Over 100 UK CEOs and senior leaders from businesses including Sainsbury’s, DPD, Laithwaites Wine, Sky and more have signed an open letter calling for the Government to make assaulting a public-facing worker across every sector a standalone offence.
Issued in association with the Institute of Customer Service (ICS), the letter reports that a shocking 43% of customer-facing workers experienced customer hostility in the past six months - a rise of 20% year-on-year.
As a result, over a quarter of the 1,000 workers surveyed by the ICS said they’d taken time off work as a result of such abuse, and 70% of frontline staff said the planned law change to protect retail workers from abuse should be expanded to cover all sectors.
Of those who’ve experienced verbal hostility, the number facing threats of physical violence has been the highest ever recorded at 21%.
The survey also found 37% of customer service workers are considering leaving their jobs due to aggressive customer behaviour. Furthermore, 26% of those experiencing abuse have taken time off work as a result, at an average of eight days’ sick leave.
Currently, the Government is proposing an offence of assaulting a retail worker in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is before parliament. While this is welcomed by the ICS, its research conducted over the last five years shows abuse of frontline workers is a growing problem and endemic across all sectors.
Jo Causon, CEO of the ICS (left), said: “The rising abuse of customer-facing workers is a societal issue which we must collectively face.
“In every sector, we’re seeing an increase in abuse and threats of violence against service workers - people we all rely on every day, representing 60% of our workforce. Businesses are also seeing the impact on turnover and sick leave as a result of their staff suffering intolerable threats and violence.”
“We all have our part to play in ending this abuse, from consumers to business leaders, right through to Government. We now have an opportunity to protect public-facing workers across all sectors from assault by making such incidents a standalone offence. This will act as a strong deterrent, sending a clear signal that abuse against service staff will not be tolerated.”
Over 1,000 customer-facing professionals were surveyed as part of the ICS’s Service with Respect tracker survey, which has now collected over 12,000 responses in the past five years). The campaign aims to highlight and prevent abuse against public-facing workers.
https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/news/service-with-respect/
The open letter referenced above is available to read here.
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