The Deadly 80 Hours Workweek In Japan
A new report by the government of Japan shows that the number of people who suicide because of work has doubled in the last five years.That is mostly due to the fact people in Japan work sometimes 160 hours of overtime in a month, besides their normal 40 hours workweek.
This office workers, or “Salary men”, as they known in Japan, are suffering from work-related stress and depression. Nevertheless, this high rate may not come as a surprise, as Japan is one the leading nations in the world in suicide rates.
What’s interesting to find out is that the due to the laws in Japan, the family of a person that killed himself because of work may get compensation from the government. In 2007 the government paid to the families of 81 people, and that’s beside another 392, that died from work related sickness.
The conclusion in the end is not so surprising: work less and get rest. It can get you killed in so many ways.
Source: [Yahoo News]
(photo:Tokyo Shinagawa train station during morning rush hour)
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Comments
Quitting anything in Japan is seen as a bad thing and should be avoided at all costs, otherwise it could bring shame onto our image. In this country, image is everything. On top of this, finding a well-paying job after quitting somewhere is next to impossible. Not only do employers avoid hiring those 30 and above, but they ridicule many who leave due to stress. It’s no wonder people opt to kill themselves.
The only way this will change, is if the core culture that rose up in the 1950s and 1960s is replaced with something else. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen anytime soon.
A lot of it is semi voluntary. I mean, I’ve seen guys who came in to work on stuff on weekends when they didn’t have to, it was bizarre. At my company, everyone does 1-2 ours of “polite” overtime daily partially because we’re busy but also because we are part of a team, and leaving work for your coworkers and going home every day would not be that nice to do to them.
[...] The woman admitted to even take showers in the house. It’s weird to see someone that hasn’t noticed such a permanent guest for such a long time. Maybe he was working deadly overtime? [...]
Despite the explanations about the engrained Japanese “work ethic” and the cultural connection, I have never understood why a person does not simply quit one’s job when it becomes too difficult. No one is holding a gun to the employee’s head. Employees have a choice. Whether to continue to work at the company. Whether to go home at a reasonable time. The idea of “karoshi” is nonsensical. And compensation paid from the government to the survivors of a suicide due to “overwork”? Unbelievable.