NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS NEWS
Empowering Kiwi Businesses
Woolworths, Foodstuffs North Island, The Warehouse Group and ASB are among the organisations backing the ShopCare Retail Pledge, a commitment to treat violence and aggression towards frontline retail staff as a critical workplace health and safety risk. The pledge launches ahead of the Christmas and New Year trading period, when stores are at their busiest.
ShopCare is a New Zealand organisation focused on health, safety and wellbeing in the retail sector. Its pledge asks businesses to sign up and commit to safer, healthier and more respectful workplaces for everyone, and it is open to businesses of all sizes through shopcare.org.nz.
The pledge follows the ShopCare National Customer Aggression Survey, which found that 91% of customer-facing workers experienced customer aggression in the past 12 months. ShopCare’s position is that violence and aggression are not isolated incidents but a workplace risk that deserves the same attention as any other health and safety risk.
That framing matters for employers. Treating customer aggression as a hazard brings it into the same planning, reporting, and training processes businesses already use for other on-site risks, rather than handling each incident as a one-off. The survey findings have reinforced concerns about the effect of violence and aggression on the wellbeing, safety and retention of frontline workers.
The initiative has drawn support from across retail, finance and the safety sector. Alongside the major retailers and ASB, the founding supporters include Auror, HSI donesafe, ecoPortal, Learning Teams Inc, safe365, the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management, the New Zealand Security Association, the Manurewa Business Association, the Papakura Business Association and Southmall Manurewa.
Woolworths New Zealand’s head of safety, health and wellbeing, Denva Wren, said no single organisation can solve the challenge alone, and that theft has become organised, aggressive and brazen. Wren said stores have seen a disturbing increase in weapons, knives and even machetes.
Wren also noted that Christmas and New Year are the busiest period of the year, and that more customers in store means many frontline workers face heightened levels of customer pressure and risk.
The inclusion of Auror, which supplies retail crime intelligence software, and two South Auckland business associations points to the problem’s breadth. The pledge is not limited to large chains; the involvement of the Manurewa and Papakura associations and Southmall Manurewa indicates smaller operators in busy suburban centres are expected to take part as well.
For owners and managers, signing the pledge is a public commitment, not a compliance requirement. In practice, customer aggression sits alongside other critical risks in a business’s health and safety planning, typically involving staff training, incident reporting, and support for workers who are threatened or abused.
The timing is deliberate. Holiday trading weeks bring the highest foot traffic of the year and, with it, the greatest exposure for staff working tills, counters, and shop floors. Businesses that sign up before the peak can brief staff and put reporting in place while trading is still relatively calm.
ShopCare is encouraging more organisations to join. Businesses of all sizes can access the pledge at shopcare.org.nz.
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