Customer aggression towards frontline staff and the employer's role

On 6 October 2025, during the Dutch Week van de Veiligheid (Safety Week), fourteen industry bodies and companies from retail, hospitality, security and transport published a manifesto. They include CBL, INretail, the Raad Nederlandse Detailhandel, Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, Dutch Railways (NS), OV-NL and Koninklijk Nederlands Vervoer, with the employers’ organisations VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland as the point of contact. The employers write that aggression and violence against staff in shops, hospitality, transport, events and security are increasing, and that younger employees are more and more often abused, intimidated or physically attacked. According to the manifesto, employers are investing in cameras, security, training, agreements on intervening and reporting incidents to the police, and shop bans, but have reached the limit of what they can do themselves. The employers call it a problem for society and ask politicians for a national campaign aimed at the behaviour of customers and bystanders, more effort from the police and the Public Prosecution Service, and a higher chance of offenders being caught.

NS presented figures at a round-table discussion in the Dutch House of Representatives in March 2026. In 2025 NS staff reported 1,132 incidents of serious physical and verbal aggression, a record and over 70 per cent more than the 661 reports in 2020. On average, three NS employees a day face serious aggression or intimidation, and one is injured. NS places part of the cause outside the company, in a hardening society and in groups such as homeless people, confused individuals and young troublemakers. In 2025 NS’s special enforcement officers asked the police for assistance 17,033 times, in 30 to 40 per cent of cases to establish someone’s identity. According to NS, about a quarter of escalations happen while waiting for the police. These are reports, so the willingness to report also shapes the number.

The Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NEA) gives a broader picture. TNO and Statistics Netherlands (CBS) surveyed over 53,000 employees at the end of 2025; the first results came out in April 2026. Of all employees, 11 per cent had faced unwanted behaviour from customers, patients, passengers or pupils in the past year, mostly intimidation or threats. That is about as often as in earlier years. Women (16 per cent) and employees aged 15 to 25 (17 per cent) report it more often, and it is highest in healthcare, at 26 per cent. In hospitality, 8 per cent report unwanted sexual attention from customers, against just over 3 per cent on average. Of all employees, 11 per cent think (additional) measures are needed against customer aggression. Young people under 25 are less likely to find it easy to raise difficult issues at work: 59 per cent, against 68 per cent of all employees. The summary gives no separate breakdown for retail and transport.

How solid is this? The rise comes from reports and from the judgement of employers, who since autumn 2025 have jointly looked to government for the solution. The national survey does not yet show an increase for employees as a whole, and recent figures for retail are missing. Whether there is more aggression, or more reporting and more attention, has yet to be established.