We know by now that Americans are seriously overworked—often putting in more than 65 hours at work each week. And too many of us aren’t taking any vacation time. Most aren’t even able to get that time off, let alone sick leave or maternity and paternity leave.

So what can we do about it?

Policy solutions start with paid leave—plans that most developed countries wouldn’t consider radical. The United States, Oman, and Papua New Guinea are the only countries out of 185 that don’t guarantee some form of paid maternity leave, and 78 of those countries also offer paid paternity leave. But three states—California (which Eric Garcia wrote about this week), New Jersey, and Rhode Island—have instituted paid family leave programs, and they’ve shown that they can be implemented without costs or headaches for businesses. In California and New Jersey, businesses report that they haven’t been inconvenienced by the systems, and some have actually seen benefits. American workers also aren’t guaranteed a paid day off if they or their family members get sick, unlike in 22 developed peers. Guaranteeing these days could also happen without hurting businesses or the economy. In Connecticut, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.—places that have instituted such leave—employers report few, if any, costs, plus increases in productivity, reductions in turnover, and normal growth

The United States is also an outlier among developed countries in not mandating that workers get some paid vacation and holiday time. The other 20 richest countries require at least ten vacation days, as in Canada and Japan. Thirteen of them also require a certain number of paid holidays. Taking time off doesn’t just boost productivity, but also economic growth. If American workers who get paid vacations actually took all of their days—we leave about three days on the table on average—and if just some of them traveled, it would add $227 billion to the economy.

Beyond leave, there are a handful of other public policies that could curb overwork, starting with the Affordable Care Act. “We didn’t just end up with longer workweeks and longer work hours,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in an interview. "Health care costs, and before that pensions, have been a huge factor that discouraged employers from hiring more workers and instead having people work more hours." That’s because up until recently, employers paid full health care premiums even if employees worked part time or shorter hours—it wasn’t prorated. "That separates us from everyone, and with health care costs being much more expensive than anywhere else, it made it a much bigger deal,” he added.