Cydell Young wonders if customer aggression is having an impact on her Countdown team over the past several months – and if it's been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Young, the customer service manager at Countdown's Halsey St Metro store in Auckland's CBD, says Countdown staff are, as essential workers, doubly challenged in a pandemic. At times, some customer behaviour can become difficult and even unacceptable as pandemic requirements like masks, social distancing and others are observed.
"We are not bullet-proof or superhuman," she says. "We have families at home too – plus all the other worries. We have had our people wondering whether they should go to work or stay at home and look after the family – not expose them to the virus by going to work.
"Then they come to work and they feel guilty. There's also what we call 'Places Of Interest' anxiety – when places like supermarkets are being named as place of interest, you'd have to be inhuman if you didn't wonder if you were going to be exposed…and your family too."
That anxiety was particularly high when four staff from Halsey St had to isolate after being at a place of interest or who had a family member who'd been there.
"For our staff, work is one thing – we have a lot of processes in place to help with the stresses, strains and mental health. But we all have homes too and someone might have a person or people at home who have a high risk condition. It's not easy being an essential worker in those circumstances.
"I don't think the community in general understands those stresses on supermarket staff – though we also have to say that helping other people is good for your mental health too."
That double whammy for Countdown staff is why so many were keen to raise money for mental health this year: "There's been a huge focus on mental health in recent times. For me and my teams, it's really about communication, a lot of communication."
Supermarket teams are close observers of their communities, she says, and see first-hand when people are struggling – sometimes exhibiting difficult or troubling behaviour, often amplified during lockdowns.
That kind of behaviour is a regular occurrence at supermarkets up and down the country, she says. Mix it with all the anxiety engendered by a pandemic and you have a perfect breeding ground for a staff's mental health to be tested and even threatened.
So Countdown staff voted heavily to raise funds for mental health in their 2021 annual fundraiser, with 20,000 staff supporting mental health financially, encouraging customers in its 184 stores to take part in the month-long appeal to raise funds for mental health causes around the country.
That coincided with last week's Mental Health Awareness Week and other measures – like a donation of 20c from every packet of lamingtons sold – are on top of a $100,000 donation Countdown made to the Mental Health Foundation to kick off Awareness Week.
Young says: "We do a lot of huddles and there is one-on-one communication too. We always emphasise that if you are feeling unsafe, out of sorts, or just not coping well – take a step back, take 10 minutes for yourself and reach out for help if necessary with your work whanau."
Young says NZ Bus are neighbours in Halsey St and – with the recent revelation that police are riding on buses to lessen abuse of, and assaults on, bus drivers – the two companies often swap stories.
"People can, unfortunately, sometimes be unkind and we all have to conduct ourselves professionally. Sometimes that can be a struggle. So we are always talking: how are you feeling? What is going on? Do you need to take some time or need some help?
Countdown also provides Benestar counselling for those needing financial, mental health and other forms of help and the company has also recently instituted "mental health first aid" – a two-day course touching on all the different aspects of mental health: anxiety, depression, addiction and more.
"It's really good," she says, "it de-mystifies mental health, takes all the taboos out of it and helps people to recognise what might be going on with them."
Different frontline essential workers have different ways of dealing with the strain and, while they might not be able to take refuge in yoga and meditation, they can call a friend or sit down for a mindful cup of tea. Countdown staff – and people in general – are encouraged to take time to korero – because a little chat goes a long way and, as Young says, the "smallest and biggest thing you can ask someone is: 'How are you?'"
For more information go to Food for good.