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https://theconversation.com/as-retail-workers-brace-for-the-silly-season-this-20c-solution-could-dial-down-customer-verbal-abuse-269074>
"More than 1.4 million people are employed in Australian retail and fast food
businesses. Sadly, it’s not always a happy or safe place to work.
A union survey of more than 4,600 frontline workers found 87% had experienced
customer verbal abuse in 2023 – consistent since 2016.
But incidents have become more frequent: in 2023, 76% of those who’d been
abused experienced it daily, weekly or monthly, compared with 54% just two
years earlier.
Retailers have spent millions on beefed up staff security measures, including
body-worn cameras.
The lead up to Christmas is a notoriously bad time for customer violence and
abuse against workers. On Thursday, a large collective of retail groups
launched a national “Be Kind in Retail” campaign, urging shoppers to be
compassionate and patient over Christmas.
But there is one ultra-cheap solution, trialled since 2020, which our
three-part study has now confirmed seems to significantly reduce customers’
intention to verbally abuse workers."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
