Unfortunately that kind of thinking is no longer only an American thing. I see it more and more every day. Employers are pushing fresh college grads to work as many hours as possible for a low wage just so they can have a bigger profit. If they burn out, there are others to replace them.

It's amusing watching Americans boast about working past the norm 9-5 hours and calling the rest of the world lazy. My response, "What are you proud about? After working twice as hard, you have the same quality of life as friends in Canada, and statistically speaking you'll drop dead sooner because of stress."

That always wipes the smug grin of their faces.

That sounds like an organizational problem to me if you spend 75% of your time at meetings everyday instead of coding (if coding is actually your job).