36 per cent of respondents say their mental health has not improved since the end of the pandemic and ​45 per cent of respondents need more support to manage mental health issues. Here, ARA CEO Paul Zahra talks to Inside Retail about these findings, and what can be done to improve mental health within the industry. Inside Retail: Why do you think such a significant proportion of the retail workforce has, or is experiencing, stress, anxiety and depression?  Paul Zahra: There are many factors having an ongoing detrimental effect on the retail workforce’s  mental health: the state of the economy, the cost-of-doing-business increases, the increase in retail crime and the increase of assaults and abuse of retail workers. We are seeing a collision between the cost-of-living crisis, severely impacting discretionary spending and the cost-of-doing-business crisis impacting business performance, particularly for small business owners. Retailers have been left with no alternative but to increase prices to remain viable – creating a vicious cycle with a risk of further impacting declining sales. This is all having a toll on retail teams. Retail owners and managers need to support their teams through very challenging circumstances this year as they struggle with their household budgets. Like other industries, retail workers are experiencing their own financial pressures at home with many experiencing mortgage stress from the fast succession of interest rate rises. On top of this, tensions are elevated in the customer community and our frontline teams are unfortunately now seeing greater rates of retail crime, customer abuse and aggressive behaviour, which has a heavy impact on their wellbeing. In 2022-23 the largest industry of business closures was in retail trade, with the number of businesses decreasing by over 2,200.   IR:    Why do you think mental health outcomes have not improved for retail staff following the pandemic? How significant is burnout and fatigue in the industry, and what practical measures can be taken to alleviate these issues? PZ: Burnout and fatigue are a genuine concern – from leadership level all the way through to frontline workers. I think it’s important to look at the broader context in the post-pandemic environment. Australians have been in survival mode for a few years now – not only due to pandemic issues but also climate change impacts and now the cost-of-living crisis. The State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report shows 47 per cent of Australian workers experienced stress during much of their working day compared to the global average of 44 per cent. So overall we have almost half of working Australians experiencing stress during their day. Our ARA survey identified that three quarters of respondents had experienced stress, anxiety or depression in the past four weeks. We hope to see deeper research into this important area, in collaboration with the government, so we can understand these cumulative and lingering impacts. We’ve also paid strong attention to physical health and financial health [but] mental health challenges can be the last place we look to address, [and] must be prioritised. It’s important we turn to the experts in mental health for practical resources and recommendations. For example, Beyond Blue offers a great range of resources to help individuals navigate and identify their own level of mental stress, and can provide suggested pathways to improve their situation. IR:  How closely are these mental health outcomes linked to cost-of-living challenges, and the wages of people working in retail? Do you believe additional financial support can be a factor in improving mental health outcomes for retail staff? PZ: It’s a constant balancing act because, on the one hand, we have workers looking for increases in wages to stay up to date with economic realities. On the other hand we have many retail business owners facing great difficulty in making their businesses profitable enough to keep their businesses going.   Of course, when wages go up, the cost of goods and services also needs to go up which in turn creates more cost-of-living pressure. We believe the best solution is moving Australia quickly through this season of economic hardship so that money earned has more value in the pockets of Australians again. As always, a united effort across government and industry aligned with care providers is important to ensure a holistic response to these challenges. IR:  Do you anticipate that retail crime, as well as the rate of violent and antisocial behaviour that’s occurring in retail, will lessen over time? Beyond tougher penalties, what practical changes can be made in this area? PZ: We are hopeful that working collaboratively across industry and all levels of government we can improve this situation. However, it is a growing global challenge and there is no silver bullet to fix it. We are encouraged to see – following our advocacy in collaboration with the SDA – more states like South Australia, NSW and the NT implement tougher penalties for offenders, and we will continue to advocate for legislative changes to be rolled out in all Australian states. Recently the ARA held its first ‘retail crime symposium’, bringing together representatives from police, academia and retail businesses. Over the coming weeks we will be analysing the feedback from participants on what we can practically do as an industry to increase our advocacy, efforts and impact in this area. With around $9 billion lost each year to retail crime and shrinkage, along with the detrimental effect it is having on frontline retail workers mental health, it’s a priority area to collectively work together towards improving. IR:  What would more support for staff to improve mental health outcomes look like in a retail setting? PZ: Fundamentally creating a culture which supports open dialogue and encourages people to feel they can speak candidly about needing greater understanding or support. That is not to replace the need for professional involvement – it’s important that mental health advice comes from a place of professional expertise. Ensuring that retail businesses have a good employment assistance program in place is a good start and encouraging employees to use it. Also, if staff are involved in situations of abuse or assaults by customers, it’s critical that they are supported through the process, as everyone processes these incidents differently.  Research from the RUOK? organisation also promotes the importance of people speaking about their problems to friends, family and professional health workers to help navigate to a position of thriving again. Some larger organisations have invested significantly in their own mental health programs and support services.