Difficult customer interactions impact morale, productivity, and retention
Difficult customer interactions are taking a toll on frontline employees, leading burnout and turnover.
A survey by Perceptyx found that 53% of public-facing workers have recently encountered customers who were verbally abusive, threatening, or otherwise unruly.
The consequences of these interactions extend beyond workplace morale, affecting job retention, safety perceptions, and overall well-being.
"From being cursed at on the phone or at the customer service counter to threats of violence in a hospital ER, frontline workers in all fields deal with difficult customer interactions," said Emily Killham, Senior Director and Head of the Center for Workforce Transformation at Perceptyx.
"Added to the high-pressure conditions, unpredictable workloads, and safety concerns, they are also more likely to deal with limited career growth opportunities, inequitable benefits, and inconsistent communication from leadership than their non-customer-facing counterparts."
Employees who have experienced unruly customers are:
Additionally, nearly two-thirds of frontline employees have had to call on a manager for assistance in handling an unruly customer, creating further disruptions to productivity across organizations, says Perceptyx.
While difficult customer interactions are widespread across industries, retail workers are the most affected, with 61% reporting a recent unruly customer encounter. Employees in Information, Finance, and Insurance sectors also reported high rates of difficult interactions.
More than one-third of all frontline employees have been required to stay in a situation where they felt physically unsafe, finds Perceptyx. As a result:
The survey – based on data from more than 21,000 employees in healthcare, food service, education, retail, transportation, and more -- also found that more than half of workers who have dealt with unruly customers have also faced discrimination or bias from those customers. This group is 2.7 times more likely to experience discrimination than employees who have not dealt with difficult customers, suggesting that some aggressive behavior is motivated by bias.
Perceptyx recommends that organizations take a more proactive approach to supporting frontline workers, particularly when it comes to handling difficult customer interactions.
"There’s a gap between frontline and other employees in perceived support for difficult customer interactions. That in turn impacts morale, productivity, and retention," said Killham. "Employers can close this gap by ensuring frontline workers have a manager who supports and cares about them and a place to share their own ideas about how to make the workplace safer."
The Perceptyx report Forgotten Frontline: Closing the Gap in Engagement and Support outlines key strategies for improving the frontline work experience, including:
