That poor, obviously overworked soul made me think of one of my very favorite Japanese words: Karōshi.

So, what is is Karōshi?  Literally translated from the Japanese, Karōshi means ‘death from overwork’.

Isn’t that a great word?  (yes, it’s a terrible phenomenon, but isn’t that a great word?)

I won’t reiterate the very fascinating Wikipedia article for you (although it is pretty fascinating and I would highly recommend you reading it), but the first case of Karōshi in Japan was reported in 1969 when a 29 year old died from a stroke on the job.  Twenty-nine years old!!!

There is an incredibly strong work ethic inherent in Japanese culture.  Once people literally started dropping dead from years upon years of constant unpaid overtime, some companies began limiting the amount of overtime allowed and implementing other measures to help improve the health of employees.

So what do you think the English word is going to be?  Because might be needing one soon, and ‘death from overwork’, while accurate, is not that catchy.

Don’t believe me?  According to a study by Take Back Your Time, an American not-for-profit agency dedicated to advocating for healthier workplace practices:

• Americans are taking fewer (and shorter) vacations.
• Last year, only 14% of American workers took two weeks or more for vacation.
• Men who don’t take regular vacations are 32% more likely to die of heart attacks, and 21% more likely to die early of all causes.  Women have 50% more risk of heart attack.

(Please note, I directly stole borrowed the above points verbatim from the fabulous Cali & Jodi, whom I shall discuss in further detail at a later date.)

(Man, am I ever bracket-happy tonight!  Sorry.)

I don’t know if the Canadian stats are equivalent, but I would imagine that we are not as bad off, because we do have mandated minimum vacation.  However – there seems to be quite the trend in banking out vacation, receiving vacation pay in lieu, or people just flat out working through their vacation.

At the very least, most of us who are Crackberried will check in…just here and there, right…maybe answer an email here and there…or just make that one little call?

People, what’s wrong with you??

Giving our brains a little time to completely escape the stresses of work and completely rest, even if only for a few weeks a year, is VITAL to our psychological as well as physical health.

We all (meaning employers and employees) need to understand that not taking adequate vacation time is actually significantly decreasing productivity.  We all want to appear dedicated to our jobs.  We all want to make sure that nothing goes wrong while we’re out of the office.  We all get suck doing a little bit of overtime sometimes.  BUT, if it could literally mean loosing years of your life, is it really worth it?

Of the many, many things wrong with the current workplace system – this is one of the most endemic, and is going to be one of the hardest to change.  But it really, really should.

The arguments presented against the current compensation system are numerous and compelling.  However, in the face of a huge economic system that is not known for  flexibility, risk-taking or general common sense, it is not likely that many of the recommended changes will take place on any sort of large scale anytime soon.  Even despite the case studies presented of employers who do incorporate some of these methods, like Google.

That doesn’t mean that all you employers out there shouldn’t be looking into modifying your reward systems, nor that all you worker bees shouldn’t be advocating for their incorporation.  It’s the always the early adopters that thrive when a major paradigm shift is on the horizon, and I truly believe that one is.

I wonder – going to the ‘carrot and stick’ rewards system and the fact that rewards can actually decrease efficiency in non-rote tasks – do you think that relates to why, when you’re playing Guitar Hero, that you ALWAYS miss a note right after you get one of those floaty word bubbles telling you how much you rock?