Suicide in the Workplace

10th suspected suicide at Foxconn based in China, the people who make the iPhones for Apple. Read more here.

The reasons cited were work ethics, managerial practices and poor salaries.  Not to sound insensitive, but it just all seem so familiar.

There was a time when I used to envy the Americans or pretty much anyone who works in Europe, North America, Australia or New Zealand. I envied them coz' for their normal working hours. Those days, I used to think 'Gee, wouldn't it be nice to knock off at 5pm and go for a drink or two with your office buddies.'.


But looks like that world is fast becoming extinct.

Now, 'normal' working hours tends to be from 9am to 8pm, with the occasional late nights or weekenders.

And a lot more people are job-hopping, each in search of that 'ideal' working situation that no longer exists.

Technology was supposed to make things go faster.  And it did. But with the speed, you also now have the ability to juggle more, meaning do more in a shorter period.

That's when things got crazy. Sigh.

Who has the balls to say "Stop"? Why does one have to leave the industry to get away from these kinds of conditions?

Let's look at doctors. Everybody knows that it's hard work to learn to be a doctor. That's why not many people are doing it. Therefore, there's not enough doctors.

It is dead easy to be an ad man, tho'. But once you clock in those hours and they take a toll on you, the thing to do was to jump ship. And it's usually either of these 3 options: 1) another agency, 2) go over to the Client's side or 3) leave the industry all together and develop a Zen-like existence.

These days, the 3rd option seems to be more popular. There is a dearth of ad people in this country. Or if they still exist, they usually set up their own gig and work at hours they're comfortable with.

But....there is a dearth. So, imagine if the same thing happens to other industries, where people take off to do their own thing?

How's an economy gonna function?  But I'm exaggerating.

What is real of course, is that the workplace is becoming less humane and more ridiculous. Everything is about the deadline.

I have a favourite saying.  "The Client only wants 3 things: Quality, Fast & Cheap". With shrinking profit margins, everyone is scrambling to put in more hours, for peanut shells. And usually, the quality gets compromised. So, go figure.

So, after all this rambling, am I suicidal? Far from it, but I do know where the windows are.