• Japanese employee commit suicide after working 105 hours of overtime in 1 month
    84 replies, posted
[QUOTE]TOKYO (BLOOMBERG) - It's called "karoshi" or death from overwork. The suicide of a woman who worked excessive hours at Japan's biggest advertising agency has prompted the company to lower the amount of overtime employees can book. From November, workers at Dentsu Inc won't be able to log more than 65 hours of overtime a month - down from the current limit of 70, company spokesman Shusaku Kannan said on Tuesday (Oct 18). Tokyo's Labour Standard Inspection Office determined that overwork pushed 24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi to take her own life after she suffered a mental breakdown, local media said. Ms Takahashi worked more than 105 extra hours in a single month, the Asahi newspaper reported. Dentsu's decision comes as the government explores policies to improve the nation's working practices. A government-backed panel began meeting last month to tackle issues ranging from excessive overtime, low salaries of part-time workers and a stagnant female workforce. "Workplace reform isn't just a societal issue, it's an economic one as well," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo on Sept 27 at the first panel meeting. "If we revise overtime rules, we will improve work life balance, making it easier for employees - including women and the elderly - to work." Nearly a quarter of Japan's companies reported some workers logging more than 80 hours of overtime a month, according to a Labour Ministry survey of more than 1,700 firms last fiscal year. About 21 per cent of employees worked more than 49 hours a week, compared to 16 per cent in the US, 12.5 per cent in the UK and 32 per cent in South Korea, the ministry said in a paper on "karoshi", or death from overwork. "We can change this way of working in Japan," said Professor Naohiro Yashiro• of the Faculty of Global Business at Showa Women's University in Tokyo. "If we set proper rules it is not impossible for the Japanese to work in the same way as the Europeans." Dentsu is the latest company to make a•concerted effort to limit overtime. Fifty firms, including Daiwa Securities Group and Seven & I Holdings, have signed a pact to end excessive work hours. Yahoo Japan Corp is considering the implementation of a four-day working week, and from October it began covering commuting expenses by bullet train - subsidising travel by up to 150,000 yen (S$2,003) a month, according to the Nikkei newspaper. [/QUOTE] [url]http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/suicide-of-employee-who-worked-105-hours-of-overtime-a-month-prompts-japan?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&xtor=CS1-10#link_time=1476856665[/url] If you thought work was tough for you, wait till you work in Japan
I've been working nonstop for the past two weeks and I always feel at the end of the day that I'm not even working close to what Japanese have to do over there. Sad to hear about this woman, but hopefully they'll really start to change things now.
In a normal 5 by 8 hour work week, 105 extra hours means a 13.5 hour workday. Wow.
[QUOTE=Stopper;51225668]In a normal 5 by 8 hour work week, 105 extra hours means a 13.5 hour workday. Wow.[/QUOTE] Worst still, unpaid. If there is anything good out of working in kitchens (typically hotels) is that they pay you overtime for overtime hours. Had friends who worked 1 month without offs and they earned $2000 from overtime alone
Makes me think of the video of the Ramen restaurant owner posted here a while back. When are you supposed to do any actual living when you work that much?
I've heard that the main reason why Japan's birthrates are so low and depression rates are so high is mostly because of the harsh working hours-most people just don't have the time to form relationships or do anything else besides work. Everybody works 15-hour workdays and such. This is just another casualty in Japanese work ethic. If Japan learned to unclench and relax a bit, things would most likely be a lot better. (And yes, I know, haha, people tend to blame anime and such for the low birthrates, and while that might be true for a minority of the population, the wide majority is really because of the Japanese work ethic.)
