Burnout syndrome in your call center? We all know that day-to-day life in a call center is hectic: calls, interactions with a wide range of customer profiles, doubts or problem solving are just some of the stressful situations that can be experienced every day in a workspace.
All these situations can cause in agents who perform call center or contact center services an emotional exhaustion that goes beyond simple headaches. Something that has a name: burnout syndrome. If you don’t know what we are talking about, in this post we explain what it is and how you can avoid it in your call center.
What is burnout syndrome?
The burnout syndrome is defined as the state of physical and mental exhaustion that is born due to different stressful situations both at work and in personal life. The term was first used in 1974 by the American psychologist Herbert Freudenberg in his book “Burnout: the high cost of high achievement.”
A problem that, as we said a few lines above, goes far beyond simple annoyances or discomfort. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) itself recognizes this syndrome as a disease. Therefore, burnout syndrome is included among the main mental health problems.
A problem that, therefore, must be tackled by any company that offers customer service, not only for the wellbeing of our agents (very important for the motivation of our staff) but also for our call center or contact center to offer users an agile and quality service.
How can burnout syndrome be avoided in your call center?
Once the problem is defined, it is important to know the main risk factors that can lead to this physical and mental exhaustion of our agents. Here are five tips to help call center agents to not suffer from burnout syndrome:
Divide the day into sections
We know that a day in your call center can be long and stressful. Dividing the day into sections of time periods of half an hour or an hour helps your agents set small goals. On a mental level, talking about “one case every half hour” is much easier and less stressful than talking about “14 cases in seven hours.”
Very important when planning the day in a call center or contact center is, in addition, dedicating time to follow-up and review pending messages.
Have a good call center software
Outdated software and outdated tools make your agents’ jobs extremely difficult. The more difficult it is to do your job, the slower, demotivating and inefficient it will be.
For this reason, an omnichannel call center software such as ICR Evolution is perfect: thanks to its ease of use and the scripting tools and templates, our EVOLUTION software reduces agent burnout, frees up time for clients to be advised in a more complete and personalized way and increases the First Contact Resolution.
Anticipate peak times and take action
At this point, the work of the manager of the call center is very important, the person who, of course, knows more in depth the products or services that the agents will have to deal with.
Depending on the type of the sector, it is easy to know when these peaks or excesses of work will occur, so proper planning and taking action on time will prevent agents from encountering a high volume of customer calls and feeling overwhelmed.
Set achievable goals in your call center
In line with ‘dividing the day into sections’, defining a goal or objective is essential to face the day in the call center with a different attitude. We have already talked about the well-known SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based). To achieve them, an omnichannel software such as ICR Evolution will be of great help.
Improve Employee Experience
Promoting flexible working hours or remote work are small signs that provide opportunities for improvement for both a company and its workers. In the 21st century, and even more after confinement, new work models have been imposed and companies are already prepared to face this flexibility that can help to mitigate stress and agent burnout to a certain extent. Something that a good call center software contributes greatly to.
Reduce burnout syndrome with our ICR Evolution call center software
Throughout this article we have listed different reasons why an omnichannel call center software like ICR Evolution can help your workers to be motivated and work at full capacity and offer good customer service.
If you want to know more, we are at your disposal. Contact us and request a demo of our call center software. The (R) evolution begins!
