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We're working ourselves to death. Sometimes literally. But why?

A businessman stressed at his desk doing work.
Cecilie Arcurs
/
Getty Images
Shot of a young businessman looking stressed during a late night in a modern office

As the pandemic marches on, the “Great Resignation” is a sign that a lot of us are feeling overworked. More than 745,000 people died in 2016 alone from overwork that resulted in stroke and heart disease, a problem so common in Japan they have a word for it: Karoshi.

This hour, our guests unpack the looming threat of overwork. We look at how we got here, why we idolize overwork, why the game development industry has such a troubled relationship with creative individuals, and what we can do to ensure better workplace conditions.

GUESTS:

  • Anat Lechner - Clinical Associate Professor of Management and Organisations at Stern School of Business NYU, and a specialist in change management
  • Keith Fuller - Consultant for game development companies on leadership and culture, and the founder of All About EX
  • Alex Soojung-Kim Pang - Author of the books “Shorter”, “Rest”, and “The Distraction Addiction”, and the founder of Strategy & Rest

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Dylan is the technical producer for Where We Live, The Wheelhouse, and The Colin McEnroe Show. For any number of reasons, you might hear him on-air, usually when things are going bad. If you have opinions on the music used by a talk show, Dylan can be reached at dreyes@ctpublic.org.
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