Research by The Retail Trust suggests two in five retail workers face abuse from customers on a weekly basis. The charity has said that a rise in shoplifting, driven in part by the cost-of-living crisis, has coincided with an increase in threats against staff. 

Many of the big chains are urging police forces across the UK to offer staff more protection as more than half have said they feel unsafe at work. 300,000 incidents of shoplifting, abuse, violence and anti-social behaviour have been recorded by Co-op alone so far this year, marking a 40% increase compared with the same period in 2022, with the police failing to attend the majority of the cases reported.

Physical solutions such as body worn cameras can deter anti-social behaviour, however much of their effectiveness depends on the right training, enabling staff to utilise them as part of a de-escalation approach.

One of the challenges that retailers face is the difficulty in releasing staff for specialist conflict management and de-escalation training without losing their workforce. At Maybo, we can offer a blended approach to learning, where environments such as Virtual Classroom training or eLearning provide solutions that minimise staff abstraction.

Maybo also offers expertise in areas that are often overlooked when it comes to violence and abuse in the retail space. We can provide training for Supervisors or Managers who may have to respond to incidents and offer immediate support for staff who have been affected.

To learn more about the challenges retailers and staff are facing, read the BBC’s article here.

Maybo virtual Conflict Management course | Maybo eLearning for customer facing roles