Working to death
If you ever said that your work would kill you, this could be more realistic than you had thought. In 1982, three Japanese doctors, Hosokawa, Tajiri and Uehata, decided to named « Karoshi » (literally translated into « overwork death ») the sudden death of employees at their workplace (Bendriss, 2018).
The cause of the death is a heart stroke, but suicide can also be recognized as a death by Karoshi. For the first one, it is supposed that the stress level was so high that it provoked a heart stroke.
The death usually occurs when the victim has worked more than 100 additional hours the month before his/her death, or more than 80 additional hours the previous three months.
Karoshi is more frequent in healthcare industries, social services, construction industries or transport industries. Women are more affected than men, and in a general manner people working in offices are more concerned.
Even though this phenomenon is provided in Japan, some cases have been found in western countries. The most famous one may be the death of 21-years-old trainee in a Londonian bank, in 2014. He had worked no less than 72 hours in a row. The climate of competition and the fact that the company implicitly encouraged that kind of outperformance (the delivery of meals was free past 9 p.m. for example) were known for playing a decisive yet fatal role in the death of the young trainee.
In fact, many factors have been associated by researchers. If two major factors are associated with karoshi, i.e. long working hours and high stress level, irregular duty hours, the absence of the family members, night work and piecemeal jobs are also correlated. Moreover, the leader’s contempt concerning the quality of life (QOL) issues is another risk factor (Der-Shin, 2012).
The famous model of Karasek and Theorell (1992) can also be used to understand the psychosocial factors that intervene in Karoshi. This model summons three variables : the job demand, which refers to work requirements (doing it fast, having a lot to do in a short time…), social support, and job control (or decision latitude), which is the possibility for employees to take decision in their work, like being implicated in organisational shift or using their own method, and the possibility to improve their skills. When those three variables are in imbalance (high job demand, low job control and social support), it opens the door to all kinds of health and mental troubles (heart diseases, anxiety, depression…).
However, there are solutions to prevent karoshi. Adopting a healthy lifestyle is a first step you can take on your own. Yet it is obviously not enough, as Der-Shin (2012) said : « Karoshi is not just a medical issue but also a social issue ». Prevention has to be done on different levels, it is necessary that workers, employers and government join their efforts to reduce stress at workplace.
References :
Bendriss A., (2018). Manifestations des Risques Psychosociaux sur les employés au milieu du travail : Burn-out et stress. Journal of Biomedical Research and Health Economics, n°1
Der-Shin, K. (2012). Overwork, Stroke, and Karoshi-death from Overwork. Acta Neurol Taiwan, 21, 54-59
Karasek, R.A., Theorell, T. (1992). Psychosocial job characteristics and heart disease. In: Healthy Work- Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life. Basic Books. 117-126
Lemonnier, M. (2014, 30th of April). Stagiaire à la City, à 21 ans, il est mort d’avoir trop travaillé. L’obs, https://www.nouvelobs.com/societe/20140430.OBS5724/stagiaire-a-la-city-a-21-ans-il-est-mort-d-avoir-trop-travaille.html
Les décès liés à un excès de travail en augmentation au Japon (2016, 4th of April). CNews, https://www.cnews.fr/monde/2016-04-04/les-deces-lies-un-exces-de-travail-en-augmentation-au-japon-726539