In December 2015, Matsuri Takahashi, an employee of one of Japan's largest advertising companies, threw herself from the company dormitory and died. In her final posts on her social media pages, she had complained of excessive fatigue, insomnia, and overwork. Research showed that a month before her suicide, she had worked over 100 hours of overtime, and this excessive work had pushed her to the brink of mental and physical collapse.

We have often heard stories of responsible Japanese and Europeans who value their personal lives as much as their career advancements. The diversity in work culture and organization is evident when comparing these two narratives. In one part of the world, someone commits suicide due to exhaustion from overwork, while in another part, employers send their employees on mandatory leaves to spend time away from work-related stresses for their physical and mental well-being.

In Asian countries, work has always been a significant part of life, and spending long hours at work has become a societal norm and a common behavior. The situation is not much different in the United States; the work culture demands employees to be available even during non-working hours. However, in European countries, there is a clear boundary between work and personal life.

Behavior, values, expectations, and specific management methods are referred to as "Organizational Culture," where respect for employees' personal lives is one of its unwritten principles.

Among managers and in work environments, Organizational Culture is summarized in one sentence: "The company's specific way of doing things." In simpler terms, Organizational Culture guides employees' way of working and is effective in recruitment criteria, organizing the work environment, how to motivate and reward effectively.

Organizational Culture is largely influenced by the prevailing values of a society, and social beliefs and traditions have an impact on its principles. However, each company can have its unique work culture, often based on the company's mission, goals, or values. Nevertheless, it cannot be considered a set of written rules. Work culture can evolve over time without anyone noticing or explicitly stating what it is or how it should be, shaping gradually into acceptable behaviors and standards.

Global Diversity of Organizational Culture:

Australia is known as a country with calm and unhurried people, and the work culture prevailing in the workplace follows the same culture. For example, workplace attire in this country tends towards comfortable and informal clothing, and hierarchical structures do not dominate companies. Generally, communication within Australian companies is very informal, friendly, and decision-making processes are based on group decisions. For Australians, time after working hours is highly valued, so the laws in this country allow only 10 hours of overtime per week and no employer can force their employees to work more overtime.

In contrast, a country like China emphasizes hierarchical structures. In Chinese companies, holding meetings for discussion, opinions, and listening to dissenting views is not uncommon, and when a decision is made, all employees start working towards the set goal. The work culture in China is called the "996 culture": working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week.

In the virtual space, some individuals complain about working 300 hours per month, while others say they don't remember the last time they saw daylight. Perhaps such a work culture may be accompanied by short-term economic productivity, but in the long run, it can lead to job burnout and decreased efficiency. In response to workplace pressures, Chinese youth have initiated the "Lying Flat" movement, believing in not working too hard, being satisfied with short-term achievements, and allocating time for rest. They are trying to balance the high-pressure work culture of their country by promoting this new culture.

However, people around the world do not work like the Chinese. Work culture in a country like Denmark is different. Danes are very keen on achieving a balance between work and personal life. In recent years, satisfaction and happiness in the workplace have become a priority in this country, and in Danish, the term "arbejdsglæde" refers to this good feeling individuals have about the work they do. This word is prevalent only in the Scandinavian region and emphasizes the idea that the era of having to work overtime to keep the economy running is over. Even the workweek in Denmark has been reduced to 37 hours. Employees must leave workplaces at 4 pm, and the duration of holidays and leaves has increased to five weeks.

In Iceland, a similar situation prevails, and the fact that both parents are entitled to three months of parental leave while receiving 80% of their salaries indicates how much this country values the satisfaction and well-being of its people. Icelandic companies show great flexibility in changing their employees' working conditions.

However, in Japan, the principle of respect and obedience has led to a different form of work culture. Respect for elders or superiors is so important in this country that their work culture has turned into a hierarchical culture where respect takes precedence. Individual ambition has no place in Japan, and only collective goals must take priority. Employees are expected to work long hours to achieve the company's set goals. The work culture in this country is based on strong commitment, ethics, loyalty to the company and work, and a very high sense of responsibility.

This extreme focus on responsibility has led to the emergence of a phenomenon called "Karoshi," which means death from overwork. Long-term stress, lack of sleep, and social isolation are the main factors contributing to Karoshi, leading to strokes and heart attacks. Working long hours, sometimes reaching 60 or 70 hours per week, has increased the tendency towards suicide among the Japanese, the same fate that befell Matsuri Takahashi.

