Striving to end worker abuse in the retail sector.
Staff from over 200 retailers, including Tesco, H&M, Co-op and John Lewis, have spoken out against the shocking wave of assaults and theft that is making them feel unsafe, anxious and likely to quit the industry.
One in four (24%) admit they don’t report abuse. Of these, more than two thirds (38%) didn’t feel like it would help and nearly a quarter (23%) said they had been put off by a previously unhelpful response from the police. A further 28 per cent said they didn’t know how to respond to or report abusive incidents
Abuse of all retail workers in not acceptable at any level.
Respect in Retail aims to put an end to this.
Two in five (41%) are now shouted at, spat on, threatened or hit every week, and nearly half (47%) are left feeling unsafe at work.
64 per cent said confronting a shoplifter had caused the abuse, and think incidents have increased in the last two years, and 56 per cent thought the rising cost-of-living was to blame for shoppers taking out their frustrations on them.
Another two thirds (67%) want stricter penalties for customers who abuse shop workers and a third (33%) believe the police should be taking more action.
‘I was punched in the face’
“In-store abuse happens to us daily,” revealed a 34-year-old customer advisor from Essex who spoke out on the condition of anonymity. “One customer…started threatening me saying, ‘Give me what I want or I will slam your face through the desk.’ Then he punched me in the face.
