Customer aggression has been a threat to hospitality employee safety and well-being long before COVID-19, but cases of aggression have been on the rise lately. Hospitality employees often find themselves explaining staffing shortages, product or service delays, and COVID-19 policies, and therefore bear the brunt of verbal and/or physical responses from some customers. The Targeted Research Training program is pleased to introduce a collection of resources on the topic of customer aggression.
En español:
¿Habla usted español? El Programa de Investigación Dirigida (TRT, por sus siglas en inglés) se dedica a proveer recursos para ayudar a los empleados en la industria de hospitalidad a navegar este momento difícil. A continuación, encontrará enlaces a recursos que pueden ayudarlo a lidiar con la agresión de los clients. El Programa TRT no ofrece ninguna garantía sobre la disponibilidad o idoneidad de esta información para su situación y cualquier acción que usted realice al consultar la información en este sitio web es estrictamente bajo su propio riesgo. La información contenida en estos sitios web no refleja necesariamente las opiniones del programa TRT ni de nuestra agencia de financiación, el Centro de Educación e Investigación Sunshine, o el Instituto Nacional de Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional. Estamos dedicados a proveer recursos para empleados de hospitalidad que no hablan inglés. Para cualquier recurso que no esté traducido en su fuente original, puede usar el navegador Google Chrome para traducir el material. Haga clic aquí para un video en español que muestra cómo usar el navegador Google Chrome para traducir material del inglés a otro idioma.
The following resources could be helpful during and after a difficult interaction with an angry customer:
| Title | Source | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Seven Steps for Dealing with Angry Customers | Forbes | This article provides a short list of 7 steps for an encounter with an angry customer. Importantly, the final step recommends the employee take a “time out” to calm down from the stress of the interaction. |
| How to Minimize the Cost of Emotional Labor | Hospitality Net | An opinion piece focused on how hospitality organizations can minimize the effects of emotional labor, including employee burnout and emotional exhaustion. This article explores what organizations, leaders, and individual workers can do in response to emotional labor and customer-related stress. |
| Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): Workplace Violence | Occupational Safety and Health Administration | A list of OSHA resources, including prevention programs focused on providing guidance for evaluating and controlling violence in the workplace. Additionally, this includes information on workers’ rights and ways to file health and safety complaints in the case of unsafe work conditions. |
| Help for Bullied People | Workplace Bullying Institute | This website provides a wealth of information on bullying in the workplace, geared toward victims of workplace bullying. While it focuses on employee-on-employee bullying, many of the resources may be useful for victims of guest mistreatment. |
| Safe Harbor | Safe Harbor | SafeHarbor is an online community for those affected by workplace bullying and those interested in helping them. Again, this resource focuses on employee-on-employee bullying, but may be useful for victims of guest mistreatment. |
| Minding the Workplace: Need Help? | The New Workplace Institute Blog | The New Workplace Institute Blog is focused on education related to work and employee relations topics. In particular, the blog focuses on issues related to workplace bullying, mobbing, and abuse. The “Need Help” page contains guidance for workers, including potential options for dealing with bullying and coaching for targets of bullying. |
| Hospitality Speaks | Hospitality Speaks | Hospitality Speaks is a non-profit organization with the goal of sharing stories of bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimination in the hospitality industry. Also includes a listing of industry-specific and general (non-industry-specific) informational and support resources. |
The following resources paint a picture of the pervasive nature of mistreatment of hospitality workers, particularly in recent times.
| Title | Source | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Why All the Abuse of Servers, Flight Staffs, Sales Clerks as COVID Rules Ease? | The Harvard Gazette | This article discusses the recent rise in customer mistreatment incidents in the service industry. In particular, it contends that empowering employees and providing them with the tools to manage upset customers is essential for employee success. |
| Restaurants and Hotels Push Back Against the Uptick in Customer Tantrums | The Wall Street Journal | This article discusses the recent rise in poor customer behavior in the restaurant and hotel industry. In particular, it describes how the COVID-19 pandemic is related to increases in worker mistreatment by customers. |
| How the simple phrase ‘the customer is always right’ gave shoppers a license to abuse workers | Business Insider | This feature explores how the service industry’s “customer is always right” mantra has contributed to customer mistreatment/abuse of workers. |
The following resources provide recommendations for building resilience and managing work-related stress, such as customer mistreatment.
| Title | Source | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Building Your Resilience | American Psychological Association | This APA resource provides advice for how individuals can develop resilience in response to stressful situations such as experiencing mistreatment by customers or guests at work. These include building personal connections, fostering wellness, and seeking professional help when needed. |
| Stress Tip Sheet | American Psychological Association | A series of tips regarding how individuals can identify sources of stress and successfully manage stress. Importantly, individuals should work on understanding how they experience stress (i.e., how you think/behave differently when stressed) and find healthy ways to manage stress, such as engaging in stress-reducing activities like exercise or spending time with friends. |
| Building Self-Efficacy | Positive Psychology | This article describes the concept of self-efficacy (an individual’s beliefs regarding their competencies and abilities) and explains ways to develop and grow one’s self-efficacy. Strategies include engaging in goal setting and reframing (professional) obstacles as challenges. |
| Stress & Coping | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | This CDC resource list focuses on stress and coping, including coping with job stress and building resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Stress Management Resources | UCF RESTORES | UCF RESTORES provides evidence-based clinical treatment services to individuals experiencing trauma-related concerns. They have been dedicated to providing resources, particularly for frontline and essential employees, throughout the pandemic. In this resource, UCF RESTORES provides tips for managing stress and promoting mental health. |
Loading ...
For more questions about the Sunshine Education and Research Center and the Targeted Research Training Program, please contact Dr. Mindy Shoss at targetedresearch@ucf.edu.