The president of Dentsu, which is Japan’s largest advertising agency, will step down after the suicide of an overworked employee.
In December 2015, Matsuri Takahashi, a young university graduate, took her own life by jumping to her death. Japanese authorities found that Ms Takahashi's death was caused by “overwork” – often returning home from work at 5.00am each morning. In October 2015, she clocked in 105 hours of overtime.
In November, Dentsu’s offices were raided by labour regulators and the company has been under pressure to reduce the amount of overtime that its staff work.
Dentsu’s president, Tadashi Ishii, said Ms Takahashi’s death should never have happened and that he takes full responsibility for it. He will tender his resignation at a board meeting to be held in January 2017.
