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Service industry workers confused and uncertain over customer face masks issue

By: Issuewire
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A new survey has revealed there’s widespread confusion among employees in the service industry over how to handle customers who refuse to wear masks.

Los Angeles, California Jan 28, 2021 (Issuewire.com) - More than half of the customer-facing workers (58 percent) in California surveyed by online staff training platform Canity said they feel uncomfortable serving customers who refuse to don face coverings.

 

However, only half had been offered training in how to handle the issue, meaning frontline workers operating in an already uncertain environment are regularly being exposed to unnecessary confrontation and hostility, said Canity founder and CEO Kym Illman.

 

"After a global pandemic and a tumultuous 2020, frontline employees are returning to work to find they're being exposed to a whole new set of challenges as they grapple with the health and safety issues around customers and face masks," Mr. Illman said.

 

"While in the United States masks must now be worn at airports, on public transport, and on federal property, many people are still refusing to cover up - even if they're being served in a business where masks are mandated.

 

"It means retail and service staff are bearing the brunt of trying to enforce mask-wearing policies - sometimes being taunted and verbally and even physically abused - as they simply go about doing their job."

 

Among the Californian workers who participated in the survey, one in 10 said they weren't sure whether their employers had a policy around customers wearing masks.

 

Thirty percent reported that where there was a mask-wearing policy, their place of work had no procedure on how to handle anti-maskers.

 

"This means there's a lot of workers out there who don't know whether or not their customers should be wearing masks and what they're expected to do about it if customers refuse to put them on," Mr. Illman said.

 

"That's a pretty big communication breakdown at a time when people are already feeling anxious and unsure.

 

"It's vital that organizations clearly set out what their policies are and then give staff the training to know how to handle situations that might arise out of trying to enforce them.

 

"Service industry workers are already frazzled, they're already feeling unsure about the future and, like all of us, they're operating in a very different world than a year ago. They need clarity and support," he said.

 

 

To access further information around the Canity Mask Wearing Survey please see here https://www.canity.com/resources/customer-mask-wearing-survey.

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Media Contact

Canity


ryan.birkin@canity.com

+61 424 193 234

21 Moore Street

https://www.canity.com/

Source :Canity

This article was originally published by IssueWire. Read the original article here.

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