The term is currently circling in the ether because of a survey published by Shikigaku, a Tokyo-based consultancy, on the phenomenon of the hatarakanai ojisan, the old geezer (or, less commonly, his female equivalent) in the office who manages to get away with doing no work. When asked if such a person existed in their workplace, 49.2 per cent of workers in their 20s and 30s at Japanese companies with over 300 employees affirmed that he did. Collectively, that's an awful lot of paid daydreaming, but might it possibly be money well spent? [...] The survey, which polled 300 people across different industries, also showed strong agreement among younger workers on why hatarakanai ojisan exists: seniority-based pay structures and protective labour laws simultaneously erode his motivation, remove fear of dismissal and absolve him of the need to produce results. Incompetence may also mean nobody asks him to do any real work.