Japanese Company to Use Drones to Curb Excessive Overtime

In the west, most workers are out of the door long before the clock strikes 5pm on a Friday. In Japan things are a little different. Productivity is everything, unions are passive and overtime is the accepted norm. The hard-working culture is literally killing people through stress-related illnesses and exhaustion. Japan’s labor ministry has a word for it: “karoshi”, which means “death by overwork”. 

The solution? Drones, obviously. Japanese construction company Tasei has plans for autonomous drones to fly around its offices after hours. The reason? To remind overtime workers that it’s time to leave.

The drone under development with Blue Innovation and telecoms company NTT East is called T-Friend.

According to reports, the drones will launch in April 2018 and blast out Scottish folk song Auld Lang Syne, a tune commonly used by Japanese shops to warn customers that closing time is coming.

In a statement, the company said: “T-Friend not only strengthens the security of the office space at night, but also urges departure by regular patrol. It has effects such as restraining overtime work and can be used to improve workplace environment for reform of workers.”

“The user will be able to perform a tour around the office by setting the drone travelling time and route. It will encourage employees who are present at the drone patrol time to leave, not only to promote employee health but also to conduct internal security management.”

A new use case from Japan

It’s always nice to see an original use case in the drone industry. We’re not entirely sure if this is the best use of drone technology, or if drones are the answer to Japan’s overtime and overwork crisis. But it’ll be interesting to see how the concept unfolds.

Some people much closer to the action are less than convinced. “Even if this robotic harassment gets workers to leave the office, they will take work home with them if they have unfinished assignments,” Scott North, professor of sociology at Osaka University, told the BBC. 

“To cut overtime hours, it is necessary to reduce workloads, either by reducing the time-wasting tasks and tournament-style competitions for which Japanese workplaces are notorious, or by hiring more workers.”