Tackling The Epidemic Of Violence And Abuse Against Service Workers

There is a growing and uncomfortable issue that we as a society need to address. It’s something that impacts some of our most important customer service workers, from those working in retail outlets and hospitality, to employees manning call centers and social media channels, right through to those coming into our homes and working in our public spaces. This issue is the rising levels of abuse, insults, intimidation, threats and physical violence that is fast becoming a normal part of working life.

Violence and abuse - the scale of the problem

In North America, 75% of workers report being impacted by workplace violence. Meanwhile, in the UK, data from the Institute of Customer Service shows that 42% of customer-facing workers experienced customer abuse and hostility in the past six months, up nearly 20% year-on-year.

This is despite many working long hours and dedicating their lives to making sure our homes, stores, third spaces, transport systems, and infrastructure run smoothly, efficiently and are welcoming spaces for the community.

This is a societal problem being faced on a global scale and is having a devastating impact not only on a personal level, but also on businesses and public services – and in turn on economies.

Distress To Individuals

These incidents cause deep and lasting distress to millions of individuals and can lead to increased stress, burnout, anxiety, and fear. There is a clear correlation between being the victim of hostility and suffering from negative mental health or even physical health.

According to a study by the European Foundation for Improvement of Living and Working Conditions across 36 countries, people who experience adverse social behavior in the workplace are around three times more likely to experience physical and emotional burnout and almost twice as likely to suffer from anxiety or be at risk of depression.

The data from The Institute shows that nearly 40% of people who work in customer facing roles are considering quitting because of the abuse they receive. Furthermore, 26% of those facing abuse have taken time off work of because of the physical or psychological abuse they have experienced. Through this research, we have heard extreme examples such as service workers being spat on, having drinks thrown on them, being physically pushed and kicked, and receiving extreme verbal, racist, and homophobic abuse.

This shows that these incidents aren’t causing deep distress to individuals, but have a wider impact on workplace morale, staff turnover and business productivity.

Addressing The Customer Abuse Issue

Despite the clear impact this is having in individuals and organisations, I am deeply concerned that the issue isn’t being properly addressed. In the UK, 44% of those who took part in the Institute’s Service with Respect survey say their employer has no clear procedures for reporting customer abuse. This suggests a concerning disconnect between some employers and their staff, and that workers in these situations have little faith the abusers will be banned or sanctioned by their employers.

There is a strong need to recognize the seriousness of the situation, demonstrate a duty of care and act decisively to put in place compassionate and deterrent led measures to address the issue, including having clear reporting systems, banning offenders or excluding them from organisations, and training staff and management to know how to deal with incidents of abuse and provide compassionate and effective support for colleagues.

However, this isn’t an issue that businesses can solve alone. It needs the combined efforts and backing of law enforcement and law makers too.

Surprisingly , in many countries including the US, standalone laws against abuse of customer service workers don’t exist and there is little that authorities can do to hold perpetrators to account unless incidents become physically violent or there is repeated harassment. In many instances, there is a complicated patchwork of protections that varies country by country, even state by state with the onus often falling on employers, rather than on law enforcement to address the issue.

That being said, we are seeing long overdue progress in some areas. Driven by spikes in incidents, especially since the pandemic, lawmakers are now playing catch up and introducing specific laws for abuse of workers to punish offenders.

For instance in the UK, assaults on retail workers are set to be made a standalone offence under the new Crime and Policing Bill. In 2021 in Germany, their criminal code was updated to provide protections for public sector staff or those working for public services, but it didn’t extend to protect private sector workers, such as those who work in retail or other service organisations.

Whilst these more specific laws demonstrate progress, they are still stopping short of providing adequate protections for all customer service workers. The UK’s Crime and Policing Bill only goes halfway to solving the issue by singling out retail workers, but neglecting all other groups which make up the majority of customer service roles in the country. In Germany, the opposite issue is the case, and legislation misses protections for those working in retail, along with other private workplaces like call centers, restaurants and banks.

These attempts to tackle the issue means we are missing opportunities to stop this epidemic from spreading and can appear to be not fully thought through.

Respect Goes Both Ways

We should not be excusing or ignoring the real, prevalent issue of poor customer service. Respect goes both ways, and customers should expect well-trained, empowered colleagues supported by the leaders, systems and safeguards they need to serve customer well. Indeed, all these things help to reduce customer frustration.

There is a big difference, however, between the legitimate annoyance you might feel as a customer who has received poor experience, and allowing that irritation to tip over in abuse or violence. Frontline workers need protecting alongside service levels improving.

This isn’t just a case of a small number of isolated incidents, but a concerning global trend impacting every sector – from retail to transport and infrastructure, right through to financial services, hospitality, and utilities – that threatens mental wellbeing and health of people globally, as well as having a significant impact on business’s bottom lines. This should be particularly concerning when many global economies are facing sluggish growth and low productivity.

To address it, we need public and private sector leaders to work together, recognize the role they can play and act to introduce the robust deterrents and protections needed and work to foster a culture of respect, understanding and appreciation for the customer service workers we interact with every day.