Christmas trees and shopping sprees!

As the countdown to Christmas begins, shopworkers are preparing themselves for a spike in abuse…

It’s official. The holidays are coming (apologies to Coca-Cola!) With Christmas less than six weeks away, the shops are in full festive mode. I know this won’t come as a surprise, but the reality didn’t quite hit me until my recent shopping trip… The store decorations were up. The Christmas tunes were playing on repeat. And the aisles were brimming with every festive indulgence imaginable (and yes, despite it being November, those luxury mince pies still managed to make it into my trolley!)

By the time I got home, I was itching to dig out the decorations. But I restrained myself; my Christmas tree (a carefully selected non-drop Nordman Fir) goes up much closer to the big day. In fact, the annual pilgrimage to pick out the perfect fir tree is one of my favourite festive traditions – even if wrestling it onto the car and through the front door becomes more challenging every year..! Logistical issues aside, after years of practice I’ve finally mastered the art of Christmas tree care (unlike my colleague Craig, whose idea of ‘helping’ to put up the tree is disappearing for the afternoon while his better half does the heavy lifting!) The secret to keeping a tree fresh, I’ve discovered, is the optimum amount of water and a carefully chosen, heat-free corner.

If it wasn’t already obvious, I love this time of year. But it does bring considerable challenges… For retail workers and shop security staff, the golden quarter can be a particularly gruelling time. And not just because they’re subjected to Mariah Carey on a continuous loop for weeks on end..!  Abuse against retail staff spikes in the lead-up to Christmas. Busy stores, frazzled customers and overflowing to-do lists create a pressure cooker environment. And as we all know, retail staff are bearing the brunt of shoppers’ frustrations like never before.

The statistics recently released by the retail trade body Udsaw make for grim reading. According to its annual survey of 4,000 shop workers, 69% say they’ve experienced verbal abuse during the last twelve months, while 45% have been threatened by a customer. A further 17% report being physically assaulted. Just last week, one of our stores experienced an armed robbery. The offender jumped over the counter and threatened the member of staff with a kitchen knife, before forcing her to the back of the store to empty the safe. And all for a mere £20 in loose change.

Thankfully our colleague wasn’t physically harmed, although I’m sure the mental scars will take considerable time to heal. In the meantime, the store in question will be providing counselling and conducting thorough risk assessments. Our guards will also be doubling down on their efforts to make the staff feel safe whilst maintaining a highly visual presence. Plus, they’ll be going the extra mile to ensure that the store’s internal processes are being followed to the letter. Known as ‘Target Hardening’, this is approach involves putting in place measures to reduce the reward part of the risk-reward calculation. For me, it’s about sending a clear message: shoplifting is simply not worth the risk. And word spreads fast in the criminal underworld. Just as we have an Advantage One WhatsApp group chat, thieves have similar lines of communication.

Just ask Craig. After catching a notorious shoplifter in his former role, he politely ‘suggested’ the thief tell his criminal acquaintances that the store wasn’t worth the trouble. Sure enough, one WhatsApp message later and shoplifting rates dropped dramatically. Ironically, Craig’s own KPIs also took a hit – a reminder that in security, excelling often means working yourself out of a job!

The 11th-17th November marks Respect for Shopworkers Week, a campaign designed to raise awareness of abuse against retail staff and encourage more people to report such behaviour. I just hope the message continues to resonate long after the Christmas trees are discarded and the tinsel is packed away…

If you’re concerned about the rising tide of abuse against your staff or would like advice on how to make your store a less attractive target for theft, do reach out. Or if you’re simply looking for a few Christmas tree tips, I can help with that too!