Customer harassment leaves employees in Japan feeling depressed

Verbal abuse was the most common type of customer harassment, followed by scolding, repeated complaints, and intimidation.

In Japan, 76.4% of employees had experienced harassment by customers, resulting in them feeling depressed about going to work, a survey revealed.

The survey, conducted by the Japanese Trade Union Conference, or Rengo, identified verbal abuse as the most common form of harassment, indicated by 55.3% of respondents. This was followed by 46.7% who cited scolding or other authoritative behaviours, 32.4% who cited making repeated complaints about the same issues, and 31.9% who cited being intimidated or threatened.

Furthermore, a majority of respondents (38.2%) reported feeling depressed about going to work as a result of customer harassment. Mental or physical illness was the second most frequently cited cause, followed by being unable to concentrate on work, sleeplessness, and fear of interacting with others.

READ: Organisations in Japan plan to hire more new graduates

A share of 8.5% of respondents who left their positions or changed jobs said their organisations offered training programmes for managing customer harassment, compared to 67.6% who said they had no such opportunities.

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