How hard do you work? Really think about it. Are you like one of the millions of people worldwide, who carries a blackberry or a cell phone? Chances are, even when you are having that happy hour drink, after you have “clocked out” or left your office, you are still taking that client phone call or talking to the office about work even though you are socializing and off the clock. What about the weekend you promised your spouse you would be “all theirs?” Were you really, or did you take your laptop just so you could get a little work done so you could ”get ahead?” And the Gorilla will bet that there was that holiday recital at your child’s school, for which you had to excuse yourself for just one minute or two, so you could make a few calls to a client, or your assistant, or your boss! If you are like the Gorilla, you probably spend much more time working than you do playing or resting; (a sad fact). And if you are one of the many people who responded (most likely out loud) that you work ”too hard”, then you should pay attention to this story.
A Japanese woman today was awarded workers compensation, after five years of waiting for her case to settle in court for the death of her husband, who was finally declared “Karoshi” or worked to death. The man, 30-year-old Kinichi Uchino, who was a middle manager for Toyota, died in 2002, after working 12-15 hours per day for the company, logging almost a hundred hours of overtime each month! His wife said he did this for 6 straight months, before he died suddenly of a massive heart attack. She too admitted that her husband was “always connected to his work” even though he exhausted himself at the actual job for that many hours per day. Japanese Social Services reported 10,000 “Karoshi” cases last year and that number is expected to rise.
Death from overwork, is not unusual or a new thing, but the prevalence of it is growing in the world more than ever before due to the fact that employees are readily accessible to their employers almost 24/7. The Gorilla mentioned the other night to you that he no longer carries a cell phone. It was ruining his “non-work” life to be always so connected. Now he takes time for himself and his family and actually pays attention, and says “NO” to constantly being run by work. With all of the work related stress there is nowadays, make sure you are taking some down time when you’re not in the office. That may be easy in theory, but if you knew your life was about to potentially be cut-off without warning, would you reconsider?