Retail workers are facing a combination of customer abuse, financial pressure and worsening mental health, with new research highlighting the strain being placed on frontline employees.
Research from the Retail Trust found that nearly one in five retail workers (18%) are struggling to meet their monthly outgoings, while 71% said their mental health had deteriorated this year.
Customer behaviour is adding to the pressure. Almost two thirds (65%) of retail managers surveyed said customer abuse was affecting the wellbeing of their teams.
The findings come as the Retail Trust launches new resources designed to help retailers protect employee wellbeing, particularly as businesses prepare for the busy Christmas period.
Dealing with customer abuse beyond the shop floor
The risks facing retail employees are not necessarily confined to the workplace.
The Retail Trust has created new safety videos covering situations including being filmed without consent and being followed or approached outside work. Other learning content looks at antisocial behaviour in stores and how employees can recover following angry confrontations.
Last year, 30% of retail staff surveyed by the charity said they or a colleague had been recorded without permission.
One retail security guard, speaking anonymously to the Retail Trust, described encountering people outside work whom they had previously asked to leave a store.
“We deal with a lot of antisocial behaviour and a couple of times a month, I’ll be catching the bus or train home and see people we’ve had to ask to leave that day,” they said.
“It does put a thought in your head that they might come over to you and become hostile, and that can feel worrying because you’re outside of your workplace, your CCTV cameras and your usual protections.”
The worker also described being increasingly filmed while dealing with disruptive customers.
“If you’re dealing with a disruptive customer and ask them to leave, they can suddenly start filming you to try and catch you out,” they said.
Even when an incident has been handled correctly, the psychological impact can continue after the employee has left work.
“You can take that home and think ‘I didn’t do anything to deserve that.’”
Financial worries are affecting retail workers too
Customer abuse is only one of the pressures affecting retail employees.
The Retail Trust’s research found that 18% of staff were struggling to meet their monthly outgoings, while 31% described their financial health as poor.
Among employees whose mental health had deteriorated, 46% blamed the rising cost of living.
These pressures can become particularly acute towards Christmas, when shops become busier at the same time as household spending can increase.
Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust, said: “People tell us that the pressures they deal with range from difficult situations on the shop floor and outside work to significant money worries.
“The stress and uncertainty retail workers face often worsen in the run up to Christmas when shops are busier and finances become even more stretched.”
How can employers better support retail workers?
The Retail Trust has launched a new Living well in retail handbook aimed at helping employers and employees manage customer abuse, stress, uncertainty and financial worries.
It includes examples from employers including NEXT, Currys, Reiss and Bensons for Beds, looking at how organisations are approaching customer abuse, financial wellbeing and mental health.
The charity has also expanded the resources available through its Let’s Respect Retail campaign, which encourages better treatment of retail employees.
More than 300 retail businesses backed the campaign last Christmas, displaying messages in stores and shop windows asking customers to treat staff with kindness and introducing additional support for employees.
Marks & Spencer announced its support for the campaign this summer, and the Retail Trust plans to renew its call for respectful behaviour from shoppers in the run up to Christmas.
Brook-Carter said small interactions can make a difference during one of retail’s busiest periods.
“Our charity’s Let’s Respect Retail campaign will be calling on all of us to play our part by reminding everyone that something as simple as saying hello or thank you can make a real difference to someone working during one of the busiest times of the year.”
Building safer and more supportive retail workplaces
For employers, the findings highlight the importance of considering employee wellbeing beyond individual mental health interventions.
Retail workers may be dealing simultaneously with challenging customer behaviour, concerns about their personal safety, high workloads and financial pressures.
Alasdair Field, CEO of Reveal Media, said retailers were increasingly looking at how the wider working environment can help employees feel protected.
“The most forward-thinking are moving towards building environments where colleagues feel genuinely protected and supported, and where they know that if something happens, it will be taken seriously and acted on.”
The Retail Trust works with more than 200 retail employers to support staff mental health. More than 1,000 retail workers were surveyed for its latest research.
Its new handbook was created in partnership with Zebra Technologies, Reveal Media and Foot Anstey.
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