Employees told they need to take more time off and work shorter hours in Japan where culture of never taking holiday or leaving before their boss causes thousands of suicides every year

  • Japanese workers took average of just nine days' holiday during 2014
  • Around 16 per cent took no holiday, despite being eligible for 18.5 days
  • Workers also spent an average of 173 hours doing overtime last year
  • Government is proposing new laws to end work-til-you-drop culture

Japanese workers have been urged to take more time off and spend less time in the office in order to cut down on the number of work-related suicides in the country.

The government has increased the number of public holidays and leave entitlements in recent years to 18.5 days, but data shows that last year staff used less than half of that allowance.

In Japan, there is a heavily entrenched culture of never leaving work before bosses do, which helped to contribute to almost 2,500 work-related suicides last year.

A total of 2,323 suicides in Japan last year were deemed to be work-related, and the country even has a word - karoshi - meaning death from overwork (file image)

A total of 2,323 suicides in Japan last year were deemed to be work-related, and the country even has a word - karoshi - meaning death from overwork (file image)

Data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare shows that workers are taking an average of just nine days holiday per year, while in 2013, 16 per cent took no paid holiday at all.

Successive governments have tried to get people to take more time off, and this week new laws were published forcing workers to take at least five days off per year, according to Bloomberg.

Draft measures put forward this week encourage companies to shorten working hours and let employees make more use of annual vacation.

Proposals put forward by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to ban overtime pay for some white collar workers are also aimed at cutting the number of hours worked, but have come in for criticism.

While the set of laws aim to make hours more flexible, critics say they will not break the work-til-you-drop culture, and will only mean staff are underpaid, as well as overworked.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has proposed new laws which the government hopes will reduce pressure on white collar workers, but critics say they will do nothing to break the work-til-you-drop culture (file image)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has proposed new laws which the government hopes will reduce pressure on white collar workers, but critics say they will do nothing to break the work-til-you-drop culture (file image)

Working too much was deemed to have played a role in 2,323 suicides last year, which falls just short of 2011, when 2,689 suicides were deemed to be work related.

More data released from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare reveals that, as well as working more days than they have to, Japanese workers also stay in the office longer.

In 2014, full time workers spent an average of 173 hours working overtime, ministry data shows, which is the highest amount since 1993.

About 22.3 percent of Japanese employees work 50 hours or more each week on average, above 12.7 percent in Britain, and 11.3 percent in the United States according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

A Japanese government study found that 16 percent of full-time workers took no paid holidays in 2013, while others took just half their allotted vacation on average.

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