Review
of Battling Taiwan’s Culture of Overwork
The employees have been demanded to clock in before they begin
working. And some of the employees have also been asked that they cannot leave
their company before their boss leaving the office. The system of job
responsibility is more important than the system of clocking out on time in
Taiwan. Guo Chi-mei suffered a stroke because he was working eighteen hours a
day and sleeping just four hours. His case is sorrowfully not particular. And
some cases of overwork have even been deadly in Taiwan. Although companies will
be fined for breaking the rules that workers are not allowed to do more than
eight hours of overtime a day, some companies still give a lot of work to let
their employees to work overtime. Hard work has long been ingrained in
Taiwanese society.
According to the report, “The annual working hours for Taiwanese
employees eclipses many industrialized nations, according to figures from the
Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) and the OECD. On average, the Taiwanese work
more than two thousand hours annually; 20 percent more than their counterparts
in the America or Japan and more than 35 percent longer than those in Germany.”
Not only office workers, but also bus drivers, security officers, and laborers
are working over eight hours a day. Obviously, Taiwanese work so hard, but why
Taiwan’s economy is not growing rapidly?
I had an experience that I had worked from nine a.m. to six a.m. next
morning for about two weeks. And I slept just only three or four hours a day
during that working time. Although my mother asked me to go to sleep, my responsibility
of the jobs forbad me to go to bed. But I had to hand in my work on time when I
clock in and went to the office room. After I finished the case, my eyes and my
body condition were tired and sick. And then I need to operate my eyes. And I had
a sick for one whole month. I can’t speak because I can’t give off sound. In conclusion,
I quitted the job for my health condition. And I cherish and protect my eyes to
keep computers or televisions away because I don’t want to be a blind just for
working too hard. I am still young and I can find other good jobs instead of
the health killer work.
Having a good health is the most important thing because nothing we could
do without a healthy condition. I hope companies and governments can take the
overtime working seriously for those diligent workers. The reasons are that
those hard working people need to support their families. If they without a
good health, how could their family live.
(word: 452)
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