How VR training can protect retail workers from customer aggression

The following is a transcript from an article published on the RetailBiz website on July 16, 2025. It was written by their staff writer.

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The widely shared footage from Chemist Warehouse, showing two staff members intercepting a shoplifter, has sparked significant public reaction. It reflects a reality many retail workers face regularly: customer aggression is no longer a rare occurrence.

Instead, it has become an expected aspect of their job. However, not every employee feels empowered or safe enough to confront such incidents.

Angus Stevens, CEO and co-founder of Start Beyond, a company specialising in immersive VR and XR training, works with retail employers to equip their teams to handle abuse, intimidation, and unpredictable aggression. He shared his thoughts on what this incident reveals about workplace safety in Australia’s retail industry.

Referring to the Chemist Warehouse case, Stevens said it is not an outlier, but a reflection of a broader societal issue confronting frontline workers across retail, healthcare, hospitality, and aged care.

“What we’re seeing is a steady rise in customer aggression – not just isolated events but a sustained pattern of incivility, verbal abuse, and in some cases, physical threats. Retailers are now trying to manage a risk that’s not only widespread, but emotionally and psychologically corrosive for their staff,” he told RetailBiz.

According to Stevens, this shift has made customer aggression so common that prospective employees are reluctant to enter retail, while existing staff are leaving the industry.

“The impact isn’t just about filling roles – it’s about keeping staff and protecting them over time. We’re now seeing psychosocial claims related to workplace stress become the largest category of insurance claims in NSW, Victoria and nationally. That has huge implications.”

He also pointed out that mental health claims are harder to diagnose, more expensive to support, and have longer-lasting effects on both the employee and the business.

From his work with major retailers, Stevens has observed that many employers want to improve their training but often lack the resources to implement more effective solutions.

“Start Beyond recently commissioned a YouGov: Frontline Staff survey study with over 100 HR execs and found that 87 per cent of organisations are concerned their current training doesn’t go far enough,” Stevens shared.

The most significant gaps in existing staff training stem from an over reliance on online modules and policy manuals, which are typically treated as compliance checklists. New employees often rush through them to get on the floor, and among teams, there is little engagement or emotional preparedness for when customers become abusive.

Stevens believes traditional methods fall short in high-stress situations because they lack the realism and emotional intensity of actual incidents.

“They’re not designed for the emotional intensity of real-world conflict. People zone out. And when something genuinely stressful happens – when someone raises their voice, threatens you, corners you – your brain doesn’t reach for something you skimmed in a PDF. You go blank. That’s the gap immersive training is designed to address,” he added.

He explained that emotional responses help encode memories. When training replicates real stress, workers can instinctively recall what they learned and apply it effectively in the moment — something eLearning alone can’t achieve.

Start Beyond uses VR and XR to simulate real-world scenarios. Stevens described how immersive training helps staff respond more confidently under pressure by minimising distractions.

“Once a headset is on, you’re in the scenario. You’re face-to-face with an aggressive customer; someone looking you in the eye, pushing your buttons, as the situation quickly escalates. And the beauty of that is you get to practise responding, without the real-world risk. You get to feel your heart rate rise. You get to make decisions, fail safely, and try again – all in a repeatable, resettable, safe space. It fast-tracks experience,” he described.

The emotional connection formed during simulations builds memory and confidence, making immersive training far more effective than policy documents or written protocols.

Yet, Stevens said the psychological toll of repeated exposure to aggression is often overlooked. He believes the issue should be reframed not only as a security concern, but also a mental health risk.

“It’s also a drain – and it wears people down in quieter, more damaging ways. That’s why we named our latest training program Minaca VR: Managing Incivility, Negativity and Customer Aggression. It’s not always about shouting or physical threats. It’s the low-level incivility, the passive-aggressive comments, the dismissiveness.”

He explained that these everyday acts of disrespect undermine resilience, leading to absenteeism, higher turnover, and increased emotional and economic costs for businesses. Stevens added that the real problem isn’t a single incident—it’s the accumulation of daily mistreatment without emotional protection.

One change Stevens would like to see is a more coordinated approach to safety training, involving regulators, employers, industry bodies, and government.

“That includes smarter subsidies or co-investment models that allow SMEs to access tools like Minaca VR, not just large enterprises. We’re seeing some momentum in bodies like WorkSafe NSW and Victoria, but more can be done to encourage uptake,” he suggested.

He also sees an opportunity for insurers to play a greater role by offering immersive training as a value-added service that helps clients reduce claims.

He emphasised that everyone benefits when staff feel safer and better prepared.

Looking at the future, Stevens thinks immersive technology could eventually become the standard for workplace safety training, not just in retail, but across other vulnerable industries as well.

“It already is in some places. Woolworths has rolled out thousands of headsets nationally, and we’re working with organisations like The Reject Shop and University of Technology Sydney. VR is mainstream in a lot of large enterprises. What’s changing now is the cost.”

In Stevens’ view, immersive training is becoming more scalable, more affordable, and cheaper than traditional eLearning at scale, while delivering stronger outcomes. He’s confident that in the coming years, it will be standard practice across all frontline sectors.

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Start Beyond is Australia’s leading AR & VR company, backed with over 8 years of experience and hundreds of successful projects.  We create augmented reality and virtual reality experiences to help people gain knowledge and see the world differently. Our AR & VR platform provides our clients with the metaverse for learning.  We produce AR & VR education and training solutions, including AR & VR simulation, VR health, VR medical, VR therapy, AR marketing & sales, VR real estate and much more.

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