Over the last few years, we’ve seen a significant escalation in customer aggression in our retail stores. Sadly, real examples include One NZ team members being verbally abused, followed to their car after work, or, at the extreme end, being punched in the face. Retail shopping should be a safe and enjoyable experience for all, but today this is frequently not the case. On many occasions we have to close stores for safety reasons, denying many customers the service they visit for.
Fundamentally we believe that everyone has a right to be safe at work. We do not tolerate acts of violence against our employees and are looking at technology solutions to help us to combat this increase in tension.
We have installed more video cameras and CCTV in our stores, however this only goes a limited way to deter crime and violence against our team. So, during the recent trial of facial recognition technology (FRT) in a retail environment, we have been watching closely.
That’s also why we joined Retail NZ‘s letter, Joint statement on use of facial recognition technology in retail settings, signed by our CEO Jason Paris alongside a dozen Kiwi retailers.
We understand there are privacy, bias and discrimination concerns related to the use of FRT which need to be worked through. However, if the outcome helps our people to be safer at work, we’ll carefully consider how we can use FRT to achieve a safe working environment.
Upholding our customer’s privacy is incredibly important to us. This was underscored in the One NZ AI Trust Report, which shows 87% of New Zealanders think it is vitally important for businesses to have strong data privacy protections when using AI, a statistic that likely translates onto all other technologies.
Our privacy policy is easily accessible on our website. In addition, as noted in the Retail NZ open letter, we will support the best practice guidelines for the use of FRT being developed by Retail NZ as well as comply with the Biometrics Code being finalised by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Further, we’ll ensure that we test and control for bias and accuracy, that our staff are well-trained to use this technology, our practices are frequently reviewed, and that feedback from stakeholders can be accepted and considered in a timely way.
We are confident the use of FRT in the right settings with the right controls can provide positive safety benefits for retailers, employees and customers, while not impeding the privacy of New Zealanders.