ade. While this is something we’re witnessing in America, could we see this shift on our shores? This article explores some of the warning signs we’re starting to see down under.  Is the Great Resignation here in Australia?  In an interview with retail workers who recently left their jobs, nearly all said the pandemic meant more extended hours, chronic understaffing, demanding customers and even pay cuts. Fast Company reported verbatim where a retail worker, who left the industry after 14 years, said it was “like leaving an abusive relationship”.  Retail workers had to deal with aggressive and entitled customers fighting over toilet paper and panic buying. On top of that, there are store closures and uncertainty around rosters due to changing government regulations. It didn’t come as a surprise when a study found that nearly a quarter of Aussie retail employees (23.4 per cent) contemplated switching to another industry when the Covid-19 crisis hit. The retail industry’s volatile nature has meant employees are now re-evaluating their relationship to work and acting on the burnout caused by the pandemic.  While we see the tension in the frontline and the mass resignations in America, research from Gartner shows a glimmer of hope. We are not seeing the Great Resignation in Australia just yet, but the underlying signs are there. The study says Australia is significantly above the rest of the world in overall business confidence, including the job market. That’s some good news, at least. More support needed for frontline workers It’s promising to see more and more businesses recognising the advantages of mentally healthy workplaces, however, experts have warned that frontline workers especially need more support during the pandemic. Retail workers have faced lower pay and challenging conditions for years — the pandemic has made it worse. It’s all well and good to have a mental health policy and leave benefits, but the nature of frontline work has made mental health days less accessible to take. Unfortunately, frontline workers are more likely to take extended leave once they have already reached burnout level. Just weeks ago, Nike announced that it was closing its head office to give employees a mental health break. The internet praised the brand for the move; however, once retail store workers caught wind, they were unhappy. The disparity in entitlements for employees can impact a brand’s reputation and, worse, choose to take their business elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong — it isn’t that corporate employees didn’t deserve the break; it was the inequality between corporate and the customer-facing environment. Not investing in mental health for all employees devalues some of your most essential workers. Those in the frontline experiencing mental health issues will lose motivation, quit, or continue suffering, which compromises the quality of their work and is detrimental to sales. What retailers should do now before it’s too late Experts have said that part of the issue is that mental health policies treat the symptoms and not the cause. It puts the onus on the employee to be fully accountable for their own stress levels at work instead of creating an environment where management is committed to improving ways of working. Managers must put support structures in place to prevent employees from ever burning out and reaching the stage of needing leave. To best support retail workers during the pandemic, it is wise for leadership teams to actually spend time on the shop floor to experience the day-to-day challenges employees face. Additionally, it is creating a safe forum for open communication where employees can freely express any concerns without facing any backlash. But overall, mental health is not a one-off exercise. It’s an ongoing process for all employees, regardless of their position in the organisation.