Japanese firm to use Drone to force overtime staff to go home

[Tech_Dreamer]

You there! Time to Go Home

PS:Not this drone^^

 

 

Okay , it's a cheesy idea , but kinda cool to see stuff like this happening , A Japanese firm is proposing an idea to kick out over working employees on time for their own good by literally annoying them out of the door with an autonomous drone , The drone will fly through offices after hours playing Auld Lang Syne, which is commonly used to announce that stores are closing.To alert & annoy them to leave their post & go home, when it detects an over staying employee, it hovers over their head & keep playing the tune until they move away from their post. according to the firm employees tend to get lost in their office job & forget when the time to leave or sometimes deliberately overstay to do as much work as they can possible.

 

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The camera-equipped drone will take flights through the office space playing the famous Scottish tune "You can't really work when you think it's coming over any time now' and hear Auld Lang Syne along with the buzz,"

T-Frend can take a pre-programmed flight across the office autonomously, using its sensors to navigate around walls and other obstacles while staying at a certain height to avoid papers flying up from its propellers. As well as an end-of-work alarm, T-Rend also functions as a security drone, filming surveillance footage and storing the data on an SD card. The drone’s developers are also considering outfitting it with facial recognition technology to help spot burglars and other intruders after-hours

 

 

 

 

The drone is primarily a security guard that uses a video recorder to sweep the building when most of the company’s employees have gone home

 

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Japan has some of the longest working hours in the developed world , The problem of long hours has even led to the coining of a new word: "karoshi" or dying from overwork.

 

i kinda just imagine it being like a really big annoying mosquito , The idea of sending a drone to do this instead of sending another personnel to clear out the person from their post is also interesting , they have tried this method but it cause more problems within the job environment apparently & frictions between employees became too often heated , since there's no physical entity you can argue with when it's a drone & you cannot take it personally because that would be stupid this kinda gets the job done & it's a win-win.

 

 

 

 

The T-Frend drone is a collaboration between Tasei, drone system developer Blue Innovation and the telecommunications operator NTT East. T-Frend’s developers are looking into using facial recognition technology so that late workers can be identified.  The Drone hovers around the heads of workers clocking in overtime & It plays Auld Lang Syne, an 18th century Scottish ballad better known in Japan for telling shop customers it’s closing time.

 

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Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world, and some young Japanese workers are literally working themselves to death

 

Nearly a quarter of Japanese companies have employees working more than 80 hours overtime a month, often unpaid, a recent survey found. And 12% have employees breaking the 100 hours a month mark. Those numbers are important , as 80 hours overtime a month is regarded as the threshold above which you have an increased chance of dying.(take notes Linus )

 

Working long hours in Japan is viewed as dedication and loyalty from the employee to the employer, a culture that the Japanese government has been trying to change. Every year in Japan, many workers die due to strokes, heart attacks and suicides, Workers are entitled to 20 days leave a year but currently about 35% don't take any of it.

 

 

 

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Overstaying at work especially among people who are new at a company, is seen as the cause of many of the health problems such as heart attacks , strokes & increased tendency to commit suicide.

 

 

Examples :

On Christmas Day in 2015, 24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi, an employee at the Japanese advertising agency Dentsu, jumped to her death. It emerged she had barely slept after working more than 100 hours of overtime a month in the period leading up to her death.

 

In October, 31-year-old journalist Miwa Sado’s death in 2013 was ruled as ‘karoshi’ after it turned out she had logged 159 hours of overtime in one month at the NHK news agency

 

 

 

 

Critics say the government is prioritizing business and economic interests at the expense of the welfare of workers. T-Frend drone is expected to be launched in April next year, sadly it's a monthly subscription based service but it would be carried out remotely off site , The service starts with a target price of around 500,000 yen (around usd $4,400) a month . So what do you think about this? leave a comment down below.

 

 

 

Sources :

https://www.davidicke.com/index.php/article/443533/japanese-firms-deploy-singing-drones-combat-overwork-culture

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42275874

https://dronedj.com/2017/12/08/go-home-drone-tells-japanese-workers-to-well-go-home/

https://www.rt.com/news/412384-japan-singing-drones-overtime/

http://taisei-bm.co.jp/beyond/t-frend/

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Dammit these Japanese. Go home and have babies. 

[spiralfuzion]

Just now, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Dammit these Japanese. Go home and have babies. 

this^

[Mira Yurizaki]

One may be inclined to think Japanese business culture is the logical extreme that US business culture wants to achieve.

