Zern Liew has some graphs showing how the average Australian is working themselves to death. I can relate to the afterwork hours entirely.
In Japan, they even have a name for death by overwork - Karoshi. My comment on Zern’s posting reads like this:
I wonder if we’ll end up revolting against work like our Japanese colleagues - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karoshi says that lawsuits around people working themselves to death are on the rise. No-one should be encouraged to work themselves to death - and I contrast this to “being worked to death” because we mostly have a choice to not do this. Mostly. That said, there are organisations that expect people to perform above and beyond the call of duty every single day, which works when your work is your hobby, but is not sustainable.
Something that we all need to think about.
Cheers, Andrew
What I am saying is this: that we should not allow ourselves to be worked to death without thinking it through. In most cases, where there is death by overwork, there is an element of choice involved. Society allows us the freedom to work ourselves into the ground. If we do this, and we don’t die, but cease to be productive, should we become pariahs, as we may be tempted to treat people now who suffer from smoking-related illnesses? If we burn out, are we bludgers?
And if we do actually die by Karoshi, have we in effect committed suicide? In simpler times, would our remains have been excluded from hallowed ground, or staked to prevent us rising as vampires? Should our survivors and witnesses receive trauma counselling to accept our demise and prevent them from following in our footsteps?
Is working ourselves to death for a noble cause the same as taking a bullet for a friend? Do we accept the price of the sacrifice and do it anyway, knowing the consequences?
I haven’t given it enough thought to be able to say that I have my own personal answers to any of these questions, let alone offer advice. That said - I do have one question for you: if you work 12+ hours per day, do you know why you are doing it?
Please think about it before it is too late.
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