AMHERST — The customer may always be right, but researchers at the Isenberg School of Management have found that adversarial attitudes are harming employees.
In a study at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Associate Professor Melissa Baker, chair of Eisenberg’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, found that disrespectful behavior from badly behaved customers and supporting company policies can lead to a negative impact on employees’ psychological well-being. Health as well as the ability to serve other customers.
Baker and co-author Kawon Kim of the University of South Carolina also found that employees with their own mental health conditions were more exposed to hostile customers.
“For decades, customers can be rude, angry, yell, or just do the wrong thing, but it’s just part of doing business, so employees deal with it. I was expected to do that. Now I don’t know if I can do that anymore,” Baker said in a statement.
Kim and Baker’s research found that employees with mental health conditions benefit and perform better at work when company policies support employees and discourage rude customer behavior. It has been shown. The study also found that such policies do not have a dramatic impact on mentally healthy employees.
“Ignoring that more than 53 million adults in the United States have a mental health problem and more than 80% of hospitality workers say they have a mental health problem. You can’t,” Baker said. “The good news is that there are now many, many companies that have turned the tide in terms of destigmatizing mental health issues and providing strong support for their employees.”
Support for employees includes counseling and mental health training for supervisors. Social media statements showing workers’ contributions. and signs instructing shoppers to “be kind or leave.”
Baker said the incivility and turnover in the hospitality industry after the pandemic is helping many companies change their culture. By focusing too much on customers and not on employee well-being, companies risk losing their most talented employees, she said.
Baker told businesses: “[You]need to make sure you’re supporting your employees.”
The research team questioned 183 hospitality workers across the U.S. who work in restaurants, hotels, clubs, airlines, theme parks, and more.
To see the full study, check out the April issue of the International Journal of Hospitality Management.
