According to Yle’s research, young people working in the service sector in Finland have been exposed to customers who are victims of violence, murder and rape.
The study also found that many young workers in fast food restaurants and gas stations work alone during evening and night shifts and often have to cope with drunk customers, sexual harassment, or emergencies alone, with little support.
Helsinki Meeri * told Yle that when he started working at a busy petrol station at the age of 18, he was "terrified" to understand that he had to work alone in the evening and night shifts, especially given that he had received relatively little training.
His fears were justified because he soon called the police regularly during late shifts.
"I do not understand how such a burden can be imposed on one person, especially an 18-year-old girl," A former Shell gas station employee said.
In addition to people driving away without paying for gasoline or diesel they had just pumped into their vehicles, Meeri recalled how alcohol and tobacco products were often stolen from the store. He also had to endure the abuse of intoxicated customers without the guard being present at the station late at night or the alarm button that alerted police.
Meeri is not the only young person who has experienced working alone in the evening or at night. According to a recent study by the service trade union PAM, 23 per cent of maintenance workers under the age of 25 had worked either fully or at least most of the working day alone.
After the PAM survey, Yle asked young people about working conditions in the service sector through an online survey. 350 respondents reported problems such as too busy, poor governance and unpaid overtime.
Many of the respondents also reported the feelings of insecurity they experienced at work, which some experienced especially during evening shifts and night shifts when they were left alone.
Yle conducted follow-up interviews with eight respondents who had reported experiencing sexual harassment, physical violence, robberies, and threatening situations at work. Some interviewees had even received death and rape threats from customers.
Meeri and most of the other young people interviewed by Yle in this article appear anonymously because they are concerned that public speaking of their experiences may affect their future job opportunities. All of the young people interviewed for the story have resigned from their previous positions at some point in the last three years.
Alarm only available “in case of robbery”
Former employees of R-kiosk outlets told Yle that there was an alarm button in the stores, but supervisors had instructed them to press it only "robberies".
In response to this revelation, the chainโs occupational safety and health manager Erkki Lax said employees should be advised to call for help whenever an emergency occurs.
"R-kiosk employees are never completely alone, as the chain’s service center is available to staff by telephone or through an internal communication channel whenever the kiosks are open," Lax said.
However, a woman in her twenties who worked at the R-kiosk in Helsinki this year told Yle that she was amused by the chain’s response.
"If you call the service center, you will have to wait from half a minute to a couple of minutes for an answer. There really is no point in calling [the centre] if someone in the store steals or threatens," he said.
According to Lax, the response time of the service center is less than 30 seconds.
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Jungle Juice Bar, a former employee of the nationwide juice and smoothie chain, told Yle that some of the chainโs outlets do not have an alarm or panic button that could warn a guard or authorities of an emergency.
In addition, he said employees have been instructed to contact security services only in a life-threatening situation.
"Can a young person really judge for themselves if there is a life-threatening situation? I have received death threats and have been physically abducted," a former juice bar employee recalled.
He added that it is difficult to contact security because employees are not allowed to bring their own phones to workstations according to the chainโs instructions. The only option, he pointed out, would therefore be to call the security office on a landline.
However, this can often only make matters worse, he said.
The workload and burden of young workers has been a hot topic of discussion on the anonymous Jodel chat service, which is popular with young people. Fast food chain Hesburger’s "unbearable" The demands for young workers appeared on the same social media channel at the end of August and eventually became national news.
Earlier this week, Hesburgerโs management said it has already taken action to address the issues that have arisen and that the company plans to listen to its employees and improve their working conditions in the future.
Drunk, late night guests
A woman in her twenties who worked at Subwayโs fast food sandwich chain in 2019 also told Yle that there was no panic button in the outlet.
This became a particular problem when she had to take weekend night shifts alone or with just one other female colleague, she said, especially when many drunk customers came to the restaurant after the bars closed.
Staff repeatedly told management they didnโt feel safe working alone at night, he recalled.
One Subway franchise company told Yle that he told his employees that the restaurant should not be kept open on Friday nights if there are only two employees.
"There was a meeting where I said that I would either close the outlet or someone could do it alone if they wanted to," he said.