[spiralfuzion]

It's sad to see this happen but I think whatever stops them from working themselves to death will be good.

[Bajantechnician]

6 minutes ago, Tech_Dreamer said:

*snip*

 

This is a good idea. especially the security part. The only potential problems I see are the papers flying. I saw that itll fly at a height as not to disturb them, but its not the the roof is 10 feet up, Also, battery??? its not going to be flying the while night for sure

2 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Dammit these Japanese. Go home and have babies. 

LMAO

[vanished]

5 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

One may be inclined to think Japanese business culture is the logical extreme that US business culture wants to achieve.

That story comes out next week

"US firm to use drone to force staff to work additional overtime"

[porina]

Interesting attempted solution to a complicated problem. I have "worked" in Japan a long time ago as part of my university studies. It wasn't officially work in that I wasn't paid a salary. Maybe to get around some employment regulations, but I was given a living allowance during my months there. Anyway, I wasn't bound to the office politics of regular staff, and that culture was visible then. Everyone was there when I got in. Everyone was there when I left. I'm not even sure some of them have homes to go to...

 

I'd argue there is a slight difference here, they have to be seen to appear to work hard. It doesn't necessarily follow they have to be productive, although they could be. The job culture over there is less mobile than we're used to in the west and moving jobs is less common, and that may be a contributing factor.

 

3 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Dammit these Japanese. Go home and have babies. 

There's a shortage of catgirl waifus. In the interests of equality, catboys are an option too.

[Zodiark1593]

Just use headphonee and get back to work.

[Froody129]

What’s forcing them to work such long hours though? Are they just going for bigger paychecks or is it like a pride thing? Looking for promotions?

[Tech_Dreamer]

1 minute ago, Froody129 said:

What’s forcing them to work such long hours though? Are they just going for bigger paychecks or is it like a pride thing? Looking for promotions?

Nothing, just loyalty , "Working long hours in Japan is viewed as dedication and loyalty from the employee to the employer"

[WereCat]

2 minutes ago, Froody129 said:

What’s forcing them to work such long hours though? Are they just going for bigger paychecks or is it like a pride thing? Looking for promotions?

I would say its in their culture but that's just my guess. I was there and I can't imagine working in there. They are always smiling and appear to be full of energy.

I am having trouble to not fall asleep after 1h...

[suicidalfranco]

meanwhile im here wishing my 8 hours job could become a 6 hour one

[Trixanity]

You know your work culture is fucked up if you're expected to work yourself to death and that you're fine with it.

 

Elsewhere it's going the opposite direction: working less and less. And if I recall the productivity is the same or higher. In other words: work better, not longer.

[8uhbbhu8]

*swat*

[laminutederire]

30 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

You know your work culture is fucked up if you're expected to work yourself to death and that you're fine with it.

 

Elsewhere it's going the opposite direction: working less and less. And if I recall the productivity is the same or higher. In other words: work better, not longer.

Cultural bias dies hard. For instance many countries saw France as lazy when the working time for blue collars went down to 35 hours from something like 39 or so. They said it would never work, etc. In the end, productivity went up and the same work was done anyway.

Still, even though it has been proven to work there and in other countries afterwards, you'll always see german, swiss, american, chinese or japanese (and so many other cultures) say it doesn't show dedication and that it is a bad thing.

Overall happiness in the workplace is disregarded in most companies and itll take a few generations to change

[Matu20]

That's really cool, overworking is a serious issue that people don't realize is happening.

[mr moose]

I'm no expert on Japanese culture, but I was always told it was a cultural issue that caused this type of behaviour,  if so wouldn't an attempt to change the whole culture be better than ostracizing individuals for not wanting to be ostracized by their country?

[Okjoek]

6 hours ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Dammit these Japanese. Go home and have babies. 

Can't support that new family member without more hours worked.

[kiska3]

Well a drone flying to kick people out when they work overtime?

I might just as well ignore the sounds its producing and continue working which may not be a popular opinion here

[TetraSky]

If it was at least Paid overtime, wouldn't be so bad. But many of them keep working long after hours, without pay.
It's as if they were afraid of going back home. No wonder Japan has a declining birth rate issue, everyone work too damn much so they are too tired to fuck.

[Daiyus]

16 hours ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Dammit these Japanese. Go home and have babies. 

Noooo. The world has too many people in it already.

[Skanky Sylveon]

I really like this idea, although I wonder what their definition of "overworked" is.

 

I work around 160 hours a month, my employers refuse to pay for more hours even if I work more.

