===== There is the world Karoshi in Japan. Karoshi is a term that means death by overwork.
Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world. Nearly a quartal of Japanese companies have their employees work more than 80 unpaid hours of overtime per month. Today, Japan's corporate culture is driven by loyalty to a company. People are expected to spend his entire career working for the same firm and not only over work but also participate in after-work activities.
But long work hours don't necessarily mean high productivity. In fact, Japan has the lowest productivity amongst the G7 nations.🇯🇵
An employee of the advertising firm Dentsu jumped to her death in 2015. The cause was said to have been depression caused by overwork. After the death, Dentsu made some changes within the company. The lights in the office now turn off at 10pm every night in an effort to force employees to leave.
Japan's government has considered several initiatives to curb 🏇 the number of hours spent at the office, including making it mandatory to take at least five vacations days a year.
In 2016, a new extra holiday "Mountain Day"🗻 was started. And in 2017, the government launched an initiative called Premium Fridays, in which it encouraged 🥳 companies to allow their employees to leave at 3pm on the last Friday of the month. But less than 4% of employees in Japan actually left early.
No one wants to be the first one to leave the office.
Why do Japanese work so hard?
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Japan lost its spot as the world's second-largest economy to China.
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Japan is dealing with a labor crisis. It's population is aging fast and it's birth rate is in decline.
Ther are two likely ways the nation can compensate for the labor shortage -- immigrants or robots. Japan has always been less inclined to accept immigrants.