Week 1: Japan's Struggle with Karoshi - Overwork Death

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"Japan Inc. spares no effort to make staffers take time off"

Miwa Sado, who worked nearly 159 hours of overtime in one month for her employer NHK, died of heart failure in 2017.

Matsuri Takahashi, who worked nearly 100 hours of overtime for her employers Dentsu, committed suicide after suffering from depression for months.

What
Japan's work culture has been infamous for its struggle to tackle karoshi, death from overwork. Besides several high-profile cases, Japan's labor ministry has attributed 190 suicides in 2017 alone as work-related and another 92 deaths from cerebro/cardiovascular diseases that were caused by overwork. But Japan may recognize only the deaths of those who worked overtime of 80 hours or more as karoshi.

In its quest for Hatarakikata kaikaku or workplace reform,  Japanese businesses have taken the initiative to push their workers to take vacations days through requirements or monetary incentives. Many companies such as Recruit Holdings and Sakura Internet have implemented these practices, but while these offerings are vital to give Japanese workers relief from the grueling work week, studies by Expedia have found that workers rarely used any of their paid days.

Who
A government survey by Japan in 2016 found that nearly a fifth of the Japanese work force suffers from overwork. Nearly 23% of companies polled reported that some employees worked 80 or more hours a month.

Why
Beyond the high suicide rate and the prevalent culture, Japan is also suffering economically from the grueling work culture. In 2016, Japan's GDP per hour was only about $41.54 compared to the OECD's average of $46.98 (OECD comprises of 36 member countries which are typically developed and usually considered democratic). It ranks the lowest of all countries in the G7 and lower than most major economies besides South Korea.

While the low GDP per hour does not imply that lowering hours will solve Japan's productivity problem, it questions how Japan uses these hours and hopefully lowering hours will reshape Japan's work structure. Many academics, such as Xiaoshen Su from the University of Tokyo, found many idiosyncrasies in Japan in which workers, from hospitality to construction, did little to almost nothing in their jobs all for the sake of omotenashi, Japanese hospitality which says no task is too menial if the customer is satisfied.

Furthermore, Japan's labor market is steadily shrinking and outside influences, such as those from Silicon Valley, have already begin entering. Attitudes toward Japanese work culture needs to shift to accommodate acquiring talent from beyond Japan. Unfilled jobs in Japan have increased year to year with the number of companies that have hired foreign students is steadily growing. But hiring foreign students will require Japan to address the issue of karoshi which has been part of the country for many decades.

When
Many measures toward fighting karoshi have occurred within the past two years, when social media has shown a brighter light into the working conditions of Japanese workers and forced changes such as Premium Friday and Hatarakikata kaikaku.

Where
Most of Japan's businesses, especially smaller firms that feel they don't have the economic ability to suddenly shift toward the new philosophy.

How
Fujitsu has required all of its management to take 5-day consecutive breaks that don't include the national holidays that Japan has set. As a result of management being on vacation, they hope that this inspires the workers to use their paid days which has only seen 70% usage and decrease overtime.

Sakura Internet has offered bribes to employees that take multiple days off. Recruit Holdings has also begun incentivizing long weekend vacations for its employees.

Beyond company incentives, the government has worked to improve the situation by hosting campaigns to reduce overwork. Yet, without any significant labor reforms, it seems unlikely that any major changes will occur.

Debates over the effectiveness of Japan's working culture has spurred the government toward action. In 2016, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed a new cabinet member to drive forth his new slogan, Hatarakikata kaikaku. While Abe's efforts have seen some success, through various means such as supporting working parents or restricting hours, Japan's deep cultural devotion to working hard means that most of these changes have had an extremely limited scope. For example, in 2017, Japan's institution of Premium Friday, when companies end Fridays at 3:00 PM, has almost been a complete failure. Upon institution, only 3.7% of employees left work early. Nearly a year later, another study found 11.2% of employees left work early with many companies that had initially supported Premium Friday, abandoning it within a month.

While undeniable progress has been made in fighting karoshi, another survey of 5000 employees found that while 86% were aware of the new initiative, companies were doing nothing about it. Even worse, many companies that ended up reducing overtime did not reduce the workload of their employees, forcing employees to work through lunch or at home.

Sources
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/05/japanese-woman-dies-overwork-159-hours-overtime
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201807200001.html
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170903-can-cutting-work-hours-solve-japans-productivity-puzzle
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/08/japan-one-fifth-of-employees-at-risk-of-death-from-overwork-report
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201803170005.html
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-Trends/Japan-s-business-chiefs-to-scrap-recruiting-guidelines
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2018/09/11/commentary/japan-commentary/omotenashi-underlies-japans-low-economic-productivity/#.W8NI6xMzZZg