Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Deaths spotlight Taiwan's 'overwork' culture

"Working hard is ingrained in Taiwanese society. But recent deaths attributed to overwork are leading people to question the culture for the first time. The deaths of nearly 50 workers last year were blamed on working more overtime than allowed by law. This figure was as much as four times higher than the previous year, according to the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA)."

Many of these deaths were people in their late 20's to 40's!

Call me ignorant, but it never even dawned on me that people were dying from working too hard. Apparently many of these deaths were related to stroke or heart-attack. It didn't help that a number of these victims also smoked or were overweight, but still.

I have a friend serving her mission in Hong Kong right now who said that the culture there is such that everyone is "too busy." I am beginning to see what she means with articles like this. I'm curious to get a feel for the comparison between big city Asian cultures and places like New York.
I think the Accounting program at BYU could learn a few things from this article... :P
Jeff Carroll
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. DanielMarch 21, 2012 at 8:48 AM

    It is definitely a part of Taiwanese culture to overwork. Having served a mission there I noticed it very early on. Kids wake up early for school and don't get out until just before five o'clock. Afterward, they grab a quick dinner and head off to cram school until nine at night. It's no wonder they continue the hectic schedule after they begin working.

    ReplyDelete
  2. YukiMarch 21, 2012 at 1:18 PM

    Same issue was brought up in Japan too years ago, and I think it's still there. I was surprised too that people could die from overworking.

    ReplyDelete
  3. TrevorMarch 21, 2012 at 1:27 PM

    As Yuki pointed out, this is also a problem in Japan (known as "karoshi" or death from overwork). It seems almost ridiculous to have a term for that by Western standards, but it seems to be common in Asian countries. I echo Daniel's sentiments--it's a problem you notice very quickly after spending some time in an Asian country among its people (and not just as a tourist).

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)