Death by Overwork – Can a Culture be Changed?

“Death by overwork” or karoshi (Kah-roe-she) is killing the Japanese Manager in his prime. How? Marathon hours at work lead to heart failure and brain bleeds.

Have you read about this?

We’re talking a lot of overtime. Maybe 100 hours of overtime as estimated by an expert on karoshi.

Take a moment to take that in.

That’s on top of long weekdays, includes evenings and weekends which leaves precious few hours for sleep, meaningful family interaction or a social life.

Quite in contrast to the work/life balance that’s demanded in this country and expected from our own corporate cultures.

Back to Japan…

These overtime hours are unpaid. That’s right, no overtime pay. “Free overtime” as it is called.

So why do these Managers work so hard? It’s expected.

This overwork culture starts at the corporate top and is ingrained in the culture and attitudes of the country and people itself. There is no escaping.

However, the impact is now being felt across Japan. It’s killing the Managers of Japan and leaving families rudderless.

Can a corporate culture be changed?

A recent karoshi court case may have a significant impact as it cuts to the economic heart of the issue: To pay or not to pay for these overtime hours.

The December 19, 2007 Economist Article entitled, “Death by overwork in Japan: Jobs for Life” outlines the recent case of a 30-year-old Toyota Manager who dropped dead in 2002. This young man worked 80 hours a month of overtime for the last six months of his life. Unpaid overtime, of course. Toyota’s position was that these hours were “voluntary”.

The court ruled that these hours were not voluntary which means that he should have been paid for these overtime hours.

Can you see the impact?

Would Toyota expect an employee to work these ridiculous hours if the company had to pay the employee overtime?

The Economist says it succinctly: “The ruling is important because it may increase the pressure on companies to treat “free overtime” (work that an employee is obliged to perform but not paid for) as paid work. That would send shockwaves through corporate Japan, where long, long hours are the norm.”

Will this have an impact on the work/life balance of the Japanese manager?

Only time will tell.