[QUOTE=Chickens!;51225677]Makes me think of the video of the Ramen restaurant owner posted here a while back. When are you supposed to do any actual living when you work that much?[/QUOTE] you don't
So when will Japan realize that they actually do need to get people from outside of Japan in to help with their lack of workers? Its killing their country as a whole with their attitude that you gotta work pretty much all day every day to keep their shit up, it can't keep going like this, they need external help, companies and the government have to get off their asses and actually accept it and start hiring from outside. [editline]19th October 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=KnightLight;51225679]I've heard that the main reason why Japan's birthrates are so low and depression rates are so high is mostly because of the harsh working hours-most people just don't have the time to form relationships or do anything else besides work. Everybody works 15-hour workdays and such. This is just another casualty in Japanese work ethic. If Japan learned to unclench and relax a bit, things would most likely be a lot better. (And yes, I know, haha, people tend to blame anime and such for the low birthrates, and while that might be true for a minority of the population, the wide majority is really because of the Japanese work ethic.)[/QUOTE] The main problem is that Japan currently needs its people to work stupid hours to keep afloat because there's not enough people as a whole to spread it over, their refusal to hire non-japanese is killing them purely because they don't have a sizable workforce to meet the needs, they want to keep it all internal when they seriously need external help.
This is why I feel like I wouldn't ever use my Japanese citizenship (I have dual citizenship with the US) - every time I go back my cousins just work their asses off and have to pull some major strings to get them to hang out with me really turns me off with living there considering how much more easier living in the US is (as well as work their work ethics being more reasonable)
[QUOTE=KnightLight;51225679]I've heard that the main reason why Japan's birthrates are so low and depression rates are so high is mostly because of the harsh working hours-most people just don't have the time to form relationships or do anything else besides work. Everybody works 15-hour workdays and such. This is just another casualty in Japanese work ethic. If Japan learned to unclench and relax a bit, things would most likely be a lot better. (And yes, I know, haha, people tend to blame anime and such for the low birthrates, and while that might be true for a minority of the population, the wide majority is really because of the Japanese work ethic.)[/QUOTE] Also, the whole respect culture in Japan, they took it too far. If your boss doesn't finish work at 10pm and you already finished work at 6pm, you stay till your boss is done, even if it means you have no work and basically just staring doing nothing. Foreigners always like to think of Japan as heaven that's because they only travelled as tourists, work as english teachers with a shitload of freetime (cause they only teach in English) or in a foreign company with international work standards.
Oh also my friend worked for a US based Japanese company and they simply brought their work culture and ethics over he was depressed and irritable for the year that he worked there
[QUOTE=Kill001;51225738]Oh also my friend worked for a US based Japanese company and they simply brought their work culture and ethics over he was depressed and irritable for the year that he worked there[/QUOTE] Wouldn't that just be illegal in US?
[QUOTE=Stopper;51225668]In a normal 5 by 8 hour work week, 105 extra hours means a 13.5 hour workday. Wow.[/QUOTE] I did 4 weeks of about 70h/week in the summer. Wasn't exactly fun
[QUOTE=rndgenerator;51225745]Wouldn't that just be illegal in US?[/QUOTE] It has to actually get reported for anyone to get in trouble for it.
Japanese working culture is appalling. No wonder the younger/current generations have less interest in forming relationships and families, they have effectively little to no time to themselves.
[QUOTE=GordonZombie;51225754]Japanese working culture is appalling. No wonder the younger/current generations have less interest in forming relationships and families, they have effectively little to no time to themselves.[/QUOTE] Want to know why they're all getting it on in vr?
[QUOTE=Anderan;51225753]It has to actually get reported for anyone to get in trouble for it.[/QUOTE] Yeah, and no one really reported the situation, plus it was mostly him getting stuck with massive overtime and I don't think US law has anything regarding that? I recall him saying something along the lines of not being able to report excessive overtime since human resources would just view him like he was crazy. In the end he just maintained his American demeanor and work ethic and his company hated him for it. [QUOTE=GordonZombie;51225754]Japanese working culture is appalling. No wonder the younger/current generations have less interest in forming relationships and families, they have effectively little to no time to themselves.[/QUOTE] My roommate is Japanese and he told me ever since he moved to the US, he feels a lot more free and less stressed due to the work conditions here, despite the language barriers and working a job with low pay
Reducing the amount of overtime you can work from 70 hours to 65 is sure to save more lives. Just imagine if this woman had been able to sit those 5 hours out. She may still be here today.
What do they do with all that overtime anyway? For the amount they work they don't seem all that wealthy neither as people nor as a country.
