Viewpoint: Respect for retail staff

These things have never been more relevant for staff in convenience stores. Their efforts and levels of commitment throughout the pandemic have been remarkable.

Staff morale has held up, but given the relentless pressure staff have been under, it’s surely not being over-dramatic to suggest that some forms of post-traumatic stress might be seen. In Scotland, a hugely significant development over the course of the pandemic has been the introduction of the Protection of Workers Act.

For the first time, we have legislation that specifically aims to provide shop staff with legal protection from assault, threats and abuse. It’s disappointing that attempts to introduce similar legislation in England seem to have stalled. With support from the Scottish government, SGF has been running a campaign to pave the way for the act.

In many ways, the first phase of the campaign was aimed at ensuring effective enforcement of the act by encouraging retailers to report every incidence of crime. In the current phase, we are encouraging customers and the wider community to recognise the outstanding contribution c-stores have made during the pandemic by saying thanks to their local retailer. We have also been encouraging MSPs to visit their local store to say thanks and highlight their support for the campaign via social media.

Saying thanks to retailers is a very simple thing, but within the context of our campaign it is helping to build on the growing recognition across Scotland of the importance of convenience stores and the key role they are playing in our communities. The new act is helping to create a safer in-store environment through legislation.

The other side to that must be to create a safer environment through increased respect for and kindness towards shop staff. Given the ongoing supply chain problems the industry has, the pressure on staff isn’t going away. Anything we can do to ensure a respectful relationship between staff and customers will be more than worth the effort.

By Pete Cheema, chief executive of the SGF