“blue Work Harder neon signage” by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash

The cult of working in Pacific Asia

Edouard Richard
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read

Millennials from democratic countries in Pacific Asia are getting more and more worried about their future. South Koreans renamed their country “the hell” while Taiwanese refers to Taiwan as a “ghost island”. These two countries’ youth express the same feeling about their societies and more specifically about the labor market.
This situation begets a will of moving abroad to find a greener grass and their feeling seems legitimate. Even some South Koreans decide to join the US Army in order to get a visa after their military service that allows them to permanently stay in the United States.

Indeed, even new graduates from the best schools are going through a difficult time of finding jobs. Although they eventually find one, they have to work overtime without being paid more. This approach of work creates stress and a lack of motivation.

The main reason to explain this situation is Culture. The harder you work, the higher your social status is. Even some parents consider that millennials are a lazy generation which should work more. There is a high social pressure. Somehow, the value of working hard to reach your dreams is honorable and it is slowly fading away in Western countries’ societies. However, in Pacific Asia, this value seems to go too far and could impact productivity in a bad way.

According to me, the old-fashioned management style which is still used in many big companies has led to this situation. The lack of responsibilities given by the management to the employees plus the management’s will of controlling every little thing is creating a vicious circle. The employee is stuck in his/her job and cannot express his/her creativity on bringing innovative ideas.
Improving management as well as teaching new generation how to organize their work and further manage it, in order to be more efficient, could bring many benefits. Prioritizing work-life balance and rewarding employees for their investment on the projects are the keys to rise their happiness level and their motivation.

All of this might sound like an utopian concept as there would be a lot to change. Nevertheless, in a fast paced environment and a globalized world as we know it nowadays, I am convinced that companies, as well as governments, in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Hong-Kong should invest more on their millennials. As it is getting easier to move abroad, the most talented youth from these nations might want to move to countries offering a better quality of life if this situation remains on status quo.

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