Comments by "iben D" (@ibendover4817) on "Gravitas: Ground Report: Overtime is killing workers in Japan" video.

The leave thing is really true. Most businesses in Japan have things set up in a way that the entire team is always busy and worked to 110% capacity. There is never any room for flexibility and deadlines are usually always tight. If one person has to take leave then the entire team has to overwork and you can be resented by colleagues for increasing their workload. This is why it's almost considered rude for staff on vacation to to bring back gifts for their co-workers when they return. We had a Japanese co-worker that moved here for work, and they were shocked when we added in extra time when planning out our deadlines for people unexpectedly having to take leave or falling sick.
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It's funny seeing the government trying to tackle the declining birth/marriage rate problem without actually trying to address the root cause of the issue. - Speed dating programs - Singles meetup events - Dating websites and apps - Artificial Intelligence singles matching These are only a few of the silly things the government have wasted millions in tax money on while ignoring the issue of employers overworking their workers. It makes you realise, no matter the differences between countries, there is at least one common factor among all of them. Our politicians and corporations are mostly corrupt pieces of sht. Can't wait till things reach breaking point in most of these places and people start revolting and taking matters into their own hands.
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@Consultant2080 Some countries throw employers in jail or make them pay large fines for overworking their employees. Especially if overtime is unpaid/underpaid. Nothing will change until people take matters into their own hands and start protesting or striking. Unless people do this, the news will only report on this issue when people start dying in significant numbers (which is exactly why this video was made).
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The pandemic has taught us that employees are more valuable than CEOs and managers for a business to function and what happens when employees stand together in large numbers and demand better conditions. Many people got a pay rises along with permanent work from home options along with other perks. Businesses even started paying for people's college fees because they were desperate for workers after many people quit. The only reason things are like this in Japan is because most employees are obedient and don't stand together against this shitty work culture. Heck, some employees protect this culture and criticise co-workers for trying to maintain work-life balance. Not to mention there is a hiring culture in the country where employees are seen as unreliable when they've worked for less then 5-10 years for their previous job on their resumes, so people are afraid to leave too, unlike people around the world who left their jobs for better ones. Too many people not willing to take the risk in this country so employees have power to overwork them as much as they want because they know their employees will never talk back or leave them.
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