Thousands of Employees Are Dying From Being Overworked

You and I might have a day here or there every few months where we work a double shift, or a week where we put in well over 40 hours because of a big project. However, the next time we find ourselves burned out over a few hours, we need to consider this- employees in Japan are literally dying because of being overworked.

It's become so common for employees in Japan to dye from being overworked that they've given it a name, “karoshi.”

Government officials say that a staggering 189 Japanese employees died from being overworked last year, but experts say that the number is actually in the thousands.

Karoshi can result from heart attacks, strokes, or even suicide triggered by overworking.

What's really strange about so many employees dying is that the standard work-week in Japan is 40 hours. What's happening though is employees are scared that they'll have the job taken away from them and so they're putting in an insane number of hours to improve their chances of keeping the job.

I think it's sad that this is what our world has come to- people dying because they're working so much out of fear of job loss. That's no way to live and something needs to give, and soon.

[via Reuters]