staff safety
The retailers making it their business to invest in safety
Head of Profit Protection at The Works, David Pardoe, speaks about one strategy he is employing to increase staff safety
Britain’s retail and hospitality sector is facing a widespread problem. Abuse continues to rise, with over 800,000 incidents of verbal abuse reported in the 2022 ACS Crime Report and 35,216 violent incidents estimated in the sector throughout the year. Too often, employees do not feel safe, and this is leading to a recruitment and retention crisis.
Research is clear in its findings that safety concerns are real for millions of retail workers and that many employers still underestimate their concerns and feel it is hard to know what they can do to protect their employees.
It’s an issue that not only matters for employers and employees, but it also matters for our wider economy. Workers are increasingly reporting that these types of negative experiences are contributing to their decision to leave a job. A recent report, published in May 2022 by the Retail Trust found that one in five (21%) British retail workers and nearly a third (31%) of people working for the UK’s biggest retailers are planning to quit the sector altogether.
In the last five years alone, concerns about personal safety (either a general feeling or because of a specific event) played a role in 22% of front-line workers leaving a role. According to Peoplesafe research, 57% of employees have concerns about facing aggression from customers at work, while one in four worry about their general workplace safety at least once a week.
The fast-changing retail landscape requires increased focus on staff safety
The Works is one of a growing number of British retailers who recognise this escalating issue and has personal safety at the top of its agenda. When David Pardoe joined the company as Head of Profit Protection in December 2021, there were around 400 incidents of aggression against store colleagues being reported. With over 500 stores in the UK, this equated to almost one incident per store, every day.
When that figure reached 1,000 earlier this year, the nationwide picture became more like two incidents, every day, across all stores. At this point it was clear to David and his team that the standard store alarms and surveillance were no longer enough.
“Acts of aggression and violence towards retail workers have become so prevalent across the sector now, that many employers run the risk of the problem racing out of their control”, says David Pardoe. “The retail landscape has changed beyond all recognition, and we have experienced that first-hand in our own stores.”
“Colleagues who have this kind of experience at work are left feeling very vulnerable and many will not want to come back to work. We lost one extremely talented Store Manager because we failed to make them feel safe. As a fiercely people-focussed business we have realised that it is incumbent on us to protect our staff 24/7 and that means both inside and outside of official working hours.”
The Works now allocate Peoplesafe personal safety devices to any member of staff whose personal safety may be compromised. “We issue the devices to anyone we deem to be at risk”, continues David. “This may commonly be store colleagues but could also be someone we feel is at risk of being unsafe on their way in and out of work. The relationship we have with our staff is not a 9-5 thing. One of our staff has been at risk of harassment from a customer who has targeted them outside of work and we will look to provide them with a device or app to provide that level of protection.”
The personal safety devices allow The Works employees to record any incidents of abuse by activating the SOS Alarm no matter where they are in the store, which will automatically alert Peoplesafe’s 24/7 Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). A highly trained ARC Controller will then follow a pre-defined escalation process and, if necessary, notify the emergency services with the power to bypass 999 for the fastest possible response.
"By providing this service to our people, we aim to live and breathe the people-centric values that have always formed the foundation for our business. We believe it’s fundamental that every colleague in our team feels safe and supported.”