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Erik Yomans, 25, worked at the Hesburger store in Turku for five years. He said the restaurant where he worked had an alarm button that you can press in an emergency.
However, he added that not all new employees were aware of the buttonโs existence because the disabled restaurant did not have time to fully train or familiarize employees with all aspects of the job.
Yomans, who also worked as a shift manager in the fast food burger chain, said he was willing to speak publicly about his experiences in the service industry while working in his own name, as he has waited a long time for these issues to be discussed in public.
Chains cannot answer queries related to security issues
Yle asked Kesko, the S Group, the R-kiosk, Scandic, Neste and St1 to respond to reports from their former employees about working alone at night and related occupational health and safety issues.
None of the chains could give exact figures on how many young people worked alone in the evening or at night.
In their replies, R-kiosk, ST1 and Kesko emphasized that individual franchisees and retailers are independently responsible for the operation of their premises and thus also for the security of sales outlets.
In addition, the chains said they could not make public statements on security issues because this is sensitive information.
According to the chains that generally responded, the safety of employees is improved by familiarization with the work environment, safety training and the availability of safety personnel.
Threat of murder, rape
According to a PAM survey, more than half of service workers have experienced threats of violence in the workplace.
The study also showed that an even greater proportion of people have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, and this was particularly high among younger workers. More than 70 percent of PAM interviewees under the age of 25 reported experiencing sexual harassment at work.
"I have been threatened with being killed, beaten and raped at work." said a former Jungle Juice Bar employee mentioned earlier in this article.
Threatening situations and harassment, he said, were commonplace at work, and he added that he has repeatedly expressed his fears and concerns to the district manager of the chain.
"Itโs not that the companyโs management doesnโt know, theyโre just not that interested," he said.
Elli Holappa, CEO of Jungle Juice Bar, said the chain decided to close one office in Helsinki in 2019 due to feedback from employees on working conditions. Employees had reported feeling insecure, especially when working alone in a shift.
A former Jungle Juice Bar employee interviewed by Yle said that almost all of his colleagues were women under the age of 25. He started working for the chain at the age of 19, and the average age of a Jungle Juice Bar employee is 18 to 20 years old.
Supervisors are rarely absent
Another woman in her twenties, who worked at an ABC gas station in Uusimaa, told Yle that the sales outlet "about vacancies" (roughly translated "permanent", men who spent a lot of time at the station) often engaged in sexual harassment of female staff.
It was quite normal for middle-aged men to choose their own "own favourite" among the female workers, he recalled who they would then do "surround" with requests and comments throughout the shift.
"One always paid with coins because he wanted to touch his hands when he got the exchange back. Another told me he was waiting for me at the front door as I left home for work. It became a really disgusting and scary feeling," he said.
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Young women workers provided protection "gang", which they would use to warn each other about the behavior of certain customers, the former employee said.
He added that supervisors were rarely absent when customers disturbed staff, except occasionally to remind a customer to be rude.
“Failed as an employer”
Mikko Koskinen, Head of the S Group’s Risk Management Unit, admitted to Yle that the AB Group ABC has failed as an employer in the situation described by the interviewee.
He added that similar situations could be avoided if the supervisor and other employees encouraged young employees to report negative work-related issues.
Tarja Kuittinen, The vice president of Restel gas stations, said the threat of violence and the dangers faced by an employee increase when employees are alone. Kuittinen commented on the experiences described by Meer, a former employee of Shell.
"If co-workers do not have help when needed, it is understandable that the employee may feel insecure. In addition, even a break and toilet access [when the only person on duty] is challenging" Kuittinen said, adding that gas stations in his chain are working with a security company to protect workers as needed.
By Sampsa PuttonenSenior researcher at the National Institute of Occupational Health, employers should give employees clear instructions on how to deal with threats or emergencies. He added that while experienced employees may know how to handle certain situations, younger employees have not yet built confidence to act in the same way.
Taking the first steps into working life is not only about performing work-related tasks, Puttonen said, but also about knowing how to act in emergencies.
"Young people must not be left alone with things that" he decided.
* Meerโs name was changed to protect the intervieweeโs true identity.
Source: The Nordic Page