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Less coffee no solution to overwork

One of the pleasant aspects of my new life in Beijing has been rediscovering what it's like to have a lunch break. A whole hour and a half in the middle of a work day to do with whatever I want. That's enough time to meet friends and have an actual sit down lunch. At my old job in Australia, the most common sit down lunches I had were at my desk. Here, you can go for a walk or the gym (depending on pollution), or be productive and get some chores done. Some of my colleagues even take a nap.

I've never had such a good work life balance so it came as a shock to read that this is not the case for many people in China. Young people especially are literally working themselves into an early grave. CCTV reported a recent case of a 24-year-old engineer believed to have died from overwork. While the overtime problem was news to me, it didn't take much digging to see pressure on workers to remain at their desks way past their 8 hours is up has been building for some time. Even those that clock off on time are only a phone call or email away thanks to the internet and mobile phones.

In 2014, it was estimated that 600,000 Chinese die from working too hard each year. Although it's hard to pin down exactly what fatal conditions count towards that, it's an alarming figure. The response to some extreme cases of overtime on social media suggests many stressed out, tired workers don't find it too hard to believe.

Overtime in short bursts is not a bad thing. It gives companies the flexibility to cope with particularly busy times or short term issues. The problem is when the increased workload becomes the norm.