Japan is doubling its efforts on tackling karoshi or death from work in the wake of a work-related suicide that sparked public outrage. Matsuri Takahashi, 24, committed suicide after working 105 hours of overtime a month. The advertising giant, Dentsu Inc., which she was then working for, was being thoroughly investigated by labor authorities to find any other employment violation.
The company, in response, banned its employees from staying in the office later than 10pm and cut the maximum monthly overtime by five hours to alleviate their working condition. However, the reaction to Dentsu’s countermeasures was not as expected. A good number of their employees raised their concerns about not having their tasks done granted that advertisement agents are subjected to their clients’ set deadlines. Therefore, working at wee hours could not be helped unless the culturally ingrained “overwork” would be eradicated in Japan’s working values.
Vocabulary:
tackle – [verb] to forcefully seize
alleviate – [verb] to reduce the pain or trouble
countermeasure – [noun] an action that is intended to stop or prevent something bad
wee hours – [noun] the early hours of a day, or the period immediately after midnight
ingrained – [adjective] existing for a long time and very difficult to change
True or False:
- There is a report about an employee’s suicide due to love triangle.
- The company which she has been working with is Dentsu Inc.
- Dentsu Inc. immediately banned their employees to work later than 9pm.
- A good number of employees raised their concern about not having their tasks done, since they are subjected to their clients’ set deadlines.
- Working at wee hours is something ingrained Japan’s working values.
Defend your argument:
- A company employee should abide to the rules and regulations of his/her employer/company.
- If you were a president or a manager of a company, how would you monitor your employees and educate them about overworking?
- When an incident like this happens, which do you think is at fault: the employee, the manager, the company values, or the working nature in a country?
Express your opinion:
- There is no such thing as “no-stress job” in this world.
- What are the things you do when you are stressed from work/school?
- Share your thoughts about this quote: “A ‘good job’ can be both practically attractive while still not good enough to devote your entire life into.” – Alain de Botton