Harassment in the service sector is not getting better – the tourism and restaurant industry joins the Let’s behave campaign

Inappropriate behaviour and harassment by customers towards those working in service professions has continued to increase. For example, based on information received from retail companies, various disruptive, threatening and violent situations in stores have as much as tripled from 2020 to 2025. The same trend is evident from a survey conducted by PAM among service workers in 2023. According to the survey, 70 percent of respondents had encountered harassment or other inappropriate behaviour from customers at work in the past year*.

Let’s behave campaign reminds us that service workers must be able to work in a safe environment without the risk of physical or verbal attacks on their integrity or harassing behaviour.

“Service sectors employ a large number of people. We want them to be safe and pleasant workplaces. For employers, it is about the safety of employees, i.e. occupational health and safety, and in the broader picture, it is about accountability,” reminds Anniina Ulvila, labour market expert at the Finnish Commerce Federation.

The Finnish Commerce Federation represents the largest employer in the business sector, i.e. commerce. It started the campaign against harassment and inappropriate behaviour together with PAM already in 2017. Unfortunately, the phenomenon has not subsided, and far too many still have to face harassment and bad behaviour at work.

This year, the Finnish Hospitality Association MaRa is joining the campaign.

“Harassment and other inappropriate behaviour faced by those working in the service sector is a serious problem, which we are trying to address with this campaign. The campaign is also very timely because tourism and restaurant companies employ a large number of young people during the summer. It is important that young people can work in a safe working environment and that they get positive experiences from working life”, says Olli Varmo, Director of Labour Market at MaRa.

New campaign material reflects current phenomena

The renewed campaign material includes examples of inappropriate and disturbing situations that workers have been faced with in the hospitality sector. The campaign aims to make customer harassment visible and to encourage customers to think about their behaviour.

Many of those working in the customer service encounter verbal or physical insults, sexual harassment or other threatening behaviour on a regular basis at work. Taking videos on their phones and harassment on social media are also growing phenomena.

“Technology-mediated harassment faced by young employees has increased in recent years. Customer service workers may be criticized on social media or their picture is taken without permission, which is particularly stressful. Digital harassment should therefore be included in the risk assessment at work, and clear instructions should be made on how to react to it”, says Erika Kähärä, PAM’s work environment and equality expert.

Companies are actively taking steps to improve occupational safety. The so-called business access ban is something that the trade unions have been requiring for a long time, and now it is submitted as a legislative proposal for a public hearing. The long-awaited bill is an important measure to improve workplace safety.

Unions offer tools for companies and employees

Threatening Customer Situation is an online course that is developed for the commerce sector. It deals with difficult customer situations and how they can be managed and predicted. The online course is open to everyone, it can be widely used in the sector and it is also a useful part in the orientation of new employees.

In addition, guides on how to address harassment have been developed for the commerce and the hospitality sector. They are intended to support both companies and employees, and they include, among other things, instructions for companies to draw up their own workplace-specific guidelines.

The summer campaign starts on June 16 – we encourage companies to join!

There will be two Let’s behave campaign periods this year: on June 16, the unions will launch a two-week campaign, and the second campaign focusing on the traditional Christmas season will kick off at the end of the year.

In addition to service sector workplaces, the campaign will also be visible on social media and elsewhere as well. The tags used on social media are #ollaanihmisiksi, #vänligtbemött and #letsbehave.

Companies in the commerce and hospitality sectors can communicate about the campaign themes either with material produced by unions or alternatively with their own material including a common campaign tag Let’s behave and a mention of the origin of the campaign.

The campaign will be run in cooperation with the advertising agency Smoy.

Check out the campaign: ollaanihmisiksi.fi >

* PAM service sector survey in 2023: PAMin member survey 2023 – PAM

More information:

Anniina Ulvila, työmarkkina-asiantuntija, Kaupan liitto, p. 040 501 9674, anniina.ulvila(at)kauppa.fi

Olli Varmo, työmarkkinajohtaja, MaRa, p. 044 750 7683, olli.varmo(at)mara.fi

Erika Kähärä, työympäristö- ja tasa-arvoasiantuntija, Palvelualojen ammattiliitto PAM, p. 040 764 5295, erika.kahara(at)pam.fi

Information of campaign

Pia Pere-Vanhanen, viestintä- ja vastuullisuusjohtaja, Kaupan liitto, p. 040 867 1708
pia.pere-vanhanen(at)kauppa.fi

*Palvelualojen ammattiliitto PAMin kysely vuonna 2023: PAMin jäsenkysely 2023