Karoshi at the workplace

Karoshi is a Japanese expression that means death due to work pressure at the workplace. It seems that it is catching up in India, too. The nature of the workplace changes as management obsesses over mechanical efficiency, which means getting more and more out of less and less. Writer Maxim Gorky said, ‘When work is duty, life is slavery; when work is pleasure, life is joy.’ But these famous words are not applicable today. Work is no longer about duty. It’s all about pressure, pleasure and joy being near impossibilities.

The fast-paced modern society has demolished many a belief about the workplace while creating distorted and ugly versions. Yes, the workplace has changed, but it is not just about speed and technology only, it’s about disproportionate greed to attain unreasonably high targets of productivity. More than 100 years ago, a famous study by a team of psychologists had suggested that productivity is not just a function of a mechanically driven ambience created by only commercial interests.

Seeking maximum value for salaries is the new norm. However, this is a mercenary approach that can never be sustainable. Salaries are just a part of the compensation package and people at the workplace are not robots. Fulfilment cannot come from high salaries. The rat race fails to take into account the reality that, at the core, every employee is an emotional being who feels, thinks and has a heart. It is time to create workplaces that enable people to find fulfilment and foster meaningful connections.