Addressing the hostility faced by front-line staff
With nearly 80% of the UK’s workforce working in customer-facing roles, mounting abuse is affecting staff across every sector – from retail to public services; financial institutions to our public transport networks.
Our research reveals more than half of customer-facing staff have experienced abuse from customers since the start of the pandemic – ranging from verbal abuse such as shouting and abusive language to, in the most extreme cases, physical assaults.
In July 2020 we launched our new campaign: Service with Respect. BBC Breakfast helped highlight this important issue, interviewing our CEO, Jo Causon, about the aims of the initiative.
On 8 December 2021, The Times published an abridged version of this open letter calling for action to tackle the issue of abuse against public-facing workers.
Following many months of campaigning, we have achieved one of the core aims of our Service with Respect campaign: a change in the law to protect customer-facing workers from abuse – find out more here.
Ian King Live (April 2022)
BBC Radio 4 Today (Dec 2021)
Campaign supporters
Parliamentary Champions
This amendment is a great success that addresses the concerns of workers providing a public service.
— Natalie Bennett (@natalieben) December 16, 2021
Thank you to @UsdawUnion and @instituteofcs for your tireless work on this.#CampaigningWorks#HouseofLords#PoliceBill pic.twitter.com/Hi7JIYTTaH
Pleased to support @instituteofcs #servicewithrespect campaign.
— Natalie Bennett (@natalieben) March 31, 2021
Essential workers - in supermarkets, doing deliveries, driving buses and many other roles - need to be treated with respect.
And their skills acknowledged and properly paid@LivingWageUK pic.twitter.com/fUCdvkPLAj
Since the start of #COVID19, more than half of customer-facing workers have experienced verbal or physical abuse at work.
— Olivia Blake MP (@_OliviaBlake) August 19, 2021
In September, I’ll be bringing a motion to Parliament to make abuse of a frontline worker a criminal offence.
Together we can #EndTheAbuse ✊🏿✊🏼✊🏾 1/2 pic.twitter.com/w45x5FVidg
Association and union supporters
What your organisation can do
We know from our research that the majority of staff feel well supported by their employer, but as we continue to face tough business conditions ahead, we urge all organisations not to let this fall by the wayside. We’re asking that organisations across all sectors:
- support the campaign by displaying the logo and spreading the word on social media
- adopt a zero tolerance approach to hostility and abuse against your employees
- hold regular catch ups with your front-line staff and keep close to what is happening in their day – encourage them to report incidents
- invest in appropriate training and tools for staff to handle the new (and increasingly challenging) duties they are being tasked with, and to deal with potential conflict as it arises
Show your support
Please show your support for this campaign – and the safety and wellbeing of all front-line workers – by displaying the campaign logo on your website.
Please also spread the message on social media using the hashtag #servicewithrespect and tag us @instituteofcs (Twitter) and @Institute of Customer Service Institute (LinkedIn).
Campaign resources
Explore our wide range of Service with Respect products, including:
- Pin Badges
- A6 Window Stickers
- T-Shirts
- Posters
- Roll-up banners
Social Media card