This month we’re proud to be supporting the Institute of Customer Service with their new #servicewithrespect campaign, combatting the abuse and anti-social behaviour experienced by essential workers in customer-facing roles. The campaign not only aims to raise awareness on the issues that key workers are currently facing but also encourages organisations to take action

It was recently raised in our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) forum that our frontline colleagues can often find themselves in difficult situations and occasionally face abuse from our customers.

This of course has been heightened by the pandemic, with research showing more than half of customer-facing roles have experienced abuse from customers since the start of the pandemic.

With figures showing nearly 80% of the UK workforce work in customer facing roles, mounting abuse is affecting people from across the sector – from retail to the public sector.

Beyond Housing takes a zero tolerance approach to hostility and abuse and we encourage colleagues to leave properties where they find themselves in difficult situations.

Our EDI forum have been working hard on their first ever respect campaign to support #servicewithrespect throughout June, providing colleagues with training and encouraging them to report incidents so they are fully equipped to deal with potential conflicts.