Retail Customer Aggression Implications

We're examining customer aggression in the Retail and Community Pharmacy sectors, including its forms, its impact on attraction and retention, and the solutions needed to address it.

Customer Aggression in Retail: Understanding the Nature, Drivers and Impacts on Australia’s Retail Workforce

The Customer Aggression in Retail Understanding the Nature, Drivers and Impacts on Australia’s Retail Workforce report highlights the increasing prevalence of customer aggression in retail and its significant impact on workers, businesses and the broader sector.

This report was developed in close collaboration with industry, unions, and other stakeholders. Drawing on surveys, consultation and workshops, it provides a comprehensive view of the issue and identifies how the sector can prevent, support, manage, and respond to customer aggression more effectively, with a focus on training, skills and workforce capability.

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Project Overview

SaCSA has engaged with stakeholders across the Retail sector to better understand the challenges driving workforce turnover. Feedback points to four key issues: rising customer aggression, perceptions that retail is not a long-term career, the part-time and seasonal nature of roles, and relatively low annualised pay caused by irregular hours.

Customer aggression stands out as one of the most urgent challenges facing Retail and Community Pharmacy. Rising levels of verbal abuse and physical violence are taking a toll on workers, particularly young people, women, and culturally and linguistically diverse staff. The impacts are clear: high turnover, fewer new entrants, less attractive leadership opportunities and direct risks to patient safety.

Stakeholders have also highlighted the financial and human costs, which includes increased workers’ compensation claims, declining wellbeing, and long-term workforce exits. Parents are discouraging young people from starting retail careers, and employers are finding it harder to build the skilled workforce needed for the future. Stakeholders are calling for:

Proactive approaches to training – such as more comprehensive topics covered to address escalating seriousness and frequency of the problem.
Collaboration across sectors – including stronger partnerships with police and adoption of incident reporting tools.
Industry-led reforms – to ensure workplace policies reflect the realities of frontline retail and pharmacy work.

In response, SaCSA is undertaking this project to examine customer aggression in the Retail and Community Pharmacy sectors, including its forms, its impact on attraction and retention, and the solutions needed to address it. Through this project, we will also identify opportunities for future projects on career pathways, mental health and business sustainability.