It reflects on you

'It reflects ON YOU' is asking you to pause and reflect on how you interact with us. It makes it clear that aggressive, threatening and violent behaviour will not be tolerated.

Mayor Michael Coxon said Council staff have the right to work in a safe environment without feeling threatened or fearful.

“We’ve seen an increase in aggressive, threatening and violent behaviour targeted at our staff by customers, residents, ratepayers and other members of the public, which is a clear risk to the health and safety of our team," Mayor Coxon says.

"Without a safe work environment, we are unable to properly serve our community, a community that some of us also live in.

“It’s clearly confronting when this happens so we’re asking for people to pause and reflect before interacting with us. Our message is a simple one; to treat us as you would like to be treated."

Mayor Coxon says Council recognises that respected behaviour needs to be reciprocal and, as such, we have reviewed and updated our Customer Service Charter, which outlines what customers can expect from us.

“We understand people can get frustrated at times, but there is absolutely no excuse for channelling that negativity towards someone who is doing their job and trying to assist," he says.

"Threatening and aggressive behaviours take their toll on the mental health and wellbeing of all staff. This can lead to a downturn in productivity which, ultimately, means that our service standards to our community will be affected. By updating our charter and launching this campaign, we are hoping to achieve a joint commitment with our community for a mutually respectful relationship."

A recent Council survey found 58% of our workers have experienced some form of aggressive, threatening or violent behaviour in their roles, however only 27 per cent – or less than half – have reported it to a supervisor or manager.

“In the past 18 months, staff have been given training around providing positive customer experiences as well as conflict resolution training," Mayor Coxon adds.

"We are here to provide services and amenities to improve the quality of life for our residents, but it's also up to our residents and customers to be mindful of behaviours which may have a negative impact on mental well-being."

The It reflects ON YOU campaign was publicly launched on 28 August 2024 and the community can expect to see information on social media, banners and posters in Council-owned facilities and in the community. 

1. Why has the Council launched this campaign now?

The campaign follows a significant increase in incidents of aggressive, threatening and violent behaviour directed towards our employees by some members of the community.

This behaviour includes intimidation, online stalking, verbal abuse, verbal and physical threats, and even physical assault.

This campaign is part of our commitment to ensuring our Work, Health and Safety initiatives safeguard and provide tools to decrease the risk of psychological injuries as well as physical.

2. What increase have you seen regarding aggressive, threatening and violent behaviours reported by Council employees over the past year?

Over the past 2 years, reported incidents of aggressive, threatening and violent behaviour have increased by an estimated 52%. It’s important to note that these are just the reported incidents and we know that a large number of these incidents go unreported. Focus groups conducted with staff when creating this campaign highlighted to us that staff have not been reporting incidents as they believed it was 'part of their job'. One of the main operational goals of this campaign is to ensure that staff are supported to report harmful behaviours so that our organisation can deal with them when they arise.

3. What type of aggressive, violent and threatening behaviours have your Council staff been facing?

Behaviours include intimidation, online stalking, verbal abuse, verbal and physical threats, and on the rare occasion even physical assault.

4. Is the frustration and anger of your ratepayers and customers coming from how you operate and deliver services?

City of West Torrens staff are dedicated to serving the community. While on occasion we make mistakes or a matter takes longer to process or resolve than planned, there is absolutely no excuse for these behaviours being demonstrated towards someone who is doing their job and trying to assist. We adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards such behaviour. We have updated our Customer Service Charter to outline how long our customers can expect to wait to have general day-to-day issues resolved. Depending on the complexity of a request, not all issues can be resolved in one contact with staff; however, we will endeavour to provide a timeframe for how issues will be dealt with.

5. Is this a problem across all councils? Why do you think other councils aren’t running similar campaigns?

We suspect that many other councils are experiencing similar problems. We have already had some councils contact us to express an interest in what we are doing.

6. If this is an issue across all councils, do you think the LGA should be running a campaign across all local councils?

The LGA has been supportive of our campaign and our efforts to reduce the incidents of aggressive, threatening and violent behaviour. While many other councils are experiencing similar problems, every council is also unique and may wish to approach this issue in their own way.

7. Is most of this behaviour related to mental health? Do you think the South Australian government should be doing more with mental health services to reduce the problem?

Mental health is certainly a factor in some cases. However, the majority of the incidents of the behaviours directed towards our employees don’t appear to relate specifically to mental health and these behaviours are a choice people are making which can be modified. This is the aim of this campaign; to ask people to stop and consider how their behaviour is impacting others and being perceived.

8. Is the City of West Torrens a safe place to work?

Yes. The City of West Torrens is committed to ensuring and maintaining a safe workplace for our employees, this is one reason we are launching this campaign. We have undertaken mandatory training with our staff to provide them with the tools they need to handle difficult situations. This training will be ongoing as we onboard new staff and form part of our mandatory work, health and safety training.

9. Are these behaviours making it hard to attract and retain employees?

We are lucky to have a talented and dedicated team, and when required are able to attract suitable people into these roles. However, being an employer of choice means recognising that these issues exist and acting to keep our people safe.

10. Are there cases where your own employees act towards customers in an aggressive manner?

We recognise that respectful behaviour needs to be reciprocal and as such, we've revised our Customer Service Charter which outlines what our customers can expect from us and in turn the behavioural expectations of our customers. Our message is a simple one; to treat us as you would like to be treated.