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The employees shut inside coffins

bbc.com

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Re: The employees shut inside coffins

#81

Post by stcredzero »

nostrademons wrote: post #77
stcredzero wrote: post #67

My Korean mom mentions dying all the time. It's not unusual for her to manage to come out with "being born...is a license to die! " (complete with pointed finger) in the middle of a conversation. One of her favorite superlatives is "Oh, it was so [adjective] I was going to die!" She'd also often use the equivalent of, "would it have killed you? No, you should kill it!" I have no idea if this is a Korean thing, or if…

I think that many Confucian cultures feature a general sense of shame, fatalism, and inevitable death that is coupled with a specific drive toward self-improvement and seizing the day. We're all imperfect beings who are going to die eventually, so might as well live it up when you can. At least, that's the message I get from my Chinese father. Many American-Christian cultures, by contrast, have a general sense of opt…

My mom's side of the family has been Catholic for some generations now. I think we even have some martyrs in our family. Mom's very staunchly Catholic, though she's more progressive than all the popes prior to this one. It's more of an identity to her than an ideology.

Re: The employees shut inside coffins

#82

Post by bkantehu »

nxzero wrote: post #19

Is anyone in South Korea able to comment on why there's such a high sucide rate? According two Wikipedia, it's ranked number #2 in the world and double the rate of sucide of America: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide...

Try living in Korea for a year, and it will be obvious. Joking aside, it's just that for poor people, there are not many things that you can do really to get out of your financial situation. If you are not born in a rich family, then it's really easy to draw how your life is going to be. I think it's the hopelessness paired with extremely high working hours and very low wage that drives people to commit suicide. There are too many things to say to make it as a comment, but let me say this. Samsung, the multinational conglomerate is controlled by a single family, and the ownership has been inherited to their children for many generations. From outside of Korea, Samsung is just an electronics company. But, from the inside, it's a credit card company, a medical company, a hospital, a fashion company, food company, and the list goes on until you are out of your ideas. Samsung's revenue is roughly 20% of Korea GDP, and I am not sure if it accounts for all their branches and affiliates, and their family and relatives' businesses. Probably not. They are living above the law. https://www.engadget.com/2013/01/30/samsung-fined-over-gas-l... This is a rather extreme case, but $1000 fine to Samsung over a fatal incident. LMAO.

Re: The employees shut inside coffins

#83

Post by joonhocho »

Dirlewanger wrote: post #80
tonyle wrote: post #8

At first I thought it was some employer gone crazy. Halfway down, I realize it's just like any other big company tactics. Some upper management suggest all employees practice positive thinking, offering a course on how do deal with stress, forced laughter, etc. Then I wondered how common this practice was for a company to offer this to their employees in the same way a company would offer free massages or therapy. Se…

This seems like a classic example of treating the symptom and not the cause. The articles doesn't go into too much as to why the workers are feeling stressed. I'm guessing Korea has a similar insane work culture like Japan's? If so, given the existentiality of this issue, the fact that the company is handling this is scary .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time I'm pretty sure Koreans work more than what's recorded, but still.

Re: The employees shut inside coffins

#85

Post by rdiddly »

joonhocho wrote: post #79

Korean here. Korea is too competitive, and its system is so corrupt that younger people are feeling hopeless and committing suicide. For them, it's the last resort and the only way out of their misery. It's been many years since Korea has taken its place as no.1 in suicidal rate. It's currently the worst time for the younger generations with very high unemployment rate and very low wages ($5 minimum wage while averag…

That's what I thought too - the people causing the problem and benefiting from it, trying oh-so-helpfully to give the victims an attitude adjustment to better deal with it.

Re: The employees shut inside coffins

#86

Post by drzaiusapelord »

joonhocho wrote: post #79

Korean here. Korea is too competitive, and its system is so corrupt that younger people are feeling hopeless and committing suicide. For them, it's the last resort and the only way out of their misery. It's been many years since Korea has taken its place as no.1 in suicidal rate. It's currently the worst time for the younger generations with very high unemployment rate and very low wages ($5 minimum wage while averag…

The unemployment rate for under 25 in places like Spain and Greece is 50%. Why aren't we seeing more suicide there?

I think there's something specific about suicide in the East that we just don't have in the West for whatever reason. There's a sort of social acceptance of it, but here, there's no tolerance of it. Maybe there's more resources for depressed people in the West as mental illness is beginning to shed its stigma since the start of things like psychoanalysis and the mainstreaming of therapy and anti-depressants. These things may not have properly made it to Asia. Not to mention, societies based on Confucianism put so much emphasis on shame that a reasonable way out of it is to just kill yourself. The idea of treating mental illness and challenging suicide acceptance may be culturally repellant and tough to challenge. Japan also suffers from this and is famous for its suicide forests and very high suicide rate.

Re: The employees shut inside coffins

#87

Post by te0006 »

hammock wrote: post #53
luso_brazilian wrote: post #3

From the article: > In a large room in a nondescript modern office block in Seoul, staff from a recruitment company are staging their own funerals. Dressed in white robes, they sit at desks and write final letters to their loved ones. Tearful sniffling becomes open weeping, barely stifled by the copious use of tissues. > The macabre ritual is a bonding exercise designed to teach them to value life. Before they get in…

Imagining how much worse things could be is an effective stoic technique often called negative visualization. Many HN readers probably practice it. Whether or not it's a good idea to use it to extrinsically motivate employees is another question..

It's a standard technique of sociopaths in management roles. See "Implement an 'It could be worse' Program" in the relevant classic (and hilarious) textbook: http://www.demotivation.com/excerpts/7-2.html

Re: The employees shut inside coffins

#89

Post by hn_user2 »

joonhocho wrote: post #79

Korean here. Korea is too competitive, and its system is so corrupt that younger people are feeling hopeless and committing suicide. For them, it's the last resort and the only way out of their misery. It's been many years since Korea has taken its place as no.1 in suicidal rate. It's currently the worst time for the younger generations with very high unemployment rate and very low wages ($5 minimum wage while averag…

Where would a good source for unemployment data come from? My quick google search show Korea at 3.7% Unemployment. Is that just totally wrong?

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/south-korea/unemployment-rat...

Re: The employees shut inside coffins

#90

Post by chrischen »

luso_brazilian wrote: post #3

From the article: > In a large room in a nondescript modern office block in Seoul, staff from a recruitment company are staging their own funerals. Dressed in white robes, they sit at desks and write final letters to their loved ones. Tearful sniffling becomes open weeping, barely stifled by the copious use of tissues. > The macabre ritual is a bonding exercise designed to teach them to value life. Before they get in…

> - pay workers a livable wage

Common misconception is that companies choose what wage to pay. Unless you're a massively growing startup infused with millions or billions of VC cash, you're pretty much locked into market forces just as the consumer is locked into market prices.

> - create an environment where the workday is completely and separated from the personal day

> - and one where it is possible for the worker to fully live their lives apart from their workplaces

They already do this.

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