Is Your OT Killing You Slowly?

It’s good to be a hardworking millennial who doesn’t mind putting in extra hours. But how much OT is too much?

- Chia Sihan

It wasn’t too long ago that keeping a nine-to-five work schedule was the norm.

But lately, people have been working longer hours than ever—sometimes even to death, with some cases involving young women. It’s a sign of the times when Alibaba’s founder

Jack Ma recently extolled the “996” work ethic (9 am to 9 pm, six days a week) and declared working overtime “a huge blessing”.

Which raises the question: at what point does clocking overtime at work mean trouble for us?

WHEN COMMITMENT TAKES A TOLL

The Japanese have a term for literally working to death: karoshi. It was only in 2017 that their government passed legislation to limit overtime to 60 hours per month.

In Singapore, those who work five days a week typically work nine hours a day or 44 hours per week. While overtime is allowed according to the guidelines set by the Ministry of Manpower, employees are not allowed to work for more than 12 hours in a day.