Employment Practice

One of Toyota's senior car engineers died from working too many hours, a Japanese labour bureau has found. The 45-year-old man was developing a hybrid version of Toyota's successful Camry line at the time of his death. In the two months leading up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, his wife's lawyers said. Workers in Japan often put in very long hours and "sudden death from overwork" is referred to as karoshi. The ruling will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, his wife's lawyers said. The worker, whose name was not given, regularly worked nights and weekends and was frequently sent abroad. He died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. In a statement, Toyota offered its condolences and said it would monitor the health of its employees. Workplace stress is common all over the world, but it is a huge problem in Japan, where karoshi was first recognised as a phenomenon in 1987. Last year, a cour...

This situation is becoming so serious that employers must consider implementing a policy/procedure, outlawing abusive practices. Draft Electronic Transmissions Policy 1. E-mail should be used primarily to distribute/update information, confirm arrangements, confirm meetings etc. [It may not be used to distribute personal information.] 2. As an exception, the system can be used to leave messages where the recipient is unavailable and the message awaits their return. 3. E-mail should not be used to substitute for face-to-face or telephone conversations since messages they convey lose much that is conveyed by body language. The medium is comparatively ineffective in this area. Research indicates that people reach the best decisions when they occupy adjacent physical space - using e-mail blanks off this advantage. 4. Unless video and audio links are available, electronic communications should not be used for meetings or managerial control. (See 3 above.) 5. Items for dissemination via e-ma...