Most frontline workers we ask report being verbally abused in the past month.
AWARE is a continuing survey of frontline workers in shops and healthcare. We ask what they face at work, and what happens afterwards.
Free webinar · 17 November
3pm GMT · 10am ET · 7am PT · Recording available.
AWARE is founded and funded by Reveal Media Limited.
In 30 seconds
If your staff serve the public, in a shop or on a ward, this is what workers like them tell us.
of UK retail workers report verbal abuse from a customer in the past month. The figure is similar in US retail and UK healthcare.
"I've been spat at, pushed and the managers have done nothing."A UK retail worker, in their own words
What workers in your sector tell us
What workers face
Verbal abuse is at similar levels in shops and on wards.
Workers are asked how many times in the past month a customer, patient or relative has verbally abused, insulted or shouted at them.
Report being verbally abused in the past month
If a team of 20 answered like this, around 16 of them would report abuse in the past month.
Asked to choose up to three things that add most to their stress at work, workers in all three sectors name workload or understaffing and pay or cost of living more often than aggression. Customer abuse or aggression is named by 51% in UK retail and 42% in US retail. Patient or relative aggression is named by 29% in UK healthcare.
The questions: “In the past month, how many times have you been verbally abused, insulted or shouted at by a customer?” in retail, “…by a patient or relative?” in healthcare, and “Select up to three things that significantly add to your stress at work.”
How often
Around half report being verbally abused three or more times in the past month.
Verbally abused three or more times in the past month
Around a third of retail workers report being threatened or physically attacked. In UK healthcare, a third report being physically attacked.
36%
report being threatened or physically attacked by a customer in the past month
UK retail workers
30%
report being threatened or physically attacked by a customer in the past month
US retail workers
34%
report being physically attacked by a patient or relative in the past month
UK healthcare workers
The questions: “In the past month, how many times have you been verbally abused, insulted or shouted at by a customer?” and “…threatened or physically attacked by a customer?” in retail; in healthcare, “…threatened by a patient or relative?” and “…physically attacked by a patient or relative?”
What happens after a report
Little follows a report. Few are told what’s being done about it.
Whether workers are required to report incidents of aggression varies by sector. What follows a report varies much less. In all three sectors, most of those who answered what typically happens next say the incident is logged and nothing follows, they get an acknowledgement and no more, or they don’t know what happens.
Required by their employer to report incidents of aggression
Nothing beyond an acknowledgement, or don’t know what happens
Retail: of workers required to report who answered. Healthcare: of all staff who answered.
An employer’s incident records show that an incident was reported. They don’t show what happened afterwards.
The questions: “Does your employer require you to report incidents of customer aggression or violence?” in retail, “…of patient or relative aggression?” in healthcare, and “After an incident is reported, what typically happens next?”
Support after abuse
Workers who feel not supported at all are around three times as likely to feel negative about work. This holds in all three sectors.
The support workers are given is closely tied to how they feel about work.
UK retail
29%
feel negative about work when very supported after abuse
85%
feel negative when not supported at all
US retail
26%
feel negative about work when very supported after abuse
88%
feel negative when not supported at all
UK healthcare
27%
feel negative about work when very supported after abuse
87%
feel negative when not supported at all
Within each level of abuse, the unsupported are still far more negative.
The questions: “When you experience verbal abuse or aggression from customers, how supported do you feel by your employer?” in retail, “…from a patient or relative, how supported do you feel at work?” in healthcare, and “How does going to work feel right now?” Negative means “Dread it” or “Not great”.
About AWARE
Why we ask frontline workers about abuse
An employer’s records only show what gets reported. Workers tell AWARE things that may never reach an incident record: what customers and patients do to them, what their employer does about it, and how they feel afterwards. That is why we ask, continuously, in UK retail, US retail and UK healthcare. It is also now a matter of law.
AWARE exists to make frontline aggression visible, and to give employers something specific enough to act on.
The law
Since 30 October 2026
The Employment Rights Act 2025 requires employers to take all reasonable steps to protect workers from harassment by customers, patients and the public over sex, race, disability or another protected characteristic, and to be able to show they have done so.
Passed April 2026
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 makes assaulting a retail worker a specific offence in England and Wales. It is not yet in force: that waits on Home Office regulations.
About this survey
Based on 12,916 frontline workers surveyed in UK retail, US retail and UK healthcare between 9 May 2026 and 21 September 2026. Workers choose to take part, so the results describe the people who take part rather than every frontline worker.
UK retail, US retail and UK healthcare are separate samples and questionnaires. Their figures are never combined.
October 2026 reading · responses to 21 September 2026. How AWARE works.
Free webinar · 17 November
3pm GMT · 10am ET · 7am PT
The findings, live
What frontline workers tell us, what happens after an incident, and where an employer can start looking at its own response. Recording available.
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Conversation guides
Questions for Store, People, Operations and Loss Prevention teams in retail, and for managers and teams in healthcare, to discuss what happens after abuse.
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Your own business
The figures for your sector, or a briefing for your board, leadership or People team.
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