DISCUSSION

Is Shoplifting Killing Store Morale?

April 13, 2023Written by Tom Ryan

A university study finds mandatory policing of shoplifting and other “customer deviant behavior” often produces strong negative emotions in retail associates, leading to perceptions of unfairness and increased turnover. Research from Florida Atlantic University and three other schools based on a series of in-depth interviews, three experiments and a survey found:

Employees expect managers to be more active in guarding the store.
More than a quarter of respondents don't know their employers' policies for guarding the store.

“Front-line employees [FLE] are being asked to do too much, policing the misbehavior and confronting shoplifters, often without extra money or training,” said Melanie Lorenz, Ph.D., an associate marketing professor at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business. David Johnston, VP, asset protection and retail operations at the National Retail Federation, in a recent blog entry, said shoplifting and retail theft had reached an “epidemic level,” with “brazen” thieves openly stealing and stores closing or shortening hours to avoid theft. Most retailers have a policy against associates chasing or physically confronting suspected shoplifters. The approach is intended to protect the safety of associates and avoid the risk of racially profiling innocent shoppers. Still, standard practice calls for store associates to alert their managers of a potential shoplifting situation. Associates are also told working the floor discourages shoplifting. A Shopify blog entry exploring return fraud encourages retail associates to ask additional questions to “weed out bad actors from legitimate returners.” In a Houston Chronicle article exploring shoplifting’s impact, Neil Kokemuller writes, “Employees may feel a sense of paranoia if they constantly hear the store has a shoplifting issue. The negative measures taken to deter shoplifting can impede employee instincts toward a positive and welcoming attitude with customers. Employees also may become overly suspicious of customers and get overzealous in their efforts to protect the store's inventory." A Harlem View article also noted that shoplifting makes staff uncomfortable. Nejah, an associate at a Harlem pharmacy who declined to give his last name, said, “Retail or working somewhere where you have to worry about shoplifting is definitely a crazy experience.”

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