One in four retail workers experience aggressive or violent behaviour with returning a product was reported to be the largest trigger for in-store aggression, followed by customer frustration at increased prices, shows a recent survey, highlighting ongoing concerns for retail staff safety and wellbeing across the sector.
According to the findings of a new study of over 1,300 retail workers and 2,000 customers published today by national law firm Foot Anstey, 36 per cent of customers would feel safer if retail staff wore body worn cameras in-store.
55 per cent of those surveyed believe their employers deal with harassment grievances well, although the majority (51 per cent) say there are not enough laws to protect retail workers, rising to 63 per cent for disabled workers.
45 per cent of consumers have seen customers swearing in a retail setting and 59 per cent have heard them raise their voices. The introduction of self-service checkouts has also been divisive for customers, with over one third (36 per cent) feeling that self-service checkouts have made their retail experiences worse.
This figure rises to 47 per cent for consumers with disabilities and 53 per cent for consumers aged 65+ – demonstrating how customer demographics shape their experiences in-store. Despite this, some customers are calling for greater deployment of technologies to improve their retail experience and combat retail crime.
20 per cent of respondents who identify as gay or lesbian, have experienced physical violence – the highest among any demographic – and nearly 60 per cent reported hearing offensive language, including specifically homophobic abuse.
Gay and lesbian workers are more than twice as likely than their heterosexual colleagues to face unwanted sexual contact in the workplace.
Foot Anstey has undertaken the survey every two years since 2019, allowing changes and gains to be mapped. There have been improvements in how retailers are perceived by their employees with a 14 per cent decline in workers feeling there aren’t enough HR protocols in place and a 12 per cent decline in workers feeling their employer ‘doesn’t care’.
While there are green shoots of improvement, fundamentally the data makes clear that greater worker protection is needed. The new ‘assault of a retail worker’ proposed under the Crime and Policing Bill marks a shift in Government attitudes to more aggressively target abuse and assault facing retail workers.
Nathan Peacey, head of retail & consumer at Foot Anstey, comments, “Retailers are facing a perfect storm of challenges with ONS figures revealing that shoplifting is at an all-time high in England and Wales.
"We should therefore applaud retailers for the positive trends shown in retail worker sentiment towards employers.
“We could be, however, in danger of two tiers of retailers emerging. Whilst a majority of employers have listened to employees and implemented policies to protect them at work; there remains a minority who have failed to do so.
"Of those who’d raised a grievance at work, 51 per cent were unhappy with the outcome. Ensuring businesses deliver best practice and cater to the specific needs of all demographics is an important next chapter for tackling retail abuse.”
Patrick Howarth, employment partner at Foot Anstey, comments: “The findings are a salient reminder that retail abuse doesn’t just take place between customers and workers, but also between retail workers.
"Of the retail workers who’d experienced unwanted touching at work, 38 per cent had experienced this from a colleague, whilst of those who’d experienced inappropriate touching of a sexual nature, 40 per cent reported this from colleagues.
"We are hopeful that new duties to prevent sexual harassment at work will help reduce rates of colleague-on-colleague harassment. It is of paramount importance that the whole industry can work together to ensure retail workers feel protected at work – both on the shopfloor and in the staff room.”
Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the retail industry charity, Retail Trust comments, “Thoughtless, unkind, and aggressive behaviour continues to threaten the wellbeing and safety of those working in retail, as Foot Anstey’s latest research shows.
"It echoes findings for the Retail Trust’s respect retail campaign which found nearly two thirds of retail workers felt stressed and anxious going into work last year due to this abuse.
“Retailers are taking the threat to their staff’s physical safety very seriously and more of them are now working with us to help protect their wellbeing, with hundreds of people set to take part in free training we’re running this autumn.
"Shop workers, like everyone, deserves to feel happy and safe at work, and to be treated with respect, and the Retail Trust will continue to campaign for shoppers to change their behaviour.”