1. its not like every company does this 2. things are already changing for the better [editline]19th October 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=rndgenerator;51225824]What do they do with all that overtime anyway? For the amount they work they don't seem all that wealthy neither as people nor as a country.[/QUOTE] yeah japans one of the poorest countries in the world, just above bangladesh in GDP
the problem with working overtime is you do less work the more you work anyways you get fatigued and less effective as a worker - it's one of the reasons why despite having some of the longest working hours around, the Japanese economy and society has been in a slow decline since the 90s
[QUOTE=Garlickeh;51225825] yeah japans one of the poorest countries in the world, just above bangladesh in GDP[/QUOTE] Mad zinger bro. But their GDP is lower than US despite having a work ethic that makes them work tons of overtime while US is chill for the most part.
[QUOTE=rndgenerator;51225832]Mad zinger bro. But their GDP is lower than US despite having a work ethic that makes them work tons of overtime while US is chill for the most part.[/QUOTE] considering japan's size and position as an island compared to US and china, being #3 in GDP is incredibly impressive
[QUOTE=Kill001;51225785]Yeah, and no one really reported the situation, plus it was mostly him getting stuck with massive overtime and I don't think US law has anything regarding that? I recall him saying something along the lines of not being able to report excessive overtime since human resources would just view him like he was crazy. In the end he just maintained his American demeanor and work ethic and his company hated him for it. My roommate is Japanese and he told me ever since he moved to the US, he feels a lot more free and less stressed due to the work conditions here, despite the language barriers and working a job with low pay[/QUOTE] There is no maximum amount of overtime permitted in the US but they are required by federal law to pay time and a half for anything over 40 hours, also they have to give you time to sleep.
[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;51225835]considering japan's size and position as an island compared to US and china, being #3 in GDP is incredibly impressive[/QUOTE] Except in a context like this it makes much more sense to rank it by GDP per capita, landing Japan at #24 instead of #3, which is not terribly good.
Japan won't last for a long time if they keep combining their insane work times with refusal to hire non japanese worker They seriously need help
[QUOTE=rndgenerator;51225832]Mad zinger bro. But their GDP is lower than US despite having a work ethic that makes them work tons of overtime while US is chill for the most part.[/QUOTE] GDP doesn't meant anything - you should rather focus on GDP per capita. But even then Japan is just lagging. Where it's GDP PC is just a stint above the EU average. Which is hilarious when you realise that that's only because there's such a large group of lower GDP countries like Poland, Slovakia or the Czech Republic which are playing constant catch up. Or well not anything is a bit of a misnomer. GDP overall isn't a good indication of how competitive the workforce is, since it doesn't include a lot of stuff like population and how it might affect the country. As such GDP per capita gives a much better picture at actual productivity. People also need to remember that Japan is 11th in population, which will be doing a huge lot.
[QUOTE=Garlickeh;51225825] yeah japans one of the poorest countries in the world, just above bangladesh in GDP[/QUOTE] It is ridiculously in debt though, it has a 230% debt-to-GDP ratio†, the highest of any country in the world (Yes, including Zimbabwe). † [URL="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html"]Public debt-to-GDP ratio[/URL].
[QUOTE=wraithcat;51225853]GDP doesn't meant anything - you should rather focus on GDP per capita. But even then Japan is just lagging. Where it's GDP PC is just a stint above the EU average. Which is hilarious when you realise that that's only because there's such a large group of lower GDP countries like Poland, Slovakia or the Czech Republic which are playing constant catch up. Or well not anything is a bit of a misnomer. GDP overall isn't a good indication of how competitive the workforce is, since it doesn't include a lot of stuff like population and how it might affect the country. As such GDP per capita gives a much better picture at actual productivity. People also need to remember that Japan is 11th in population, which will be doing a huge lot.[/QUOTE] you could also then say that GDP PC isnt all that great a measurement considering 26% of japan's population is past retirement age, which would significantly lower that figure
[QUOTE=glitchvid;51225869]It is ridiculously in debt though, it has a 230% debt-to-GDP ratio†, the highest of any country in the world (Yes, including Zimbabwe). † [URL="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html"]Public debt-to-GDP ratio[/URL].[/QUOTE] Complicated, with the majority of Japan's debt being in domestic bonds as far as I remember, so it's in a better position. As there's pretty low interest on those.
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