Ad agency implements overtime ban & reforms HR policy after tragedy

The world’s fifth-largest advertising company by revenue and the biggest in Japan, Dentsu, has reformed its HR policy after an employee suicide.  

24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi, an entry-level employee who joined in April 2015, took her own life on Christmas Day 2015, following a big increase in her workload over the preceding two months – Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reports.  

Long, exhausting working weeks are a huge problem in Japan. A recent Government whitepaper found that just under a quarter of companies have staff putting in over 80 hours of overtime a month – Advertising Age reports.

The Tokyo labour department ruled that she committed suicide as a result of work overload causing a mental collapse due to overwork.