In 2018, Abe Shinzo, the then-Prime Minister of Japan, presented a bill to reform the work style, through which employers were required to send employees on mandatory leaves because, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan, people in this country only use 50% of their leaves. However, the problem is that in this law, more than 80 hours of overtime per month are recognized as a factor contributing to Karoshi, meaning that up to 80 hours of overtime have no legal restrictions.

Social activists in Japan believe that under this law, the government tells you that if you work more than this threshold, you may die, but the government allows you to work up to this threshold. These activists are seeking a revision of the work style reform law and a reduction in the maximum allowable overtime.

It may be thought that Japan's progress has been owed to this work culture, but industrialized countries can also be discussed where the balance between work and personal life is of great importance. For example, in Germany, although the organizational culture is based on increasing the efficiency and productivity of companies, Germans themselves are committed and punctual individuals, but for them, work and personal life are completely separate and distinct entities.

While working hours are taken very seriously, not everyone is allowed to work overtime, and there are legal restrictions defined for it. In the German language, there is a word that means the end of work or closing the workday. No other language has an equivalent word for "Feierabend." This word refers to the time between the end of work and sleep, which is essentially a time for recreation and leisure, indicating the end of the workday, disconnecting from work concerns, and starting a time of rest, showing how important it is for Germans.

It is strange that Germans, who are often perceived as hardworking and efficient labor, are so bound to their time of rest and leisure, but perhaps this attitude has made the path to sustainable development smoother for them. Many believe that the concept of Feierabend is very close to capitalist mentality because the more workers have rest after working hours, the more efficient and productive they become. The German work culture is based on the theory that post-work rest improves stress, helps maintain a balanced body rhythm, and increases job satisfaction, leading to long-term economic growth.

Right to Disconnect from Work:

The right to disconnect from the workplace is a human right, allowing individuals not to respond to any work-related messages after working hours, leaving all work emails or calls unanswered during non-working hours. The right to disconnect from the workplace was first approved in the Supreme Court chamber in France in 2001, and according to this law, no employee was obliged to work at home or bring work files or tools home.

In 2004, the French Supreme Court upheld this decision, ruling that if an employee was not available to answer their phone calls outside working hours, they could not be accused of failing to do their job. In 2016, the French government added this law to its labor laws, granting all government employees this right.

After that, European Union countries witnessed negotiations between labor unions and companies to approve laws similar to the right to disconnect law for each company separately and under their specific conditions.

For example, in 2011, Volkswagen implemented a policy that prevented sending emails to employees of the company between 6 pm and 7 am. In 2013, the German Labor Minister prohibited any contact between managers and their employees after working hours to preserve the mental health of employees. In 2014, Daimler provided a program called "Mail on Holiday" to its employees, allowing them to delete work-related emails received during their travels and vacations.

Italy, Belgium, Spain, the Philippines, Australia, and Canada are countries where different forms of the right to disconnect law are enforced. For example, in Canada, large companies with more than 25 employees are subject to this law, but small companies are exempt, or in Australia, the right to disconnect law has recently been implemented, but it does not cover emergency situations and unjustified excuses for avoiding responsibilities.

Overall, all European countries are recognized for their strict laws to support employees and respect their rest and personal life, while the United States does not have such a privilege. The work culture in America demands that they always be available and responsive. In early 2024, actions were taken in California to pass laws to respect the right to disconnect from the workplace, but faced widespread criticism from employers who believed that enforcing this law is a step back for flexibility in the workplace and could pose a serious problem among employees working remotely from different areas.

The global diversity of organizational culture and its implications on personal life and individuals' health show how important the balance between work and personal life can be. The approaches of Scandinavian countries, Germany, and Australia to balance work and personal life signify the claim that productivity has no relation to longer working hours; rather, it is the optimization of work and work hours that leads to job efficiency.

Employers should know that their efforts to increase productivity should not sacrifice the health and fundamental rights of their employees. This means maintaining reasonable working hours and creating a sustainable environment will ultimately lead to long-term productivity growth. With this approach, they can create a healthy work environment that includes employee participation, satisfaction, and productivity.

Organizational culture in the workplace

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