Japan’s work culture is notoriously punishing. This is, after all, the country that coined the phrase karoshi, or death by overwork. 
 
 A much trumpeted labor initiative doesn’t look as though it’s going to change things very much, either. Beginning Feb. 24, the Japanese government and participating business groups will launch the “Premium Friday” campaign to let people leave the office a couple of hours early — but not every Friday. Just the last Friday of each month, Bloomberg reports. 
 
 The scheme is not mandatory, either, so it is unclear how many enterprises will actually take part. The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) has encouraged its members to sign up, but they comprise a mere 1,300 companies. (There are well over 2.5 million registered businesses in Japan according to figures from 2006.) 
 
 Even the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which is promoting “Premium Friday,” has not signaled if its staff will participate. 
 
 “Premium Friday” comes at a time when karoshi is back in the spotlight. Earlier this week, the head of Japan’s biggest ad agency Dentsu (dentsu-inc) resigned over the suicide of Matsuri Takahashi, a young employee who leaped to her death in December 2015 after becoming depressed from overwork. 
 
 “Death by overwork should never happen. I ask executives to take effective measures to redress (the situation.)” said Keidanren chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara following Takahashi’s suicide, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reports. 
 
 For more on death by overwork, watch Fortune’s video: 
 
 According to 2014 figures from the Japan Institute For Labor Policy, Japan has the highest percentage of workers working over 49 hours per week among the G-7 nations. However data from the Japan Productivity Center indicates that the country also has the worst productivity among the group. 
 
 “Japan is still a country where working long hours is considered a virtue,” said Kazunari Tamaki, a lawyer who specializes in karoshi told Japan’s Kyodo. “But we need to focus on improving efficiency within fixed hours to boost productivity.” 
 
 Unfortunately, with schemes like “Premium Friday” that’s unlikely to happen any time soon. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Japanese workers often spend a lot of time with colleagues even after leaving the office 
 
 Death from overwork in Japan is such a longstanding problem it even has its own word, "karoshi". 
 
 Now the government and business groups are trying to get workers to take a small step to reclaim their lives by leaving work early one day a month. 
 
 The scheme, dubbed "Premium Friday", suggests companies make staff go home at 15:00 on the last Friday of the month, starting in February. 
 
 It has been given renewed impetus by the suicide of a woman who was working more than 100 hours overtime a month at Japan's biggest ad agency, Dentsu. 
 
 Her death was ruled to be a case of "karoshi" and has led to an investigation, an announcement the firm's chief executive will resign and deep concern in Japan at the country's work culture. 
 
 But with around 2,000 deaths a year linked to overwork, few believe the voluntary scheme represents anything more than a small step towards changing attitudes and it is unclear how many companies will take it up. 
 
 Image copyright Premium Friday Image caption Premium Friday has its own logo 
 
 It is not the first time overwork has been seen as a problem nor the first time anyone has tried to do something about it. 
 
 Among other initiatives, the government has in the past tried to make employees take more of the leave they are entitled to - Japan's labour ministry says they only take about half - without much success. 
 
 The number of public holidays in Japan this year increased to 16 in part aimed at forcing people to take breaks. 
 
 The government has also tried to encourage more flexible hours, allowing government workers to start and leave work early in the summer and even switching off the lights in some offices late in the evening, something Dentsu is also now trying. 
 
 Workers are increasingly taking the initiative to go home on time some days too, even announcing it on social media to encourage others to do the same. 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The death of a Dentsu employee has focused attention on a longstanding problem 
 
 But while this has helped change the idea that working excessive overtime is necessarily a good thing, none has had a made much of a dent in the hours themselves. 
 
 Around 22% of the population work more than 49 hours a week according to 2014 figures from the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, behind South Korea at 35% but ahead of the US, where 16% of workers put in those kind of hours. 
 
 Why change? 
 
 For the government and business groups, there is an element of self-interest too. 
 
 Japan's economy has stagnated for more than two decades. The situation has been made worse by low consumption spending and a very low birth rate, both of which are aggravated by workers spending most of their waking hours at a desk. 
 
 Productivity and efficiency also suffer from firms having staff perpetually on hand, as companies don't invest in labour-saving technologies. 
 
 Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, told the BBC that private consumption could rise by as much as 124 billion yen ($1bn; £860m) every Premium Friday if "100%" of those eligible headed home at 3pm on those days. 
 
 But he stresses no one knows how many people will take up the idea and that total participation is unlikely, which could mean a much smaller boost to the economy. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Maybe next time dad can come too - increasing family time is one goal 
 
 Why would companies and workers not take part? Well, being first to make such a change could be painful. 
 
 Companies face higher costs and Japanese workers often feel guilty at leaving their colleagues behind. 
 
 "Japanese workers worry about letting down their colleagues" says Mr Nagahama. "They have a strong sense of working as a team." 
 
 Having employees work less is especially difficult for Japan's many small businesses, which are battling to keep costs down. The fact that many of them are family-run makes an early walk-out even trickier. 
 
 Even with Premium Friday, Mr Nagahama points out some employees may make up the time on other days or even do other jobs in their newly-gained leisure time, which would nullify the point of the scheme. 
 
