Central Safety Group Melbourne

Facing a rise in customer aggression

It is always such a pleasure to have a speaker who is so knowledgeable about their topic and, therefore, so engaging. Such was the case with Amy Lynes' presentation to us. Not that it was a pleasant topic to speak about -some of the statistics and scenarios Amy shared with us were quite shocking.

Amy is a member of the legal practice that sits within the National Retail Association (NRA) and their data shows that customer aggression was already a big issue before Covid and has increased since. I'm sure many of us are aware of how this has led to an exodus of staff from many businesses. Retailers of all sizes are turning to the NRA for guidance, and there has been sky-rocketing demand for their courses that deal with this issue as well as others, such as sexual harrassment. It is interesting to note, however, that there is only so much a staff member can do when the root cause is the badly-behaved customer.

Amy and her colleagues work actively to raise awareness in various capacities, such as making submissions to draft bills and developing campaigns -e.g. the "No-one deserves a serve" campaign with the union (Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association). She noted, however, that laws are made, but the issue becomes whether those laws are used.

Amy talked about innovative approaches by some retailers and how they need to be tailored to particular circumstances. For instance, depending on the type of brand as well as the location. In the case of the latter, the approach for a street-front store is different from one in a shopping mall.

One striking take-home message for me was that, for young workers in fast food and retail, it is often their first job. They may not know what is acceptable or unacceptable and, therefore, what should be reported, especially when it comes to sexual harassment. Not to mention that they are unlikely to be equipped with the skillls to deal with difficult situations. Something all of us should be aware of when we are customers.

That is why it's important to have organisations like NRA available as a resource for employers and employees alike. As Amy said, it is so helpful to learn from others. That is the CSG ethos as well of course!

Financial members may be interested to revisit our March 2020 presentation Dealing with customer abuse (log in first). Kenn Rogers spoke about how the Reject Shop deals with customer abuse of their young workforce.

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Amy Lynes

Date & Time: Tuesday 11 July 2023, noon

CSG Hybrid Lunchtime Presentation -via zoom or in person

Speaker: Amy Lynes, Senior Workplace Relations Consultant, National Retail Association

Topic: Facing a rise in customer aggression

Retail workers are currently confronted by a trend of rising bad behaviour from customers, manifest as frustration, anti-social behaviour and aggression, which is affecting employees’ workplace safety and wellbeing.

This issue will be discussed in a presentation on 11 July by Amy Lynes, Senior Workplace Relations Consultant with the National Retail Association (NRA).....read more

Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 8 May 2023.  When booking, please ensure you select the July Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.

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Customer abuse: The Reject Shop’s frontline solutions

What a timely presentation we had at our March meeting! With the current outbreak of bizarre behaviour from shoppers brawling over toilet paper, it is the workforce of young people at the front line, in supermarkets and retail outlets like The Reject Shop, that are bearing the brunt.

Kenn Rogers' information-packed presentation gave real insight into the kinds of behaviours his staff has to deal with at normal times as well as in these peculiar ones. He was determined to turn this around and, in conjunction with Griffith University in Queensland and icare NSW, The Reject Shop took part in a pilot program called 'Respect and Resilience'.

The program has already had a positive impact on the workforce who took part in the pilot, so now it can be expanded throughout the organisation. Key elements include a range of training, workplace modifications and developing a peer-to-peer network. Kenn handed around an example of a weekly diary that was developed: a user-friendly tool for workers to record incidents and interactions. This has been used both to inform aspects of the initial program and to modify it during regular reviews.

This excellent presentation was very well received by a good turn-out of members and non-members alike.

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Staff safety and difficult customer interactions

A large audience was fascinated by Kristen Richardson's presentation that contained very useful information about dealing with difficult customers. Ineterestingly, the majority of difficult customer interactions arises from the trauma of delivering hard messages that have life changing impacts on customers. However, the issue of customer aggression was the primary focus of Kristen's presentation and the most relevant to the CSG audience.

In the past the bank’s safety strategy was focussed on the risk of robberies, which informed both the design of branches and the staff's actions. Nowadays incidents of robberies have decreased dramatically and so the focus has needed to shift accordingly. The bank’s strategy has developed to become multi-faceted and flexible to deal with a range of scenarios.

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