As the Christmas trading period hits its most intense phase, research suggests some technologies designed to protect frontline retail staff may be inadvertently adding to workplace stress, a risk that carries direct consequences for customer service.
A study from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has found that while traditional surveillance tools such as CCTV can reduce employee stress linked to customer aggression, wearable technologies like safety alert watches can cause more stress to employees who are uncomfortable with technology.
The research, Reducing the Impact of Customer Aggression: Examining the Interaction of Technology, Employee Job Stress and Technology Discomfort, was led by Professor Gary Mortimer and Dr Shasha Wang from the QUT School of Advertising, Marketing & PR and published in the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction.
Customer Aggression is Reshaping Service
Dealing with aggressive customers has become a significant challenge for frontline retail and service staff, especially during busy shopping periods. A 2023 Australian survey of retail and fast-food workers found that 87 percent had experienced customer abuse, up from 56 percent just two years earlier. The country’s Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Union also reported rising levels of physical abuse, sexual harassment and racially motivated abuse, which have affected nearly a quarter of respondents.
Professor Mortimer said:
“Since the pandemic, we have seen rates of customer aggression increase across the retail and fast food sectors. During the busy Christmas period, customer aggression really peaks, driven by frustration, car park chaos, crowding and busy shopping centers.”
The QUT findings reinforce a February 2025 report from employee experience firm Perceptyx, which highlights the scale of the issue across customer-facing roles. Surveying more than 21,000 frontline employees, Perceptyx found that 53 percent had recently encountered customers who were “verbally abusive, threatening, or unruly”. That climbed to 61 percent among retail workers.
Retail employees exposed to unruly customers were significantly more likely to feel unsafe and disengaged, with 81 per cent reporting burnout and more than half actively looking for a new job.
In response, retailers, unions and industry bodies have invested heavily in safety and surveillance technologies, including CCTV, facial recognition technology, body-worn cameras and wearable duress devices. But do they work?
The QUT study explored how different tools affect how safe and in control frontline workers feel when dealing with customers, and whether those measures actually ease job stress, which plays a big role in staff engagement, retention and the quality of customer interactions.
The research drew on three studies with more than 600 frontline workers across retail and service roles. It confirmed that dealing with aggressive customers clearly increases job stress, but also showed that not all safety measures land the same way with employees, according to Mortimer.
“Our findings show that while extra CCTV can act as a visual deterrent and reduce “Our findings show that while extra CCTV can act as a visual deterrent and reduce stress, wearable technologies like Duress Watches may backfire for employees who feel overwhelmed by tech.”
Beyond technology, the study also looked into human interventions and found that just having uniformed security guards on site reduced employees’ perception of risk.
“Respondents were told their manager had employed a uniformed security guard and we found just the presence of a guard lessened the impact of customer aggression and made workers feel safer,” Mortimer said.
Happy Employees, Happy Customers
Frontline staff wellbeing isn’t just nice to have, it’s central to customer experience. Stressed, unsafe or unsupported employees can’t deliver consistent, empathetic service, no matter how much effort goes into a brand’s CX strategy. With customer interactions getting more intense, making sure staff feel safe, backed up and equipped with the right tools is now a core part of delivering effective customer service rather than an internal operational issue.
Wang pointed out the bigger picture when customer aggression goes unchecked. A 2023 study with Mortimer showed that repeated exposure to aggressive customers left employees emotionally drained and stressed, which then led to more rule-breaking and higher turnover, all of which hurt service consistency and the overall customer experience.
This dynamic may become even more complex as retailers experiment with robots and automated service agents. Emerging research suggests that how customers behave toward robots can influence how they treat human staff, as mistreatment of service robots can potentially normalize rudeness. That raises fresh questions for retailers about how automation, social behavior and employee safety intersect in increasingly hybrid service environments.
The research underscores the need for retailers to take more nuanced approaches. A 2024 study led by Wang and Mortimer attributed the “backfire effect” of some technologies to poor early-stage adoption processes that fail to build employee confidence or autonomy. Wang said:
“Technology isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Managers need to consider individual employee traits—especially their level of comfort with technology—before implementing wearable surveillance devices.”
“This research is a wake-up call for businesses investing in innovative surveillance. It’s not just about the tech; it’s about how people interact with it,” Mortimer said.
As retailers prepare for more unpredictable customer behavior, the research suggests taking a balanced approach, combining visible, simple safety measures with real human support, and making sure any new tech actually helps frontline staff instead of making their jobs harder.
