True Religion has long operated by retail’s golden rule: the customer is always right. But as shoppers’ behaviour has worsened during the pandemic, the denim brand has made some modifications to that policy. For starters, employees will have more leeway to “speak back” to an abusive customer, said Theresa Watts, True Religion’s senior vice president of human resources, diversity, equity and inclusion. “We’ve had cases where the customer has thrown jeans and threatened an employee,” Watts said. “We’ve now said … you don’t have to accept violence … We will side with the employee in these incidents.” ⁠
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True Religion isn’t the only retailer rethinking how its employees and customers interact. Service industry workers have always contended with disgruntled patrons, but companies and employees say the problem has gotten worse as the pandemic has dragged on. BoF’s @Sheena.Butler.Young explores how brands can help protect store workers against customer abuse… [Link in bio] ? @gettyimages #retailstore #employee