Do you work in the retail industry?
Are you preparing for holiday shoppers?
If so, you should also be preparing for increased workplace violence. Increased stress and emotions can trigger workplace violence. Holiday stress will be higher this year due to COVID, inflation, and social unrest, making it especially important that workers remain vigilant and prepared to respond appropriately to potential workplace violence.
What’s Different About 2021?
This is the first holiday season that stores are completely open again since COVID, so in-person shopping will increase. However, shoppers’ behaviors are expected to be worse. The stress of COVID and social issues compounded with the challenges of everyday life and emotions has given some service industry patrons a short fuse. Add that to an environment that can hardly contain employees, is understaffed, and is going through a supply chain shortage – it all adds up to increased potential for trouble.
And it’s not just customers who are under more stress. Retail workers are working twice as hard to combat understaffing, many are struggling to earn a living wage while being tasked with enforcing health-related mandates, which is probably not in their job description. With so much stress on both sides of the cash register, it’s important for retail employees to prepare for the chance of workplace violence.
Active shooter events should also be prepared for this holiday season. Active shooters favor environments with large numbers of people and limited security, similar to the retail environment, because it allows them to do as much damage as possible within a short time frame.
It’s critical that all retailers offer preparedness training to their employees now — ahead of the holiday rush — so they are prepared to respond to any verbal or physical attack they may encounter.
Have Your Employees Complete Active Shooter Online Training in An Hour or Less
Preparedness training is necessary to keep your employees and business safe. TPOP’s workplace violence and active shooter online training will teach your employees to identify and de-escalate potential threats, as well as respond appropriately if violence does strike. Course topics include situational awareness, the Run, Hide, Fight methodology, verbal de-escalation techniques, and more. The verbal de-escalation portion of the course will especially benefit your workers in combating the behaviors of stressed customers and fellow employees during the holidays. Your staff will learn to de-escalate a situation before it becomes potentially violent.
Training offers peace of mind and can aid in employee retention by easing their anxiety around holiday shopping crowds, helping them feel safer and more confident knowing that their employer cares about their personal well-being.
Training also helps minimize harm to your business reputation and bottom line. Physical security threats can result in a 50% decrease in productivity for an organization, 20% to 40% employee turnover, and an average of $500,000 in out-of-court settlements. In addition, it’s impossible to put a price on the value of an organization’s people and the public’s trust, both of which are difficult to regain after they are lost
Let’s discuss active shooter online training for your retailer today.