http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/woman-japan-dies-overwork-common-death-article-1.3542948
159 hours overtime in a month...
"In response to her death, Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and the government have proposed a monthly overtime cap at 100 hours and penalties for companies who contribute to Japan's workplace culture of overworking to prove dedication."
I had the opportunity to observe "overworking" at NEC in Japan.
There are two main classes of workers - hired help - secretaries, food workers, janitors, warehouse, truckers and so forth, that work 8-5 and leave. Then there are the "dedicated" folks, who actually work for the company, and expect to be there forever, and hope to be promoted someday (so they can go home earlier).
Root Cause:
Rule #1 You don't go home before your boss does.
Rule #2 You don't go home before your boss does.
You might think, well, ok, that's not unreasonable. He takes off, I'll head out next.
But. Consider the "conditions" of "going home".
Most people take the train. You don't want to leave the office 5 minutes after your boss, you might bump into him at the train station. That would not be so good. It would worry you. Trains ran on about a 15 minute cycle at Tennodai Station.
Ok, I'll leave 15 minutes later.
Nope. Boss might walk slow, or talk to someone along the way, so you better skip one train just in case.
So you time your departure so for sure he will be gone from the station before you get there. Figure about 1/2 hour. (if he sees you at the station then, it's not a problem, he's being extra slow. Maybe he stopped for some yakitory and a beer.)
Head Dude would leave about 6pm - Cowboy Kondo, we called him (he'd been the head Japanese in Dallas for a few years)... Little Big Man...
Major Division Heads - 6:30
Division Managers - 7:00
Department Heads - 7:30
Managers - 8:00
Supervisors - 8:30
Engineers/Techs - 9:00pm (or later... 9pm was the "optimistic" time)
From what I saw, there wasn't a whole lot of "work" being done after hours, mostly just a lot of hanging around.
And I don't think those folks were getting overtime, though. It was just "the culture".
Except Wednesdays. Everyone is free to leave early, and go party.
I liked Wednesdays.
Wednesdays were good.
159 hours overtime in a month...
"In response to her death, Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and the government have proposed a monthly overtime cap at 100 hours and penalties for companies who contribute to Japan's workplace culture of overworking to prove dedication."
I had the opportunity to observe "overworking" at NEC in Japan.
There are two main classes of workers - hired help - secretaries, food workers, janitors, warehouse, truckers and so forth, that work 8-5 and leave. Then there are the "dedicated" folks, who actually work for the company, and expect to be there forever, and hope to be promoted someday (so they can go home earlier).
Root Cause:
Rule #1 You don't go home before your boss does.
Rule #2 You don't go home before your boss does.
You might think, well, ok, that's not unreasonable. He takes off, I'll head out next.
But. Consider the "conditions" of "going home".
Most people take the train. You don't want to leave the office 5 minutes after your boss, you might bump into him at the train station. That would not be so good. It would worry you. Trains ran on about a 15 minute cycle at Tennodai Station.
Ok, I'll leave 15 minutes later.
Nope. Boss might walk slow, or talk to someone along the way, so you better skip one train just in case.
So you time your departure so for sure he will be gone from the station before you get there. Figure about 1/2 hour. (if he sees you at the station then, it's not a problem, he's being extra slow. Maybe he stopped for some yakitory and a beer.)
Head Dude would leave about 6pm - Cowboy Kondo, we called him (he'd been the head Japanese in Dallas for a few years)... Little Big Man...
Major Division Heads - 6:30
Division Managers - 7:00
Department Heads - 7:30
Managers - 8:00
Supervisors - 8:30
Engineers/Techs - 9:00pm (or later... 9pm was the "optimistic" time)
From what I saw, there wasn't a whole lot of "work" being done after hours, mostly just a lot of hanging around.
And I don't think those folks were getting overtime, though. It was just "the culture".
Except Wednesdays. Everyone is free to leave early, and go party.
I liked Wednesdays.
Wednesdays were good.
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