Supporting employees to manage Occupational Violence and Aggression
Occupational Violence and Aggression (OVA) is one of the most common psychosocial hazards facing Australian workers. In customer-facing environments, it's experienced daily. A frustrated caller tips into aggression. The call ends. The person who absorbs that interaction takes a breath and picks up the next call.
Many organisations have processes to manage what happens after that moment. Few have invested in equipping their people for the moment itself. AGL partnered with Transitioning Well to change that.
Many organisations have processes to manage what happens after that moment. Few have invested in equipping their people for the moment itself. AGL partnered with Transitioning Well to change that.
“We had a lot of processes in place to deal with aggressive customer phone calls, but it was all escalation pathways,” says Adam Keddad, Senior Manager, Health, Wellbeing and Injury Management at AGL Energy.
“When you look at it from a psychosocial safety perspective, there was nothing specifically there that dealt with the harm in the moment.”
Adding further need for support, AGL identified that upcoming price increases might increase the likelihood of their call centre staff being exposed to difficult customer conversations. AGL wanted to equip employees with the tools, skills, and permission for people to protect themselves in the moment.
Understanding OVA in the workplace
Occupational violence and aggression don't just happen in emergency waiting rooms and supermarkets. It happens wherever people are delivering difficult news, managing complaints, or representing an organisation during a stressful moment in a customer's life.
For call centre workers, that exposure can be relentless and cumulative. Existing systems (incident reporting, escalation pathways or post-incident wellbeing checks) are designed to respond after the harm has occurred.
The Pilot
AGL engaged Transitioning Well to design and deliver a tailored program for customer-facing staff across their call centre operations. The pilot ran at AGL's 699 Bourke Street call centre in Melbourne, home to approximately 300 people.
The program has since expanded to AGL's King William call centre in South Australia, with rollout underway across additional business units, including community engagement teams.
A New Approach to OVA Support
Rather than delivering an off-the-shelf training program, Transitioning Well spent significant time at the outset understanding AGL's existing systems, training frameworks and workforce structure before a single session was designed.
Staff interviews, documentation reviews, and meetings with AGL's training and development team informed a program that was built to integrate with what AGL had already built. Resolution Agents, Technical Coaches, Team Leaders and Managers each received different interventions reflecting their different roles and exposure.
The program equiped staff with:
- De-escalation techniques for live customer interactions
- Practical tools to recognise when a situation is starting to head towards crossing a line
- Regulation techniques to use in the moment
- The skill of shifting focus from customer needs to self-protection when required
- A clear framework for self-care before, during, and after high-pressure interactions
Outcomes
Broader organisational application
Increased staff confidence
Reduced cumulative harm
A scalable model for psychosocial risk
"There are too many providers selling flexible programs that are off the shelf and very hard to mould. Transitioning Well were very clear from the outset that they wanted to understand. They spent a lot of time up front collecting and gathering information so they knew exactly how to fit the program in with what we had."
What the program delivered
One of the more significant discoveries during the program design process was how thoroughly AGL's prior empathy training had oriented staff toward the customer, at times, to the point where they hadn’t considered turning that attention towards themselves.
"The workers are so well-versed and trained to focus on the customer's needs that they sometimes forget their own needs. To give the customer the best service, you need to be the best version of yourself." — Adam Keddad, Health, Safety and Wellbeing, AGL
The program went through multiple iterations during delivery, adapting in real time based on participant feedback and observation by Transitioning Well’s organisational psychologists. By the time the rollout reached the King William centre, it had evolved substantially from where it began.
Results from the pilot were used to build the internal business case for broader rollout, with funding for the pilot accessed through EML's member benefits risk management program.
“It was very engaging and informative. It showed me that we are all on the same page and care deeply about each other and our people."
Expanding the Program
Following the success of the pilot, AGL expanded the program to its King William call centre in South Australia and began exploring how it could support other teams exposed to complex interactions.
These include rolling it out to:
- Credit and collections teams
- Domestic violence support teams
- Community engagement teams working with local communities
Support that makes a difference
OVA support doesn't belong only to customer service. Wherever your people are absorbing the stress, frustration, or aggression of others as part of their role, Transitioning Well's national team of registered organisational psychologists can deliver tailored interventions designed around your workforce, your existing systems, and the specific psychosocial hazards your people may face.
Get in touch to find out how we can support your team.