The union representing retail, fast food and warehousing workers is urging shoppers to stay calm and be respectful of workers as we enter the busy Christmas holiday season.

Retail work is undergoing profound transformation, with rapid changes including digitisation, the collection and use of big data, and automation reshaping the industry and the skills required to work within it. These transformations have the potential to entrench and even exacerbate existing inequalities within the industry. Based on interviews with 30 senior stakeholders in retail and retail-adjacent industries, and a representative retail, fast food and warehouse workers survey (n=1160), this report examines perceptions and experiences of intersecting technological transformations occurring in the Australian retail industry and the changing skills sets required for the future of retail work.

In this report, we examine retail workers’ experiences and perceptions of gendered disrespect and inequality. The findings summarised here are based on data collected in interviews with 30 senior industry leaders and stakeholders, including representatives from industry associations and unions, senior managers of major retail employers, retail consultants and other industry experts. It also draws upon the findings of a survey (n = 1,160) of Australian retail, fast food, and warehouse workers.