Nearly 42% of frontline workers have personally experienced customer aggression at work at least once in the past four weeks, and nearly 40% said customer aggression has increased over the past 12 months, according to a study from 3Gem, commissioned by HALOS.
“Organizations spend tremendous time and money recruiting and retaining frontline talent, yet many are overlooking one of the biggest factors contributing to burnout and turnover,” says Alan Ring, CEO at HALOS. “When customer incivility and aggression toward employees becomes normalized, it goes from being a safety and security issue to being an HR and commercial issue. With the right policies and tools in place, businesses can get ahead of it and demonstrate that there's simply zero tolerance for this behavior.”
Key takeaways:
· More than one-third (37%) of workers said their employer treats customer aggression as “just part of the job.“ Survey respondents shared a troubling range of run-ins with customers from verbal abuse to physical intimidation and assault, spitting and property damage.
- 86% of respondents said customer abuse or aggression increased their stress or anxiety at work in the last year.
- 84% said they have become more cautious or avoidant with customers.
- 80% reported lower job satisfaction.
- 37% said they had taken time off—or know of a co-worker who had—as a result of customer aggression.
- Only 55% of workers strongly or somewhat agreed that reporting abuse or aggression at work leads to meaningful action.
