DIARY Festive advice: Improve your health and beware burnout

DAIWA Securities Group has a message for its staff this holiday season: Go easy on the sushi and sake.

Japan’s second-biggest brokerage is encouraging its 13600 domestic employees to eat and drink moderately for 30 days from December 14.

While most Japanese don’t celebrate Christmas, a period of year-end and new-year parties is in full swing nonetheless.

The move is part of a drive to improve the health and fitness of staff, especially older workers, to boost productivity and keep them from burnout.

The Tokyo-based firm in October appointed a chief health officer – a former investment banker who had collapsed and nearly died of overwork until he started on a fitness path eight years ago – to oversee programmes that give incentives for employees to exercise and leave work on time.

“I worked hard at the cost of my health,” said Toshihiro Matsui, 53, who had spent two months in hospital and four months on sick leave before he returned to work with a new dedication he now wants his colleagues to adopt.

“Being in healthy shape is the best thing for an individual, and it also leads to more productivity for a company.”

Daiwa is among 22 companies selected by the government and the Tokyo Stock Exchange to promote health in the workplace. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to break a culture of overwork. – Bloomberg