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It's no secret that overwork is a serious problem in Japan. But so far what has remained a secret is the solution. Despite government “work reforms” and even dramas showing the twisted side of overwork, suicide due to extreme overtime is still a pervasive issue.

But now Osaka Prefecture is taking a forceful step in the direction of reducing overwork. Starting in winter/fall 2020, public employees will have their computers automatically shut down at 6:30 p.m., forcing them to leave. This new system will affect 7,600 people, not including police, school staff, or management.

It doesn't get much blunter than that, but how does it work? And will it really be effective? Let's take a look at some opinions and the results of a previous trial run.

Examining Under the Hood

Aside from the simple quality of life concerns for the employees, there's also the monetary cost of overtime. In Osaka, public employees put in over one million hours of overtime each year, costing the prefecture three billion yen ($27.5 million). Compared to the 50 million yen ($450,000) that the automatic shut down system will cost to implement, it's potentially a lot of savings.

The way the system works is that employees' computers will alert them every minute starting at 6:20 p.m. that they will be shutting down shortly. Ten minutes later, they automatically turn off. The system can be overridden in times of emergency. If overtime work is absolutely necessary, employees can submit an overtime notification to their boss.

This tweet shows the image that will pop up on employees' computer screens. It tells them to quickly finish what they're doing and leave work.

https://twitter.com/hokusonjj/status/1205480209211805703

One boss spoke positively about the soon-to-come system: “When I get an overtime notification, that will let me know that work is not going smoothly for someone, and I can help. Then when we're done, I can advise them on what they might change. I can spread out work from one person to others to help alleviate the issue.”

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Despite that positive outlook, other regular employees were not quite as enthusiastic. Some said that they'll just be forced to come in early instead of staying late or have to take work home. Others expressed concern that since they could submit overtime notifications, nothing will change unless more people are hired.

Results of the Test Run

So far, the automatic shut down system has only been tested in one area, Neyagawa City in Osaka Prefecture. However, the results there were significant. Since the system's implementation last April, compared to previous years the number of employees working 80 or more hours of overtime each month fell by nearly 40% from 570 to 348. The number of people working over 100 hours or more halved to 111.

According to surveys, opinions on the system have been almost entirely positive. Employees have said that they're more conscientious of their work hours, and spend less time on wasteful projects. One section manager also stated that the automatic shutdowns haven't just cut needless work hours, but have completely changed how his employees think.

But Will It Work?

I remember when I worked my first job in Japan as an intern for a company in Shibuya. I'll never forget seeing posters on the wall around the office that read: “Let's be sure to go home before 10:00 p.m. everyone!” At first, I thought they were a joke. It only took a few days before I realized not only were they serious, but my co-workers completely ignored them. They bragged about staying at work past midnight, and one time a few people in my department even spent the night in the office.

Years later when I worked at a city hall in Okinawa, I wasn't aware of anyone staying past midnight or spending the night. But every weeknight from in my apartment just a few blocks away, I could almost always see a few lights on from people still working up to 8:00 or 9:00 p.m.

Overwork is definitely a problem in Japan. It's likely that this new system alone won't be enough to solve it. One Japanese person on Twitter summed it up nicely:

https://twitter.com/masaruna1202/status/1205270778544975874

In the end, if you don't tackle overtime's underlying problem of too much workload, then nothing will change. And it shouldn't be up to the individual employees to do that, but management doing it together. Telling employees what to do without understanding their situation will just increase their stress.

Someone else had an idea that could definitely get people to go home earlier. The same motivator that has inspired workers since the dawn of civilization: money.

https://twitter.com/takahata4580/status/1205297698976354304

I'm all for the automatic shut down system to make overtime impossible! This is not an era of being proud of overworking. Rather, we should praise those who don't overwork. Overtime pay is a labor cost. I think we should pay people more who don't work overtime because they're saving their organization money.

Giving people a financial incentive to not work overtime sounds great. It's potentially another step in the great staircase that it will take to climb this problem. Perhaps the automatic shutdown system is another.

But even if people leave work earlier, getting them to actually go home is a whole other issue.

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