I don't think the point is to go to any extremes. Here in Paris, practically every one seems to start at around 9:30, give or take, and leave by 6:30-7. If you

I don't think the point is to go to any extremes. Here in Paris, practically every one seems to start at around 9:30, give or take, and leave by 6:30-7. If you move things around a bit, even by an hour, it could help a lot. Bonus points for this not being fixed, so if you need to synchronize with friends working elsewhere, you could come in later or earlier that day. I, for one, started doing this at work "on my own": I'd show up at the office at 8 AM, and leave by 5:30 at the latest. This way I could avoid rush hour, dividing my commute time by 3. This didn't prevent me from seeing friends, etc in the evening.