Motorola Solutions help retailers keep employees safer

10 April 2022

Products like Motorola’s CLP107E offer retail teams better security and efficiency in a post-pandemic world

With staff shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers are finding body-worn cameras and two-way radios are helping to keep their workers safer.

Unfortunately, employees are increasingly becoming victims of verbal and even physical assault in a post-pandemic world when faced with empty shelves or other life stresses.

Body-worn cameras, coupled with communication solutions like Motorola’s CLP107E radio can keep both staff and customers safe in these volatile situations. Once abusers see a body-worn camera, the situation often de-escalates and deters further verbal or physical assaults.

Moreover, an elevating situation can be dealt with more calmly using two-way radios that reduce noise – as opposed to a public announcement system that could alarm people and trigger a chain reaction of inciting more panic.

According to the Union for Retail, Fast Food and Warehousing workers’ recent survey, abuse towards retail and fast food workers is now epidemic, with more than 85% of respondents reporting they have been subjected to verbal abuse from a customer in the last 12 months.

Solutions to keep workers safe are more critical than ever in these uneasy times.

While it should just be public courtesy to treat retail workers with respect, in scenarios where logic fails, having a body worn camera offers the assurance that at the very least, the incident is captured so that instigators can be faced with consequences.

Two-way radios improve productivity and internal communications

In addition to safety enhancements, digital two-way radios are making a splash into the retail sector by providing teams with better ways to efficiently communicate with each other, resulting in enhanced customer experiences.

During the pandemic, employees were able to respond to one another internally using two-way radios, enabling stock take and shelf replenishment to be better managed, which in turn helped to make up for shortfalls caused by staff thinning and panic-buying scenarios.

Retail chains that have employed radio communication solutions have seen additional productivity improvements through a reduction in steps, made possible by the fact that team members can check in with one another over a communication system rather than having to physically locate and consult on the floor.

With COVID-19 restrictions, covering more floor space with less staff has been critical; and reducing footsteps has additionally resulted in better customer service experiences because teams can meet customer needs faster.

Simple operation interface that makes a comprehensive difference

Although the two-way radio has been around for nearly 100 years, they’re not clunky and hard to use anymore. In fact, they are slim and offer an array of services that allow retail and hospitality teams to better communicate, whether that’s crowd control for a large catering event or working with teams at the local grocery store to better manage stock and keep customers moving through checker lines.

With the benefits of communications and body worn cameras only made more evident in their recent pandemic applications, retailers who truly value the safety and efficiency of their staff should consider investing in these forms of technology.

Want to know more? Reach out to a CSE representative. 

Fill out a SDA Survey on Customer Abuse & Violence in Retail and Fast Food here.