I'm asking the question because 80 hours overtime doesn't mean shit if I don't know what the amount of hours before overtime kicks in is.

 

Story time!  (to lazy for a proper transition)

My mom worked for UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) as a neurological nurse, she many times had to work overtime, without pay.

Also, if she wanted to properly take care of her patents, she had to take more time to properly take care of them.

 

She ended up getting tendinitis in both of her arms, largely due to overwork, but also due to the lack of ergonomic setups where she had to do her charting.

In under two years, she suffered debilitating bodily injuries due to a poor work environment, so a story to everyone that might be reading this, your health is by far the most important thing you have, remember that always, and don't do anything that might jeopardize it.

[Trixanity]

1 hour ago, Cinnabar Sonar said:

I really like this idea, although I wonder what their definition of "overworked" is.

 

I work around 160 hours a month, my employers refuse to pay for more hours even if I work more.

I'm asking the question because 80 hours overtime doesn't mean shit if I don't know what the amount of hours before overtime kicks in is.

 

Story time!  (to lazy for a proper transition)

My mom worked for UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) as a neurological nurse, she many times had to work overtime, without pay.

Also, if she wanted to properly take care of her patents, she had to take more time to properly take care of them.

 

She ended up getting tendinitis in both of her arms, largely due to overwork, but also due to the lack of ergonomic setups where she had to do her charting.

In under two years, she suffered debilitating bodily injuries due to a poor work environment, so a story to everyone that might be reading this, your health is by far the most important thing you have, remember that always, and don't do anything that might jeopardize it.

Well, in one instance a woman worked those 160 you do a month extra. That means she might have worked something like 160 regular plus 160 overtime. It depends on your work I guess but let's assume 8 hours a day which works out to 40 hours a week if we're assuming you get weekends off and there's roughly 4 weeks in a month. So she'd be working 16 hours a day to achieve that, more or less. She'd be doing that for the entire month five days a week. Of course the work days and weeks might be shorter or longer - I don't know. It's still crazy to think someone works 250, 300 or in this case 320 hours (which is still an assumption on my part) considering it seems a lot of it is unpaid. So you have nothing to show for your dedication other than death in this case.

 

It seems in Japan that the loyalty thing is a very one-way street. Sure you might get job security and perhaps some promotions but I do believe the value generated from logging 80+ hours overtime a month is skewed heavily in favor of the company.

 

As for your mother: the healthcare field sadly has a perpetual lack of staff. I think that might be a global issue. No employee should have to pull double shifts regularly or regularly be working overtime. Not to mention the strain it puts on your body from the work itself. I know the cost. I have a mother myself with a broken body including three different kinds of rheumatic diseases.

[Skanky Sylveon]

11 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Well, in one instance a woman worked those 160 you do a month extra. That means she might have worked something like 160 regular plus 160 overtime. It depends on your work I guess but let's assume 8 hours a day which works out to 40 hours a week if we're assuming you get weekends off and there's roughly 4 weeks in a month. So she'd be working 16 hours a day to achieve that, more or less. She'd be doing that for the entire month five days a week. Of course the work days and weeks might be shorter or longer - I don't know. It's still crazy to think someone works 250, 300 or in this case 320 hours (which is still an assumption on my part) considering it seems a lot of it is unpaid. So you have nothing to show for your dedication other than death in this case.

That would be the assumption, but we still don't know when the overtime kicks in.  Unless there is something that I don't know.

13 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

It seems in Japan that the loyalty thing is a very one-way street. Sure you might get job security and perhaps some promotions but I do believe the value generated from logging 80+ hours overtime a month is skewed heavily in favor of the company.

I'll be frank, loyalty to ones employers or a company is almost always self destructive.

15 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

As for your mother: the healthcare field sadly has a perpetual lack of staff. I think that might be a global issue.

I'm very well aware.  My mom has many horror stories of overworked nurses making mistakes that ended up costing patents their lives.

Although no one would ever admit that was what's going on.  Hooray for cover ups!

15 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

I think that might be a global issue. No employee should have to pull double shifts regularly or regularly be working overtime. Not to mention the strain it puts on your body from the work itself.

Especially in a job as demanding as a nurse.  Where people's lives literally depended on them.

16 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

I know the cost. I have a mother myself with a broken body including three different kinds of rheumatic diseases.

Sorry to hear that, my mom ended up getting better, but we both agreed that it wasn't worth her not being able to play guitar ever again.  So she quit.