The onset of summer and the lead-up to the festive season is one of the busiest times of year for retail and hospitality – and it’s also prime time for frustrated customers and frayed tempers.
A recent YouGov survey commissioned by Start Beyond found that 89 per cent of HR leaders in retail and hospitality are concerned about the safety and wellbeing of frontline workers due to customer aggression, with about three in four worried about the emotional toll on employees and fearful of increased workers’ compensation claims.
In my role as WH&S Advisory Committee Chairperson and Work Well Program Project Manager (for workplace mental health funded by WorkSafe Victoria) with the Australian Retailers Association, I’ve been tracking the rise of customer aggression and its effects. All businesses, regardless of industry, have a primary duty under health and safety laws to protect the physical and psychological health of workers and others, which includes identifying and mitigating risks related to violence, aggression and incivility. Unfortunately, two of the top sectors with the highest risk are retail and hospitality due to their high interaction with the public.
The industry response
It’s not only retailers that have noticed the uptick. Work health and safety regulators such as SafeWork NSW and WorkSafe Victoria, which run retail inspection programs to audit retailers, have broadened their focus from slips, trips and falls to sanctions that acknowledge when businesses are not adequately managing the risk of customer aggression and violence, including staff lacking the training to recognise and respond to customer aggression, violence and incivility.
At this time of year, when there’s a temporary increase in staff thanks to an influx of Christmas casuals who do not have the same training and experience as more established team members, training at scale can be difficult and costly. So what can retailers do to maximise staff protection?
1. Proactively identify hazards
Businesses should proactively identify risks associated with workplace aggression such as verbal abuse, physical threats, incivility and psychological harm due to high pressure environments, not just respond after incidents occur. These must be managed as rigorously as other workplace hazards with a risk management approach.
2. Control risks
Retailers can implement tangible and intangible approaches to control risks. They can design physical and online spaces to reduce opportunities for violence, such as having secure store layouts and clear sightlines to deter abuse, while establishing clear and enforceable policies to address incivility, harassment and violence, with reporting and escalation processes.
3. Train workers
The YouGov survey found that 82 per cent of respondents agree that improved customer behaviour training is essential to protect frontline staff. Training should include de-escalation and retreat techniques, how to recognise warning signs and how to report incidents effectively. Make sure to provide guidance on what actions to take if they witness an incident, such as offering support or seeking assistance.
While training workers is just one pillar of the industry’s approach, it is clear that a major barrier to reducing harm is that more comprehensive training is required than most retailers can offer through traditional classroom or workshop training, especially given the tight timeframes businesses often have to onboard Christmas casuals.
I deliberately sought a way to engage a young workforce in a short period and after a global search came across an Australian company called Start Beyond, that specialises in virtual (VR) and augmented reality AR) programs that deliver immersive training and learning solutions in a psychologically safe way.
Start Beyond had completed a successful pilot with Woolworths where over 40,000 employees had access to a bespoke VR program delivering results which far exceed traditional methods of learning (76% higher rate of knowledge retention, training completed 4x faster) and I was keen to know more.
What followed was several months of discussion where we were able to provide our real life experiences and qualified insights which have since gone on to informStart Beyond’s MINACA (which stands for ‘Managing Incivility, Negativity, and Customer Aggression’), where workers can practise de-escalation techniques in a safe, controlled environment.
Scenarios include a customer snippily questioning the employee’s competence right up to physically threatening behaviour. This allows trainees to learn through experience without real-world risks and gives them the confidence to work in high pressure environments where they are equipped to handle a range of customer behaviours.
The Australian Retailers Association, SafeWork NSW and WorkSafe Victoria all recognise the risks inherent in inadequate training in this area. We cannot train customers to behave better, but we can equip employees to note the signs of bad behaviour so they can address it early and safely.
Offering training like this builds foundational skills to address customer aggression, violence and incivility and gives workers the knowledge and tools to handle challenging situations confidently and safely to preserve their mental health and wellbeing.
Amy Towers is founder and principal consultant at Risk Collective.