Frontline staff are facing rising aggression. Employers need to reduce risks and provide support.
In many European countries in recent years, an upsurge in violence has been reported against frontline workers, such as firefighters, emergency responders and police offers. In Germany, for example, there were many attacks last New Year’s Eve, causing ‘terrifying’ experiences for emergency staff. In the United Kingdom, a hospital trust reported a 17 per cent increase in a year in abuse of staff—by patients and members of the public—and over half of National Health Service staff report that such incidents have increased, year on year. This is in spite of numerous safety measures and interventions to reduce the toll.
It has become a feature particularly for frontline workers who regularly interact with members of the public and so become targets for aggressive behaviour. This can affect not only their individual mental and physical health but also the condition of their organisations, while placing a strain on society through increased welfare expenditure.
Power asymmetries
Two research teams, one at the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the other at the University of Manchester in the UK, conducted empirical studies investigating workplace aggression across various occupational groups between 2020 and 2022. There were two key findings.
First, the pandemic led to a sharp increase in workplace aggression, in part due to changing rules and regulations—such as on mask-wearing and social distancing. Secondly, frontline workers, especially in providers of services, often experienced power asymmetries with customers (or users so redefined). The dominant social narrative considers the customer as ‘king’ (or ‘queen’), and so puts the worker in a subservient position. Power in the interaction is clearly demarcated and, according to research participants in both studies, this can become problematic if customers misuse their position.
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Aggressive customer behaviour has different facets: verbal (name-calling, insults, swearing, threats of violence), sexual (inappropriate remarks, sexualised jokes, inappropriate touching) and physical (hitting, spitting, throwing objects). From the 106 interviews conducted for the German study, more than 500 incidents of work-related aggression emerged, underlining how it had become part of frontline employees’ daily experiences. The research in the UK found that new types of abusive behaviour had become common since the pandemic, with numerous cases of perpetrators spitting or coughing on workers during altercations, an observation echoed in the media.
Aggressive customer behaviour affects the health and wellbeing of interactive workers. Many of those interviewed in the German study reported being unable to switch off after a difficult situation, feeling emotionally exhausted and even in some cases betraying symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In the UK, organisational representatives shared stories of workers running into perpetrators outside of work, a phenomenon especially common in smaller communities. Experiences of workplace aggression thus did not always end after work and could affect quality of life more broadly.
Occupational hazard
The nature of frontline work increases the risk of experiencing aggression at work, as the International Labour Organization notes. This suggests that workplace aggression should be more widely recognised as an occupational hazard in certain sectors and occupations.
Risk assessments are a core instrument to design interactive work in a humane and health-promoting way. Employers can thus identify triggers of aggressive behaviour and take consequent measures to reduce its incidence. Indeed, EU regulation recognises that employers are responsible for the health and safety of their workers and obliges them to carry out risk assessments.
The data collected in Germany and the UK not only underline the importance of identifying and addressing risks but also highlight the importance of workers reporting incidents. These are often played down or normalised as ‘just part of the job’, so employees do not feel able to seek support when targeted—and often sense there is no point even in reporting episodes as appropriate support would not be forthcoming.
Employees need protection in two ways. First, employers should take measures aimed at reducing the occurrence of difficult interactions, such as avoiding long waiting times and queues. Secondly, when such episodes occur, they should encourage reporting and support the coping process.
Win-win-win situation
Workers are not the only ones to benefit from better policies and practices regarding workplace aggression. Employers would also gain as workers are less likely to take sickness absence or exit the workforce, reducing lost working hours and personnel turnover, so leading to higher productivity. This would also be favourable to the welfare budget, as greater employee protection would likely come with reduced numbers taking early retirement.
Hence, a win-win-win situation—for employees, employers and the state—can be created. In any event, the notion of ‘customer sovereignty’ should be replaced by equal partnership in interactions with workers.
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Nadja Dörflinger is a senior researcher in the 'Changing World of Work' department at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) in Germany. Her interests include employment relations, labour markets, trade unions and service work in a comparative perspective.
Jonas Wehrmann is a research associate in the 'Changing World of Work' department at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) in Germany and a PhD student at Kassel University, focused on identifying, assessing and mitigating hazards in interactive service work.
Dr Kara Ng is a presidential fellow of organisational psychology at Alliance Manchester Business School. Her research interests include workplace bullying and other forms of unethical behaviour, such as abusive supervision, customer mistreatment and counterproductive work behaviours.
Sheena Johnson is professor of work psychology and wellbeing at the Alliance Manchester Business School, focused on workforce health and wellbeing, including the impact of violence and aggression at work. She is deputy director of the Work and Equalities Institute at the University of Manchester.