The psychosocial survey of the retail sector provides a comprehensive analysis of psychosocial health and wellbeing specifically in retail. The survey is one of few New Zealand studies exploring the psychosocial work environment in this sector.

The survey in 2023 surveyed 1,036 workers and covered all aspects of the psychosocial working environment, including demands at work, work organisation and job content, interpersonal relations and leadership, work-individual interface, social capital, health and wellbeing (including general health and psychological distress), and offensive behaviours such as bullying, sexual harassment and threats of violence.

The survey also focused on psychosocial safety climate. Psychosocial safety climate is a proxy for workplace culture that focuses on the priority a business gives to workers’ health and safety. Research has shown that it identifies factors that are ‘causes of causes’ (upstream influencers).

This data can support retail businesses to identify and address psychosocial risks at work and promote good practices to improve retail workers’ psychosocial health and wellbeing.

Key findings

• Nearly 4 in 10 (39.1%) retail workers reported exposure (as a victim or witness) to at least one offensive behaviour in the last 12 months. Bullying was the most common hostile act reported (20.6%) followed by cyberbullying (18.6%) and threats of violence (16.2%).
• Retail workers appear to face risks from higher emotional demands and role conflicts. They also report significantly lower levels of meaning of work, support from supervisors and role clarity than the average New Zealand worker.
• Over one-fifth (23.4%) of retail workers report experiencing at least one form of burnout (either physical and emotional exhaustion), stress and cognitive stress all the time.
• Psychosocial risks in the retail working environment are significantly influenced by workers’ roles. However, managers appear to face risks from higher quantitative demands and emotional demands. In contrast, salespersons seem to face risk from less influence at work and lower levels of recognition.
• Psychosocial risks in the retail working environment differ by sub-sector. For example, people working in supermarkets and grocery stores face risks from high work pace and emotional demands. Workers in liquor retailing report significantly higher emotional demands and are more likely to report exposure to sexual harassment, threats of violence, and physical violence.
• Compared to all New Zealand workers, retail workers report significantly higher possibilities for development, quality of leadership, support from colleagues, job satisfaction, sense of community at work, vertical trust and organisational justice.

 Read the overview and summary report: