11-07-2025
News in Easy English: 'Gray zone' harassment making Japanese workers unhappy, survey says
TOKYO -- Have you ever had a coworker who often gives advice you didn't ask for or talks too much about "the good old days"? Such behavior is called "gray zone harassment." It is not clearly harassment, but it makes many workers uncomfortable.
In Japan, a company named KiteRa did an online survey in June about this problem. They asked 1,196 working people aged between 18 and 65 years old across Japan.
About half of these workers said they have had uncomfortable experiences at work. Common examples people talked about in the survey were:
Having coworkers show annoying behavior like not greeting them back or clicking their tongue (26.2%)
Being forced to join drinking parties or meet business customers outside work (16.2%)
Hearing coworkers talk negatively because of personal opinions or old ways of doing things (14.5%)
Being asked uncomfortable, private questions (12.0%)
About 46% of workers who had these uncomfortable experiences said they thought about quitting their job. The most difficult behaviors were when people stopped talking or ignored others at work, or when they were told to join drinking events or meet clients when they did not want to. Almost 70% of workers who experienced these said they thought seriously about quitting.
The survey also asked if workers themselves ever did gray zone harassment. About 60% answered "no," meaning they never behaved badly at work. But about 15% said they asked another worker private questions, and around 11% had acted in an unpleasant way. Of those who said they did gray zone harassment, most thought they did not mean any harm.
Professor Masato Hara at Seikei University studies workplace rules. He said, "It's difficult because gray zone harassment isn't always clearly against the law. Companies need clear rules to stop this kind of uncomfortable behavior." He explained careful workplace rules would help staff from all ages communicate better at work, and that would make companies stronger.
(Japanese original by Kohei Chiwaki, Digital News Group)
Vocabulary
harassment: behavior that hurts or makes another person uncomfortable
gray zone harassment: behavior at work that feels uncomfortable or unpleasant, but is not clearly illegal
survey: questions asked of many people to learn their ideas or experiences
customer (client): a person who buys goods or services from a company
communication: talking to people or sharing ideas clearly
rules: simple instructions about what you must or must not do
