This article is provided by BRC Associate Member Aon.
Successfully Mitigating and Managing Retail Violence and Abuse
A rising tide of violence and abuse against their workers means retailers need to consider how they can better help protect their shop floor colleagues and reduce the longer-term hidden costs.
Over 475,000 incidents of violence and abuse were targeted at retail workers during 2022-23 according to the latest figures from the BRC’s Crime Survey 2024. The daily figure of 1,300 incidents a day was up from over 850 in 2021-22 and nearly three times the pre-pandemic figure of 450 in 2019-2020.
In turn, these levels are inflicting a significant cost on retailers not just in immediate financial terms, but also in the hidden and underrepresented costs relating to the workforce. These can include lost hours due to mental health concerns, recruitment and retention challenges, the need to refresh training needs, as well as potentially higher insurance costs; all of which are not always fully understood by retailers when accounting for the overall impact of the violence and abuse risk on their business.
The creation of a safer operating environment for retailers is ultimately a societal issue and one that demands more intervention from government, local authorities and bodies such as the police and justice system, but apart from this important need for action retailers may want to consider if there are some things they could do to mitigate the problem themselves and help employees, particularly when it comes to considering their overall people strategy.
In practice, that means:
- Making sure retailers have the right selection processes in place to ensure they are identifying and attracting people who are well suited to the roles and the organisation in this changed environment
- Ensuring candidates are aware of the realities of working in retail
- Improving retention to hold on to their best staff
- A reset of their governance framework
- Better training and risk assessments to help manage violence and abuse issues
- A comprehensive review of wellbeing and benefits programmes
- A review of claims defensibility when it comes to managing any potential liabilities related to violence and abuse.
Physical Threats and Harassment
The BRC Crime Survey found that shoplifters have become “more violent and likely to threaten violence”, while asking customers for proof of ID represents another flash point. And the main reasons why there has been this unprecedented recent growth in violence and abuse? Many retailers put it down to a lack of police response to retail crime and few prosecutions.
The BRC also lists a greater willingness from gangs to get involved in retail crime, as well as a general rise in anti-social behaviour around stores, while it’s likely that the cost-of-living crisis is leading to more violent and abusive incidents. It should be noted that the perpetrators of violence and abuse are not just customers; in some cases, these incidents can originate from co-workers.
Recruitment Challenges
Given this concerning backdrop, there is an inevitable knock-on effect for retailers when it comes to finding and retaining talent within the retail space. And, when businesses are not getting the right talent on board, it can be increasingly difficult to have the people with the skills and temperament in place to manage the difficult situations that can easily escalate.
Now, more than ever, it’s about showcasing their employee value proposition particularly in areas like wellbeing and support, and clearly communicating the behaviours prospective employees will need to be successful in their role. Taking these steps is proven to broaden the potential pool of applicants, attract a more diverse set of candidates who might not have thought a career in retail was for them, while positively influencing retention rates.
Team managers also play a hugely influential role in retention. It’s important that retailers ensure their managers have the appropriate skills to manage the physical and mental wellbeing of shop floor staff and can help them deal with the difficult scenarios they are likely to face. It’s also a manager’s role to know where to deploy people in store to make sure that the particular environment they are working in is matched with the right characteristics in terms of resilience and conflict resolution.
Governance Review
A governance review is also vital. Retailers know the risk of violence and abuse towards their employees is ever present, so documenting that risk assessment and identifying those employees most at risk, while putting in control measures to prevent violence or abuse becomes ever more critical. There are many additional measures that can help, such as the use of panic alarms, body cameras, designing the workplace so there is good visibility, and communications campaigns against violence in the workplace. It’s vital that workers are aware of the risks and know what to do if an incident escalates.
Clear guidelines around what employees need to do if they see a shoplifter, for example, must be in place. Should an employee challenge the individual, knowing it could escalate into a violent or abusive situation? This is where the governance approach comes in, in terms of identifying what actions workers must take and the policies they need to follow.
Establishing this is not always easy given a scenario where an employee intervenes, against policy, and is injured. The retailer might want to support their employee for doing the “right thing” even though that employee might have contravened the written policy. In this fast-changing environment, many retailers will need to revisit their policies given some of their documentation might be outdated and no longer relevant for the current environment.
Providing Help and Support
The next step for consideration is the help available when an incident such as a physical assault or other traumatic event occurs. Providing appropriate support and counselling post-incident is important for the victim of an incident as well as their colleagues and even families, with appropriate debriefs for managers too so they can learn from incidents.
Measures available include onsite solutions like workshops and one-to-one counselling sessions, but there may be people who need ongoing support and counselling. Some employers have mental health first aiders who should have training in how to respond after a traumatic incident, given the potential for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder post incident.
Explore the Benefits
From an employee benefits perspective, it might be that a retailer’s insurer provides access to an employee assistance programme (EAP) for support which can be valuable. And, are there additional benefits like personal accident cover that could be added to the package to help provide support for someone who picks up an injury? Again, this provision could add to the overall employee value proposition.
Despite taking many of these steps however, retailers will continue to experience claims from employees who have been victims of violence or abuse. Recent research from solicitors Forbes revealed that violent incidents in retail over the last year could cost the sector more than £50 million in personal injury claims from staff. It’s evident that claims volumes are spiking, which will ultimately lead to higher insurance costs for retailers. So, given the media profile of this worrying rise in incidents, consideration should be focused on ensuring the business doesn’t become a soft target to alleged, staged or spurious claims; it can often be the case that, in difficult financial times, a spike of claims will emerge from a common trend. Ensuring that the business is well prepared and has evolved a robust approach to claim defensibility is vital.
Financial Costs and Reputational Damage
Ultimately, it’s critical that retailers reconsider how they manage their people risk ranging from recruitment through to areas like workplace risk assessment, governance and training. For brands that don’t pay enough attention, and make the appropriate investment, they could not only make themselves vulnerable to an increasing number of liability claims from their employees, but also see a significant growth in both financial costs and reputational damage.
As the nature of this threat continues evolve, it will always be the case that employee safety and wellbeing is the ultimate priority for every business affected.
However, given the wider implications of violence and abuse on employees, retailers must ask themselves whether the increased cost to the business is truly understood? And secondly, have they refreshed their people risk strategy in response?
For more information, contact giles.patterson@aon.com or daniel.fox@aon.com
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