard as demonstrated by your desire to stay at work longer than strictly necessary.
Of course this didn't apply to an hourly worker like me, but for salaried workers it appeared that one could get away with doing absolutely nothing as long as one spent a lot of time doing it.
