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by Aware
Aware Future of Work Research Series
The Retail Workplace Trends Report: What Frontline Workers Care About
Retail turnover hasn’t dropped below 60% in years. Many studies have sought to understand why frontline workers experience attrition at rates so much higher than the norm, but the true source of answers—the authentic opinions and experiences of the people on the front lines—has always been out of reach. Until now.
Aware is a continuous listening platform that uses industry-leading AI and natural language processing (NLP) analysis to surface the trending topics that matter most to workers and help major businesses improve their employee experience. To uncover the reasons for high turnover among employees, Aware data scientists analyzed 152,716 messages from the subreddits of eight major retail and frontline employers. What they discovered was workers living on the front lines of a culture war, in constant conflict with the customers they serve.
Data shows that around 70% of frontline workers are confronted by angry customers at least once a week. The phenomenon has become so common, there’s even a name for it: Karen.
When frontline workers discuss Karens:
- Negativity increases by 36%
- The likelihood of toxicity almost doubles
- Overall workplace sentiment drops by 3 points
Addressing workplace toxicity is the single most impactful move businesses can make to improve employee experience and retention. That means addressing the cause of toxicity at source—customers. Businesses must stand with employees against customers behaving badly and remember that the customer isn’t always right.
Read the full report now.
