In recent years, demand for nurseries has increased steeply, but the shortage of nursing staff due to early turnover is becoming an urgent issue. It is essential to build comfortaable work environments and to reduce their stress to prevent the early turnover. The purpose of this study was to investigate the current situation of workplace harassment in nursery settings such as nursery schools and preschools, as well as the relationship between workplace harassment and nursery staff stress. Participants were 146 nursery school teachers and 80 preschool teachers. The results of the multiple regression analyses showed that the significant β coefficients of the workplace harassment on the subscales of the stress reaction scale such as “Feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty,” “Fatigue and physical reaction,” “Autonomic nerve symptom,” and “Feeling of depression and insufficiency.” As for the type of job, we found that the level of stress among preschool teachers tends to increase when they hold low positions and the number of program staff is low. Similarly, nursery school teachers in lower positions felt more stress at work. Preschool teachers have long hours of working with their colleagues as preschoolers go home early, which may explain teachers’ tendency to have interpersonal stress. Based on the results, we discussed new approaches to improve workplace environment especially for staff in lower teaching positions including provision of consultation service.
