yesterday, I read in the news something astonishing. a japanese engineer died under the effects of
karoshi. his body was sadly discovered by his daughter. pretty sad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi
karoshi is nothing new. believe me. it’s a kind of disease, due to the huge overtime for a long period of time. this man was working more than 80 extra-hours per month. nights, weekends, holidays and so on. it means 20 extra-hours per week. it was 50% overloaded, taking as a basis 40 hours per week. the guy was working 150%, the whole week.
surprisingly, the japanese government tracks this illness, among others, in official lists, in order to understand how companies are taking care of their employees, and to know if this is becoming a social issue.
I would like to bring the discussion onto the personal side. some questions to bear in mind, for the following thing:
what is driving us, working like hell, to death?
- Recognition?
- Loneliness?
- Money?
- Stupidity?
somebody called Abraham Maslow depicted and rationalized what are the human being expectations and motivations. and with a pyramid of needs and aspirations, we understand ourselves in terms of reactions. Maslow was a pretty good observer, giving us the rule.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs
now, I think we need a some sort of Maslow’s statement saying,
“if you work like hell, then you die”. and add this to the famous pyramid, just to understand that we have to move away from overtime forever.
Cheers!
PS: this post goes to the japanese engineer.
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=KE2orthS3TQ
