"We’ll come back at the end of your shift to deal with you.” This is one of many threats that David endured as a Co-op store manager in West Yorkshire. He’s also been sworn at, coughed over and faced physical abuse by shoplifters, one of whom threw stock at David and punched his colleague.
“On the way out, one of the women lunged at me and dug her nails into my head. That night, I had to go home and explain to my two young girls why I had a massive cut on my head,” he says.
Sadly, David’s experience as a frontline worker is not uncommon. Retail workers report some 1,300 incidents of verbal and physical abuse each day, according to the British Retail Consortium. The hospitality chain Pret made headlines in August for equipping some London staff with body-worn cameras, as a way of capturing customer abuse.
Read more: Retail worker protections: set a new standard for frontline support
But retail is not the only sector affected. Nearly half (46%) of staff working in health and social care have experienced abuse at work, research by health recruitment specialist Florence suggests. The abuse includes being sworn at, shouted at and subject to racist comments.
Half (52%) of workers at water companies reported that the abuse they face has also increased: trade union GMB surveyed 1,300 water workers earlier this year and found staff who had been attacked with machetes, splashed with raw sewage or left with broken jaws after being physically abused.
“Frontline workers are being made subject to abuse across just about every sector, from emergency services staff and carers through to teachers, support staff and shop assistants,” says Tracy Foster, HR consultant at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson. The factors fuelling this endemic violence differs dependent on the industry.
GMB claims that the increased abuse faced by water workers, for example, is in direct correlation to “the negligent actions of water bosses in allowing sewage dumping to rocket”. Frustrations around the cost of living crisis play a role in retail incidents, says the Retail Trust, while staff shortages and post-pandemic delays have reportedly triggered the increase within healthcare.
“Many frontline or service workers find themselves caught in a perfect storm,” believes Lesley Cooper, founder and CEO of consultancy WorkingWell. Modern stressors mean that the public increasingly lacks the ability to control themselves in uncomfortable or disappointing situations, Cooper argues, leading people to take out their frustrations on “people who, often as a result of a long-hours culture or extended responsibilities due to downsizing, have less ability to absorb or bounce back from rudeness or unkindness”.
Impact
The impact of rising levels of abuse – for both frontline staff and the organisations they work for – is significant. On an individual level, “it impacts mental health, a person’s sense of value and self-esteem,” says David Rice, HR expert at resources platform People Managing People.
Researchers at the University of Manchester’s Violence and Aggression Research Network (VARN) carried out a series of focus groups with victims, and found that employee morale and productivity were negatively impacted by abuse. Incidents led to extended sick leave or even early retirement from work. People living in smaller communities were fearful of coming into contact with perpetrators, leading to a far broader impact on quality of life.
Healthcare workers experience post-traumatic stress disorder at twice the rate of the general public, research led by King’s College London found. This was in part as a result of their exposure to high levels of stress dealing with patients and the public.
For employers, “the result is that people don’t want jobs where they’re forced to be in frontline positions,” adds Rice. “The work is tough. If the organisation doesn’t support you, it’s unlikely you want to be there.
“It impacts performance because disengagement is not just possible, it’s likely. People are going to look for a way out of those jobs ASAP.”
In short, it’s a powder keg. So what steps can HR teams take to intervene, before it blows up?
How HR can help
Evidence suggests that currently, employers aren’t doing enough to support frontline workers. The trade union USDAW, for example, reported last May that 40% of retail workers affected by abuse said they felt a lack of support from management. In healthcare meanwhile, more than half (55%) of workers felt a lack of staff fuelled the problem, Florence’s research revealed, and a third (31%) of healthcare workers felt that incidents weren’t taken seriously.
Addressing this isn’t an easy task for HR teams, notes Gemma Dale, co-founder of the Work Consultancy and a former HR director. “It can be very difficult, potentially impossible, to entirely prevent all forms of abuse from happening, even when procedures or protocols are put in place,” she points out. “Therefore, the options are to minimise the potential of them occurring, but also to support those that have been impacted by it.”
HR professionals should start with a robust health and safety risk assessment, recommends Foster. “Collecting, monitoring and analysing data can provide a full picture that helps an organisation to identify trends across particular areas, premises or roles. This can inform any bespoke mitigation measures, such as extra security in certain locations, or additional support and training for employees who work alone or at unsociable times.”
Read more: How can technology keep frontline workers safe?
Initial assessment needs to be paired with mechanisms via which workers are encouraged and enabled to report abuse. VARN’s research, for instance, has found that many people simply accept verbal abuse, such as threats, as part of the job; they don’t think to lodge a formal report.
That needs to change, says Raechel Gavin, chief people officer at early intervention platform Sonder. “Organisations need better information from employees about the threats they face. They also need to develop workplace cultures – in particular, ones where people feel safe to raise issues – that will engage their employees more rapidly and actively,” she says.
HR teams need to create a culture in which it’s acknowledged that any abuse is unacceptable and should be reported, agrees Foster. “Creating a workplace culture in which staff know how and where they can report any incidents and have the confidence and trust in their employer that these will be effectively and swiftly dealt with, can have a powerful impact on employees,” she says.
“This requires strong leadership. If staff don’t feel safe coming forward or have the confidence an issue they raise will be seriously addressed, not only will it deter people from doing this, but it could also have implications for attendance, recruitment and retention as it affects employee morale.”
Creating that culture can start at onboarding, suggests Liz Sebag-Montefiore, director and co-founder of HR consultancy 10Eighty. At each stage of the recruitment process, she advises, “be really transparent about the work and the culture, and emphasise that the organisation believes in open, transparent communication. As a candidate, if I were told about the culture and that there are policies in place to prevent abuse happening at the outset, I’d feel safer that it would be addressed if I reported an incident.”
Introducing specialist training for staff that are most vulnerable to abuse is another proactive step that HR teams can take, she adds. “That could be on de-escalation techniques that allow them to recognise and remain calm in potentially abusive situations, such as active listening, recognising the difference between open and non-aggressive body language and how to communicate in clear language to avoid misunderstandings.”
It isn’t a one-and-done option though, she points out. “You can’t run a course and then expect to have no issues. It’s important to embed the learnings and create a feedback loop that encourages people to open up.”
Interventions
Prevention is only one side of the coin, of course. So how should HR teams respond when an incident does occur?
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all response, says Dale. “People will react very differently to different situations,” she points out.
“There is a role here for an employee assistance programme (EAP), and the provision of counselling. Depending on the severity of the incident or issue, this might be sufficient.
“In some cases, the organisation might need to provide more specialist forms of support, or additional support, over and above the typical EAP model of five to six counselling sessions.” Employees also need to be able to request what type of support would be helpful to them, she adds. This could mean changing job roles or duties for an interim period, if that’s operationally possible.
“Training line managers to identify and handle such issues is a key component in developing a culture in which there is both a proactive and responsive attitude towards supporting frontline workers receiving abuse,” adds Foster.
“Occupational health and EAPs can be significant interventions here, providing counselling on issues affecting wellbeing and performance. Emergency services workers, for example, may require anything from practical support for attending a court case or inquest as a witness through to psychological support where they have experienced physical or emotional trauma.”
The bottom line is that, as abuse escalates, HR teams need to act to protect staff and support them in the aftermath of any incident that occurs. As David reminds us: “It really does weigh on our mental health. It upsets my family, and I know they’re worried about my safety. This is stuff we shouldn’t have to put up with on a daily basis.”
This article was published in the September/October 2024 edition of HR magazine.
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