 It is not even clear if the government ministry behind the idea will be participating, though Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko has reportedly promised that he will not have appointments after 15:00 on those Fridays. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption The rare sight of office workers enjoying themselves while it is still light could become more common 
 
 Despite doubts about the scheme, supporters hope the modest goal of an early finish once a month combined with the backing of government and industry will encourage uptake, and eventually more fundamental change in workplace culture. 
 
 The campaign is also promoting commercial opportunities for restaurants, shops, travel companies and other businesses who could benefit, in the hope that firms will see the benefit of increased leisure time for employees. 
 
 Of course, changing deeply-rooted attitudes to work will be difficult. Many previous attempts have failed. But ironically the effort might be helped by Japanese workers' declining corporate loyalty. 
 
 Cut adrift by years of restructuring from the lifetime employment bargain that bound their fathers to a single firm, younger Japanese people may find that the chance to head to the izakaya (pub) a bit earlier some Fridays is just the nudge they need to adopt a better work-life balance. 
 
 Reporting by Simeon Paterson. ||||| President of Dentsu to step down a year after Matsuri Takahashi killed herself, sparking calls for Japan to overhaul work culture 
 
 The head of Japan’s biggest advertising agency is to resign, as prosecutors launch an investigation into his firm for enforcing excessive overtime after an overworked employee took her own life. 
 
 
 
 Tadashi Ishii, the president of Dentsu, said he would step down next month, just over a year after Matsuri Takahashi killed herself at a company dormitory in a case Japanese authorities classified as karoshi, or death from overwork. 
 
 “Excessive amounts of work is something that should never be allowed to happen,” Ishii told reporters. “I deeply regret and feel responsible for this. I will take full responsibility and resign as president at January’s board meeting.” 
 
 Ishii said he regretted his failure to tackle the company work practices that led to Takahashi’s death, eight months after joining Dentsu in April 2015. “We deeply regret failing to prevent the overwork of our new recruit. I offer my sincere apologies,” he said. 
 
 Takahashi, 24, had worked more than 100 hours of overtime a month leading up to her death. In September, a labour standards inspection office in Tokyo said she had been driven to kill herself due to stress brought on by long working hours. 
 
 Japan has spent years struggling to address karoshi. About 2,000 people a year kill themselves due to work-related stress, according to the government, while other victims die from heart attacks, strokes and other conditions brought on by spending too much time at work. 
 
 Death from overwork: Japan's 'karoshi' culture blamed for young man's heart failure Read more 
 
 Weeks before she died on Christmas Day 2015, Takahashi posted on social media: “I want to die.” Another message read: “I’m physically and mentally shattered.” 
 
 Her death prompted calls for Japan to overhaul its work culture, which often forces employees to put in long hours of overtime as a demonstration of corporate loyalty. 
 
 Dentsu’s notoriously demanding work practices have long been the target of criticism and it was raided by regulators last month amid suspicions that it had broken labour standards law. 
 
 On Wednesday, the labour ministry referred the company and an unnamed Dentsu executive to prosecutors on suspicion of driving Takahashi to kill herself. 
 
 In response to criticism that it was doing too little to curtail excessive overtime, the firm started turning off the lights at 10pm at its Tokyo headquarters to encourage employees to go home. 
 
 In its first white paper on karoshi in October, Japan’s government said one in five workers were at risk of death from overwork. The paper found that despite attempts by some companies to establish a better work-life balance, Japanese workers still spend much longer hours in the office than their peers in other countries. 
 
 According to the paper, 22.7% of companies polled between December 2015 and January 2016 said some of their employees logged more than 80 hours of overtime each month – the official threshold at which the prospect of death from work becomes serious. 
 
 Japanese media said any overhaul of work practices should apply across the board. “The problem is not with Dentsu alone,” the Asahi Shimbun said in a recent editorial. The paper, which itself received a government warning about overtime this month, acknowledged that changing attitudes would be difficult but was essential as it affected employee morale and productivity. 
 
 Last week, on the first anniversary of her daughter’s death, Takahashi’s mother, Yukimi, said she hoped to “change the consciousness of every working person in Japan”. 
 
 Ichiro Oshima, a 24-year-old Dentsu employee, killed himself in 1991 in Japan’s first recognised case of karoshi-related suicide. Oshima had not had a day off for 17 months and was sleeping for less than two hours a night before his death. 
 
 In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here
– Workers in Japan put in notoriously long hours, and the country appears to be paying a price: stressed out workers and resulting health problems, including suicide. As the Japan Times notes, there's even a word for it: "karoshi," or "death by overwork." Now Japan is designating the last Friday of every month as "Premium Friday," with employees encouraged to sign out at 3pm—and maybe do a little shopping to jump-start their weekend and possibly a lagging economy, reports the London Times. The move isn't mandatory for companies, but the nation's biggest business lobby is on board and encouraging its members to take part when it launches on Feb. 24. It doesn't help that most workers in Japan tend to use only half their allotted paid time off, and that an estimated one in eight work 50 hours or more—the highest percentage among G-7 nations. So it remains unclear whether Premium Friday will be a sufficient break for the overworked, or even attainable for those who must squeeze in their work at other times. Fortune is skeptical, calling it an "essentially meaningless" scheme. It quotes a critic who says the bigger issue to focus on is efficiency to cut down on those long work weeks, which are "still considered a virtue." Another problem is that Japan has lots of small, family-run businesses where shortened hours could be a problem, notes the BBC. (A Japanese CEO resigned after a young woman's suicide.)