Campaign highlights abuse and violence experienced by customer-facing staff

#TogetherAgainstHate campaign aims to raise awareness

- Sector News
16.10.20

Nationwide Building Society, Network Rail and Co-Op Group have joined forces with Channel 4 to highlight the abuse and violence carried out against customer-facing staff.

The #TogetherAgainstHate campaign features recordings and CCTV footage of verbal and physical abuse experienced by each of the companies’ employees, to illustrate some of the 400-plus abuse incidents that UK customer-facing staff experience every single day.

Norrie Courts, Director of Stations at Network Rail, said: “There have been fewer passengers since March, with many people working from home, but our station staff – whether working on a gate line, undertaking extra cleaning, offering travel advice or passenger mobility assistance – have continued to turn up for work throughout the pandemic to ensure key workers and others relying on rail can travel and use stations safely.

“The last thing these hard-working and dedicated staff should face is violence and abuse, yet it happens all too often. We urge all passengers and station users to treat rail staff with respect and consider the impact their harmful words or actions could have on the mental and physical health of others.”

Coop News: Co-op Group joins ad campaign to highlight abuse of retail staff

Maybo perspective

Workplace violence is a real and present challenge for retail and transport staff due to the frontline nature of their roles, remote working, sheer diversity and unpredictability of human behaviour. Unless carefully managed, minor incidents can quickly escalate into aggressive and challenging situations, which can represent a safety risk to staff and reflect poorly on your organisation.

Maybo training programmes equip staff with the knowledge and skills to manage difficult and challenging interactions in a safe and respectful way. This helps them provide excellent service to all customers, including potentially vulnerable individuals.

A multi-strategy approach is required which is why we support retail and travel safety schemes and cross agency projects working with employers, local authorities and the Police.