Help your team have their say.
Take part in the first national survey on customer aggression.
If your organisation has people who deal with customers or the public, we encourage you to share this important survey with your teams.
There is currently no clear national picture of how violent and aggressive behaviour (known as VAB), is affecting workers in Aotearoa across all sectors. This short survey is designed to help change that.
About the survey
This survey is open to anyone who interacts with customers or the public as part of their job, across all sectors.
It is being run by ShopCare, in partnership with KPMG and backed by organisations across New Zealand.
The survey:
- Takes about five minutes to complete
- Is completely anonymous and confidential
- Will help inform actions to better protect workers and improve customer behaviour
The survey runs until 31 May 2026.
Why do we need a survey?
Violent and aggressive behaviour from customers towards staff is a recognised and growing critical risk, affecting people across multiple sectors. While individual businesses see this day-to-day, there is currently no clear national picture of its prevalence, nature or impact.
This staff survey is designed to help change that. With your support, we can build a national understanding, based on real experiences across sectors, regions and business sizes.
How to share the survey
We have created a partner toolkit to make it easy for you to share the survey with your teams.
The toolkit includes:
- Messaging – staff emails, intranet/newsletter copy, social media posts, employer talking points and staff FAQs
- Creative assets – staff poster, social media and digital tiles, eDM banners and campaign imagery
- Survey QR code
To ensure we are targeting communications and supporting survey engagement, please confirm your organisations interest in participating with the survey and your communication timeline to Lance Webb at KPMG. Lance will work with you to support the survey response for your organisation. You can contact Lance on [email protected]
Click the button below to get everything you need to share the survey.
How the survey benefits you
The more voices we hear, the stronger the evidence base for meaningful change. The findings will be used to:
- Provide employers with sector-level insights to help inform training, prevention and support approaches
- Inform national education and prevention campaigns
- Support advocacy for improved protections and responses
The results will be publicly reported (in aggregate only) so organisations can better understand what their workers are experiencing.
Our founding partners
We’re grateful for the support of the following organisations:
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Frequently Asked Questions
The national survey is independent research that will gather anonymous real experiences from workers across all sectors. The survey will help us understand how often violent and aggressive behaviour occurs, how it impacts workers, and what may be contributing to this customer behaviour.
Kaimahi/workers across Aotearoa are seeing rising levels of rudeness, aggression, and violence from customers. However, there is currently no clear national picture, across all sectors, of how often it happens or what workers are experiencing.
This survey aims to fill that gap, showing what’s really happening day to day – and where things need to improve to make work safer. It will help shape how this issue is addressed across New Zealand, so people in customer facing roles are better supported.
Interested in our broader goals? Find out more about our long term customer eduation campaign here.
No, it includes all sectors with workers impacted by customer violence and aggression. These include retailers, unions, government agencies and any organisations with public-facing staff. ShopCare is encouraging organisations from all industries to get involved so the findings of the survey build a full picture of customer behaviour across Aotearoa.
Anyone who interacts with customers or the public as part of their role can take part.
Organisations can support this by sharing the survey with their teams.
The findings will be publicly available and help build a clearer national picture of violent and aggressive behaviour across multiple sectors. The data will be used to help inform future sector-wide approaches to improving outcomes for workers.
Stay informed
Join our community so you get updates about the survey and national campaign. It’s free.