In capital's drive to convert human beings into walking potential office mass-murderers, Japan sets the bar higher. It seeks to convert its zombies into killer zombies.
Japan's corporate warriors aren't getting enough sleep -- and it's costing the country billions. In the country that gave the world the word "karoshi", or death from overwork, drowsy employees turning up late, taking days off or struggling to stay awake on the job are causing economic losses of some $30 billion a year, according to a survey.Look out. Zombies. Argh.
"The idea is to raise awareness of the problem," said Makoto Uchiyama, professor and chairman of the department of neuropsychiatry at Nihon University School of Medicine, who conducted the survey.
"Not everyone who is sleepy at work is lazy. It's hard to tell your boss that you are sleepy, but ignoring the problem can lead to losses in the long run."...
"It may be thought that this is a Japanese problem. But it's not, it's global."
7 comments:
When I was teaching business English classes I usually went to the offices to do the teaching. I got to walk through offices where dozens of guys would be sitting around gossiping, chatting on the phone, mucking around, drinking tea and so on, and was always amazed at how few of them ever seemed to be working. But they couldn't go home until the boss did, they told me. It wouldn't be good for their careers.
Being seen to work is far more important than actually working, here. And the figures for production per hours worked has always been low, even in the 80s when everybody was ignoring it. Japanese workers were being touted as 'loyal' and 'hard-working' even when studies had shown years earlier that they were neither. They were at work for long hours, and didn't get enough sleep, but they weren't working hard.
(I used to have the references to the comparative figures for production/hours worked, but that was many years ago. Long gone, I'm afraid.)
Might I suggest huge coffee machines in every cubicle. Perhaps methedrine laced power drinks? Sure they die sooner but this helps with pension costs. Pensions, right, ha.
Yeah, I saw that too in Japan, badaunt. But, still, there's a kind of "work" beyond normal work hours that leads to workers being sleepy. Like going out with the boss, having to hang out in the park for a week reserving a place for cherry blossom viewing, etc. Production may be a different story, but in some ways production can't be measured according to traditional criteria. Don't you think?
Yes, I agree the social aspects of business in Japan are exhausting. And the commuting on crowded trains. People seem to be chronically tired, and not just workers.
And yes, there are different kinds of 'production,' but the problem is that I can't see exactly what is being produced here. Certainly it isn't happy, contented people, from what I've seen.
Oh, and I meant to add - the methedrine-laced drinks are not far off the mark, from what I've heard. I was told the Japanese army were kept going with amphetamines during the war, and so were the workers in the years following. This is pure heresay, and I've never checked it out, but it seems perfectly possible to me.
These days you have to make do with 'energy drinks' laced with nicotine and caffeine.
When I worked in a corporate HQ, getting to work after the boss, or leaving before he did was a definite no-no. But he made things easy on us by arriving at 9 AM every morning, and generally leaving by 4PM.
I suppose I was thinking of the ritualistic aspects of production in Japan - that, for example, going out drinking with the boss is arguably as important as actually producing some piece of work at the end of the day. But when the former is required, you end up with the latter being an even more wearisome process, not to mention just being tired.
But, although I spent a few years in Japan total over three different stays at different points in my life, I still really don't understand much about Japan.
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