As a 17-year-old regional NSW student, Hannah was excited to start work at a major retail chain after school.

"The store that I worked in was a really great store. I loved all my coworkers," she told the ABC by the beach near her home.

It was only her second job and she enjoyed learning new skills about customer service and how to make a sale.

But soon after starting work at the store, she began to experience a dark side to the industry that new research shows is far too common.

"Everyone I knew that worked there had an experience with being sexually harassed at work," she said.

"From anything as small as just awkward comments that customers would make — or as severe as some people who I worked with actually being stalked by customers and having some really scary experiences like that."

'Another day in retail'

A new study by the University of Sydney has found what many retail workers already know to be true: that sexual harassment in the industry is pervasive.

"Retail workers describe sexual harassment as basically being part of the job — so that's the title of our report," said Rae Cooper, a professor of gender, work and employment relations who prepared the report with her team.

Professor Cooper's report, 'Just another day in retail': Understanding and addressing workplace sexual harassment in the Australian retail industry, found that sexual harassment in retail is common and normalised for workers. 

In 86 per cent of cases, the perpetrators were men, and ranged from managers, colleagues to customers. 

Researchers conducted focus groups and interviews with workers and found young women working in retail were the highest risk group.

"I think it's a real shame that we are sending young people into environments that are risky and dangerous to them," Professor Cooper said.

Troubling numbers

The report also drew on datasets that showed in the past five years half of women and a quarter of men in retail experienced sexual harassment and in over a third of cases the customer was the perpetrator.

The research found the most common form of sexual harassment was sexually suggestive comments and jokes (62 per cent), followed by intrusive questions about private life or physical appearance (45 per cent), and staring or leering (41 per cent). 

Actual or attempted rape or sexual assault was reported by 6 per cent of people.

"My own children work in retail and it does make you pause for thought, when you're listening to research subjects talking about an experience that the kids come home and talk to you about as well," Professor Cooper said.

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Customer-first culture

It's been a few years since Hannah worked at the store where she was sexually harassed, but she still remembers feeling powerless and unsure of how to respond to the behaviour.

"As a 17-year-old starting working there, I had never experienced anything like that before, I just felt completely at a loss to even say something and speak up for myself in the first place."

Hannah said she wasn't equipped as a young teenage employee to navigate uncomfortable conversations or deal with customers who were acting inappropriately.

"I felt really powerless," she said.

"It's very tricky because the whole point of customer service is to build a relationship with the customer so they feel comfortable and happy and if they're comfortable and happy, then they'll let go of their money a little easier."

Professor Cooper said that rang true with what her research found.

"We hear the term, 'the customer's always right' and that can sometimes really influence the way that customers treat retail workers, but also the way that retail workers feel that they can react and the way that they can make themselves feel safe."

Legal protections

Having experienced sexual harassment in retail makes Hannah feels "grateful" her experience wasn't as bad as some of her colleagues.

"It like sort of plays on your mind a little bit of like, 'oh, what could I have done like differently to prevent that situation from happening'."

But Professor Cooper said Australian employers are legally obligated to show they have taken reasonably practical steps to ensure their employees are safe from harm and safe from harassment at work.

"Ultimately, individuals are responsible for their behaviour — if people are behaving badly and sexually harassing staff in workplaces, that's their responsibility, she said.

"But there's an extra layer when it comes to workplace responsibility, so regardless of who perpetrates the behaviour, if it happens to a staff member in a workplace, the employer is has real liability there and has to has at law has a responsibility to deal with that behaviour appropriately, and if they possibly can to head it off."

Professor Cooper said an industry-wide approach was needed to tackle the issue "and that will involve the major employers, the union, and possibly government coming together to address this problem".

Training needed

Australian Retailers Association CEO Paul Zahra said while he wasn't shocked by the findings of the report, he was disappointed and concerned by them.

"It's a huge problem of great concern, we're really motivated now to see how we can turn this into action," he told the ABC.

He said the association was preparing a training course for retail workers on sexual harassment but acknowledged the industry needed to do more.

"The findings from the report tell us that we should be collecting data better in store, really making sure that we've got enough information around sexual harassment."

Hannah said providing staff with training on what to do if they're being sexually harassed and where to report it should be included with other standard training modules like workplace injuries and safety procedures.

"Where I worked, we had quite a bit of training from the company, in regards to our product knowledge, how to make a saIe. I can't remember any training that I did that went through how to deal with customers that are making you feel uncomfortable."