'True corporate slave stories' sent in by readers: IT/engineer edition
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The survey results are from a few years ago, but we are also conducting an updated survey. Whether you answered the survey back then or are just finding out about the work or project for the first time, we invite you to share some stories that you can laugh at now, or some that you still can't laugh at.
Please tell us an episode where you felt like you were a 'corporate slave' | Questionnaire form
You can read about trends in painful corporate slave stories and breakdowns by occupation in the article below.
What are the results of a survey asking GIGAZINE readers, 'Have you ever had an episode where you felt like you were a 'corporate slave'?' - GIGAZINE
The image below shows a word cloud of the episodes submitted by the most common occupations, 'IT,' 'engineer,' and 'programmer.' The larger the font, the more frequently the word appears, and we can see that there are many comments about working hours, such as 'hours,' 'overtime,' 'staying up all night,' and 'last train.'
In terms of specific episodes that touched on working hours, many people expressed the following opinion: 'There's no way I can finish work at the usual regular working hours.'
-In the first place, the working hours were set as 'regular hours from 7am to 2am.'
・Working at night, returning home at 6am and coming to work at 8am
・I feel as happy being able to leave work on time as if it were paid vacation.
-When I can go home about three hours later than usual, I feel happy and think, 'It's early today!'
・When I go home on time, I am overcome with an indescribable sense of anxiety.
by 'The Part-Time Life of a Hero and a Corporate Slave' Death 3.5 'Don't forgive people who push work onto others and go home early'
・When I try to leave work on time, I become anxious and wonder if it is okay to go home so early.
In addition, for system engineers who interact frequently with customers, it seems that their work is often dependent on the progress and requests of their clients.
-I was so busy with a client's development that I missed the last train for two months, earning the title of 'Continuous Worker.'
・While we were out together, I got a call from a client, so I started working, leaving my wife alone. By the time I finished the work, it was already evening, so I went home with my wife. My wife said, 'It's fine because I got to see a lot of things by myself,' but I wondered what we were going out for? I was astonished at my corporate slave mentality.
・If a customer contacts us early in the morning, we may provide support, although it is completely unpaid overtime.
-Due to customer circumstances, the decision on whether to switch the system was not made until 11:30 p.m. the previous night.
by 'The part-time life of a hero and a corporate slave'
- I worked at the head office in the Kanto region during the week and traveled to clients in the Kansai region on weekends, so there was a period of several months when I had no days off.
・Without knowing what the customer actually wanted, I just kept doing the work that was coming down from above, working overtime and on weekends. During that time, my boss was watching TV next to me and playing game apps, so I wondered what was going on and decided to change jobs.
- I received a call from a client at 3am about a problem and was told to deal with it the next day, so I headed to the client's office on the first bullet train in the morning.
Additionally, many people said that their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic made them feel like they were 'corporate slaves.' Broadly speaking, there were two extremes: 'I went to work as if it was natural, even though there was a trend to refrain from going out,' and 'Once we switched to remote work, I always had work at hand.' In addition, there were also stories of people who felt the pain of having to go to the office for work, such as 'I voluntarily came to the office to monitor the server.'
・Even in a world where people are being advised to stay home due to the coronavirus, people were naturally expected to go to work.
by 'The part-time life of a hero and a corporate slave'
-Although our client started working from home, they asked us not to stop working, although they could not provide us with a PC to use at home, so we had no choice but to come into the office every day.
・Due to the effects of COVID-19, I started working from home. I report my working hours to my company, but because my PC is within my line of sight, I can't concentrate because I'm worried about my work.
- As a result of remote work, work that was previously impossible to do when returning home due to system issues can now be done from home, meaning employees end up working unpaid overtime into the night, beyond their usual work hours.
In addition, we have received many other stories of hardship beyond imagination.
・I was made to work on creating software through two nights while on a business trip, and ended up sleeping in the company Hiace, wrapped in bubble wrap.
-We were told after 10pm to do an enormous amount of testing, 'Please do this by tomorrow.' Five of us worked until about 3am on the tests, and when we reported back the next morning, we were told, 'What, you did all of it? That's stupid,' so I decided to change jobs.
-I remember being ordered to go home temporarily after working all night, and thinking 'Can I go home? Yay!', and feeling like I'd gained something. However, when I later realized that I hadn't gained anything in the first place since I had stayed up all night and couldn't go home, I felt like a corporate slave.
・I keep my smartphone by my pillow when I go to sleep so that I can respond to phone calls at any time. I am confident that I can respond to calls 90% of the time, but this response is generally unpaid.
by 'The part-time life of a hero and a corporate slave' Death 5 'A call from my boss and a contract for business outsourcing!'
・When I was looking at GIGAZINE's giveaway campaign, the first thing that came to my mind was, 'A conference microphone would be useful for the office.'
-I was dealing with a complaint in my dream and when I woke up it was time to go to work.
-When I looked at my time card, which I had never touched, I saw that I had not worked overtime or come in early, and had taken at least one day off per week.
・I feel more comfortable at work than at home.
We will continue to introduce specific corporate slave stories from other professions, as well as stories from new surveys, so please look forward to it. We are looking forward to new corporate slave stories, so please post them in the survey form below or on X (formerly Twitter)!
Please tell us an episode where you felt like you were a 'corporate slave' | Questionnaire form
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