The findings of a new study of over 1,300 retail workers and 2,000 customers published today by national law firm Foot Anstey has revealed that one in four retail workers experience aggressive or violent behaviour and 36% of customers would feel safer if retail staff wore body worn cameras in-store. Returning a product was reported to be the largest trigger for in-store aggression, followed by customer frustration at increased prices.
LGBTQ+ workers most at risk
20% of respondents who identify as gay or lesbian, have experienced physical violence – the highest among any demographic – and nearly 60% 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.
Pressure on retailers to better protect staff
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% decline in workers feeling there aren’t enough HR protocols in place and a 12% decline in workers feeling their employer ‘doesn’t care’. 55% of those surveyed believe their employers deal with harassment grievances well, although the majority (51%) say there are not enough laws to protect retail workers, rising to 63% for disabled workers.
Customer concerns on the rise
45% of consumers have seen customers swearing in a retail setting and 59% have heard them raise their voices. The introduction of self-service checkouts has also been divisive for customers, with over one third (36%) feeling that self-service checkouts have made their retail experiences worse. This figure rises to 47% for consumers with disabilities and 53% 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.
Deploying technology to tackle crime
With 36% of customers calling on the industry to deploy body-worn cameras, a number of retailers have already begun rolling out the technology. Both Lidl and Sainsbury’s have implemented the use of body-worn cameras in store, whilst Asda, Co-op, Aldi and Tesco are reportedly trialling the devices. Facial recognition technology is another method being used to deter and identify shoplifters, with Sainsbury’s the latest to announce they are trialling the technology.
Whilst technology can help to deter and identify criminals, having appropriate legal and HR protections to safeguard employees and deal with the fallout after an incident is paramount. Though technology is one method to help tackle the rising tide of retail crime, greater security measures, cooperation between police and retailers, Government policy and better employee protections all play their part.
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% 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% had experienced this from a colleague, whilst of those who’d experienced inappropriate touching of a sexual nature, 40% 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.”
Lucy Whing, crime policy adviser at the British Retail Consortium, comments: “Unfortunately, these findings come as no surprise. Retail crime has been spiralling out of control over the past few years, with incidents of violence and abuse climbing to over 2,000 per day. Victims are ordinary people – teenagers taking on their first job, carers looking for part-time work, parents working around childcare. It is unacceptable that any of these people should ever go to work fearing for their safety.
“The government is taking action to address retail crime through the new Crime and Policing Bill which will introduce a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker. This will improve the visibility of violence against staff so that police can allocate appropriate resources to the challenge. But this Bill needs to go further and protect all retail staff working in customer facing roles, including delivery drivers, just as the Workers Protection Act does in Scotland.”
The Retail Trust is running free online training to help more shop staff deal with the rise in antisocial and threatening behaviour, with the first of three sessions scheduled for Tuesday 21 October. Attendees will be shown how to adjust their body language, tone of voice and choice of words to manage challenging situations, and how to recover following an incident.
It forms part of the Retail Trust’s Let’s respect retail campaign to end abuse and support staff and people can register to take part by visiting retailtrust.org.uk/respect.
