Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
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Re: Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
#2That's sad, especially since most of the extra hours are busywork and peer pressure from what I've read.
What happens in Japan if you put in a simple 40-hour week, do good work, and then leave at the end of the day? I also understand their government makes it very difficult to fire employees. And I can't imagine they'd reassign you to watch the paint dry if you're actually doing good work. Would you mainly miss out on promotions?
Is it just a social thing, or is it economic? Since it's harder to fire people in Japan, there's a lot of risk to hiring a new employee. So maybe the culture helps weed out uncommitted people, which helps derisk hires? Or, to a certain extent, lets you get more productive hours out of them.
Re: Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
#3That's sad, especially since most of the extra hours are busywork and peer pressure from what I've read. What happens in Japan if you put in a simple 40-hour week, do good work, and then leave at the end of the day? I also understand their government makes it very difficult to fire employees. And I can't imagine they'd reassign you to watch the paint dry if you're actually doing good work. Would you mainly miss out o…
>Is it just a social thing
The little I know about Japan is from Anime, books, articles and online comments.
In Japan, leaving before the boss is distasteful. Also, going home early instead of socializing after work is frowned upon even by one's spouse.
I've also read that there's no job hopping. Employee for life is still a thing there. And an ex-employer's comment is heavily weighted by prospective employers.
Additionally, loyalty is highly valued, probably more than ability.
This Wikipedia article is a good summary of Japanese work environment - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_work_environment
Re: Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
#4[deleted]
Re: Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
#5If the Japanese are working so much that some a literally working themselves to death - why is their economy so bad? My guess is that a lot of that time is getting used up with unnecessary busy work rather than actual productive labor.
Re: Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
#6I gather that Japan has an ageing population and therefore issues with underemployment among older people. Spreading out the work among more people seems logical.
In some ways, I admire the French approach to work/life balance.
Re: Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
#7Dentsu is exhibit A for what's wrong with the Japanese work environment. This isn't the first time they've been responsible for an employee's suicide through overwork. This young woman's tweets before her death are pretty revealing. References to her male superior telling her that she can't hack it because she's a woman, the toxic seniority system where you can't question those above you, 20+ hour days. Just awful.
Re: Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
#8That's sad, especially since most of the extra hours are busywork and peer pressure from what I've read. What happens in Japan if you put in a simple 40-hour week, do good work, and then leave at the end of the day? I also understand their government makes it very difficult to fire employees. And I can't imagine they'd reassign you to watch the paint dry if you're actually doing good work. Would you mainly miss out o…
>Is it just a social thing The little I know about Japan is from Anime, books, articles and online comments. In Japan, leaving before the boss is distasteful. Also, going home early instead of socializing after work is frowned upon even by one's spouse. I've also read that there's no job hopping. Employee for life is still a thing there. And an ex-employer's comment is heavily weighted by prospective employers. Addit…
> In Japan, leaving before the boss is distasteful
My personal management policy is I get in before and leave after all my employees incase they need me and to show them that I am there for/with them (within reason - if someone is putting a really late night I may leave first).
The idea of not leaving before the boss leaves is weird to me. I get higher pay and more stock options, why should I be leaving early when my team is working their butt's off?
Edit: I realize this could be taken as a ploy from me to get the team to work more hours. But I also don't shame employees for leaving before me. It's not a contest. If they get their work done they shouldn't feel guilty leaving at 5:00.
Re: Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
#9If the Japanese are working so much that some a literally working themselves to death - why is their economy so bad? My guess is that a lot of that time is getting used up with unnecessary busy work rather than actual productive labor.
Several people argue that working long hours will have a negative impact on productivity.
For example if you look at EU countries, the ones with the economy in worse conditions are those with longer working hours (Greece, Italy).
Re: Dentsu CEO resigns after overworked employee commits suicide
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Is it just a social thing The little I know about Japan is from Anime, books, articles and online comments. In Japan, leaving before the boss is distasteful. Also, going home early instead of socializing after work is frowned upon even by one's spouse. I've also read that there's no job hopping. Employee for life is still a thing there. And an ex-employer's comment is heavily weighted by prospective employers. Addit…
> In Japan, leaving before the boss is distasteful My personal management policy is I get in before and leave after all my employees incase they need me and to show them that I am there for/with them (within reason - if someone is putting a really late night I may leave first). The idea of not leaving before the boss leaves is weird to me. I get higher pay and more stock options, why should I be leaving early when my…
If they get their work done they shouldn't feel guilty leaving at 5:00.
If they get their work done, should they feel guilty leaving at 3:00?