The Japanese government's actions in the face of the impact of presenteeism

It is a phenomenon that has taken on enormous proportions. In the Land of the Rising Sun, it has a name - "Karoshi" (1) - and is increasingly stirring people's consciences.

The work culture in Japan is such that it sometimes jeopardises employees' health. With the world's highest rate of overtime work, often leading to serious and even irreversible consequences, the Japanese government has decided to sound the alarm, particularly since public employees are even more affected than those in the private sector, according to two studies conducted in 2017 and 2018.

Presenteeism has indeed taken on dangerous proportions. In the central administrations, there were 350 additional hours worked per year per person, compared to a legal weekly working week of 38 hours and 45 minutes.

The same applies to annual leave. In these same departments, staff take on average only two-thirds (13 out of 20) of the number of holidays to which they are entitled.

The result is an exponential increase in medical leave due to overwork, which is accompanied by severe illnesses.

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The National Personnel Authority (NPA), which is responsible for the state's HR policy, has begun to take strong measures in an attempt to sustainably reverse this trend.

An initial series of instructions have been issued to put the well-being and health (physical and mental) of staff back at the heart of the system, and to train the entire chain of command to diagnose as soon as possible any work overload that has no reason to exist. Counsellors have been specially trained to support the departments in this process.

While deeply-rooted habits may seek to survive, it is above all necessary to fight against every form of unconscious discrimination against those who no longer comply, but also to set an example. Managers are now assessed on their ability to comply with the rules themselves.

The first results are already in. The indicators show a real drop in the pressure that managers put on workers and/or that workers put on themselves. For example, a campaign has been launched to get people to leave the office early on Friday once a month at 3 p.m.

While this situation may seem extreme and remote, it is important to remember that France is the European country that is most affected by this problem.

¹ Literally "death from overwork". It refers to sudden death from cardiac arrest, stroke or suicide as a result of overwork or excessive stress.