Worked To Death?

The BBC is reporting that a Japanese man has died from overwork. His family are understandably upset, but also needed to claim death in service benefits, so had to produce evidence of his overwork. His overtime records show an average of 80 hours a month, which counts as proof.

The Japanese are known for hard work and even have a word for death from overwork 'karoshi'. His employer Toyota is now putting in place checks to ensure that other employees don't follow the same path. In the West we tend to put a lot of effort into ensuring that employees are putting in enough hours in a climate of absenteeism, yet there are people who easily trip into overwork.

It's worth checking that your teams are working an appropriate number of hours, whether that's not too few or not too many. Checking your team adopts a Goldilocks approach to working hours will ensure good long term performance as well as a healthier, less litigious workplace.