Work is, of course, important, especially when you have deadlines to catch and KPIs to reach. In this competitive time, it’s easy for us to overwork ourselves to the point where it takes a toll on our physical and mental health.
Several workers in Indonesia unfortunately overworked themselves to death recently during the country’s election, reported Sinar Harian.
Indonesia held presidential and parliamentary elections on February 14, 2024, which was the world’s largest single-day election. Indonesian Election Commission Chairman Hasyim Asy’ari revealed that between February 14 and 18, about 4,000 election personnel fell sick, mostly due to extreme fatigue.
However, the saddest case was the death of 71 personnel who worked excessively during the election period.
Let’s break down the election figures for a bit
On election day itself, 800,000 polling stations were running, and around 5 million workers were deployed across the country to handle the elections. Their job scopes include counting the ballots and distributing them.
Within 6 hours, 200 million Indonesians came out and carried out their due diligence to vote.
With the number of people they needed to handle, it was not easy. (Something those in the retail line can resonate with.) Despite feeling tired, the election personnel still had to work for another 12 long hours after the end of the voting session.
Shockingly, this was not the first time that an overwork-related death happened in the country during the election season. In 2019, workers at 500 polling stations died due to the same reason and since then, the country’s Ministry of Health imposed age restrictions on workers for this election and also required them to undergo health checks.
The number of deaths decreased this year but that is still not a piece of good news.
“For us, one death is still too many.”
Current Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto declared himself the winner of the presidential election. The official results of the election will be announced on March 20.
Regardless of the line that you’re in, do take a rest immediately when you feel that your body shows signs of shutting down.
Also read: M’sian Who Works in New Zealand Talks About Work-Life Balance & Leniency that We Don’t Have Here
