It seems Australians are getting grumpier and more aggressive towards frontline staff. Just recently, we saw Australia’s first national supermarket workers’ strike. These workers were making several claims but amongst them was the demand for safer workplaces due to customer hostility.
Call centres, hospitality workers and other customer facing staff are increasingly dealing with aggressive and abusive customers as part of their daily work. Over time, these confrontations can develop into mental health issues which could lead to workers compensation claims.
In fact, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) anticipates workers compensation claims for mental health issues will double by 2030. CEDA also warns the costs of these claims could triple. By comparison, physical injury claims have significantly reduced in the last 20 years.
Businesses can be proactive when it comes to mental health claims
While you can’t control the public, you can control the expectations you place on your staff when handling aggressive and rude customers. You can also equip them with techniques to manage their stress levels. Here are 6 suggestions and please get in touch if you would like assistance implementing any of these suggestions.
Suggestion #1: Stand by your staff when dealing with poor behaviour from customers
It is never acceptable for customers to behave poorly, aggressively or rudely to your staff. You know that, so make sure your customers do too. It’s now common practice for counters to have signage asking customers to be polite. If you haven’t already done so, consider placing them in your customer service areas.
In addition to this, equip your staff with training on how to deal with inappropriate customer behaviour and make it part of your policies and procedures. For example, you may ask staff to politely ask grumpy customers to stop shouting or using abusive language and if it continues, give staff permission to walk away and stop serving the customer.
Another option is to have senior staff or management available whenever staff need assistance in dealing with poor customer behaviour.
Suggestion #2: Talking it out
Provide staff with opportunities to talk about a bad customer experience with their manager, a senior staff member or subscribe to an EAP (Employee Assistance Program). Often a sympathetic ear and coaching on how to handle the situation differently, will equip staff with useful techniques to employ next time.
Suggestion #3: Encourage breaks to calm down
Build a culture where staff feel empowered to take a break after a bad customer experience. Providing permission to unwind and recover after unpleasant experiences will help to prevent burnout and anxiety.
Suggestion #4: Make it a policy for staff to take lunch breaks away from their desk
Getting up, moving around and changing your environment all help to calm the brain and reduce stress levels. So make it part of your workplace policy that lunch breaks are taken away from the desk and ensure you lead by example.
Suggestion #5: Invest now to avoid workers comp claims later
Many businesses are facing budget constraints at the moment. However, investing in things like stress management or customer complaints training and EAP programs could actually save you money in the long term by preventing workers compensation claims.
Suggestion #6: Decompression strategies between work and home
When talking to your staff about stress management, don’t forget to give them tools they can use at home. This can include things like training their own families to give them space to unwind when they first get home. Or helping staff fit exercise into their schedules with shorter days or greater flexibility in their working hours.
Workplace health and safety is complex
There are enormous expectations on employers to keep staff healthy and safe. This includes their mental health which is an area we have significant experience with. You will find more information on workplace health and safety on our website as well as a downloadable Mental Health Checklist. Or you are welcome to get in touch with the End2end team by calling 02 8977 4002.