Workers suffering from intense labor day and night, including holidays... Exhausted from overwork, making 'extreme choices'
Work pressure leads to overwork... Overwork leads back to work stress
Experts say, "Overwork death and overwork suicide should be legally defined to establish consistent standards for related issues"
[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] Incidents of workers suffering from excessive work-related stress leading to 'extreme choices' continue to occur without pause. Experts emphasize the need to establish more detailed institutional standards for death from overwork so that companies can actively respond. They suggest subdividing the criteria for the process leading to death from overwork to prevent such cases in advance and to ensure that if the worst situations, such as extreme choices, occur, recognition as an industrial accident can be promptly obtained.
Office workers are passing near Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. The number of employees complaining about stress along with excessive workloads is increasing. [Image source=Yonhap News]
According to media reports compiled on the 13th, Lee Chan-hee, who worked at the Design Center of Hyundai Motor Company's Namyang Research Institute, made an extreme choice on September 7, 2020, after working day and night without holidays. Lee was a father of two siblings and a promising designer who had recently been promoted to a team leader-level senior researcher before his death.
However, he suffered from overwork throughout his employment and complained of severe stress. Eventually, he exhibited abnormal symptoms such as shouting loudly in front of colleagues while working and showing violent behavior toward his family. Lee was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, severe depression, and panic disorder at a psychiatric clinic and took a six-month leave of absence but died a month before his planned return to work.
According to testimonies from colleagues who worked with Lee, workplace stress intensified after the company's work system changed in 2018. The introduction of the new system significantly shortened vehicle development deadlines but increased the workload intensity.
There is another issue. Testimonies revealed that the then head of the Design Center where Lee worked managed employees by publicly humiliating them, saying their work results were unsatisfactory. This has led to criticism that the harsh words of workplace superiors pushed workers into an environment where overwork was inevitable.
A similar incident occurred last May at Naver, a leading domestic IT company. A developer in his 40s, Mr. A, who was suffering from excessive workload, ultimately made an extreme choice. It was reported that a note left by Mr. A contained content indicating he had been under work-related stress.
The Naver Labor Union claimed, based on Mr. A’s diary and colleagues’ testimonies, that he suffered from 'workplace harassment,' including excessive work pressure and continuous verbal abuse from an executive.
As workers suffering from heavy workloads and stress continued to make extreme choices, it became a social issue. [Image source=Yonhap News]
As the case escalated, the Ministry of Employment and Labor conducted a special labor inspection of Naver, and the investigation confirmed most of the union's claims. The ministry stated, "It was revealed that the deceased Mr. A was verbally abused by an executive-level direct superior, was deliberately excluded from decision-making processes, and suffered from excessive work pressure."
Such cases, where workplace superiors' pressure leads to overwork, which in turn causes work-related stress and results in workers making extreme choices, have repeatedly occurred, making so-called 'death from overwork suicide' a social issue. 'Death from overwork suicide' refers to suicide caused by work-related overwork and stress.
In Japan, where the term 'death from overwork suicide' was first coined, the 2014 'Act on Promotion of Measures to Prevent Death from Overwork' legally defined death from overwork as "death, suicide, illness, or disability of a worker caused by excessive work-related reasons." They recognized death from overwork suicide as a type of death from overwork and codified it legally. In South Korea, discussions have been ongoing recently due to suspected cases of death from overwork suicide, but no progress has been made. Currently, there is no legal definition of death from overwork nor official statistical data related to it.
Experts point out that overwork and workplace harassment are intertwined issues and stress the need to establish consistent standards, including legally defining death from overwork and death from overwork suicide, so companies can prevent these problems.
Choi Min, a full-time activist at the Korea Labor Safety and Health Research Institute, explained, "Statistics show that workplace harassment tends to increase as workload increases. When everyone is exhausted from work, humiliating or violent language is more likely to occur. Naturally, in industries with high work intensity, the likelihood of overwork and workplace stress increases." He added, "When stressed, time to recover is necessary, but in places with heavy workloads, this is difficult, leading to increased depression and ultimately suicide."
Choi further stated, "Cases of death from overwork or death from overwork suicide should be recognized as industrial accidents. When such situations occur, rather than treating them as isolated incidents, defining death from overwork and codifying related issues to improve corporate culture by establishing at least minimum standards is necessary to prevent problems related to death from overwork and death from overwork suicide."
※ If you have difficult concerns such as depression or know family or acquaintances experiencing such difficulties, you can receive 24-hour expert counseling at the Suicide Prevention Hotline ☎1393, Mental Health Counseling ☎1577-0199, Hope Call ☎129, Lifeline ☎1588-9191, and Youth Hotline ☎1388.
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