Steps to help your Call Center employees handle stress Effectively

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How to help your Call Center employees handle
stress Effectively
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Introduction

• Call center managers are often under pressure to
  get tasks completed within strict deadlines,
  sometimes having to work with less resources than
  they would have hoped for.
• As a result, it is but obvious that managers
  demand the best out of their teams be it in
  terms of commitment, working hours, work
  schedule, targets assigned or performance
  optimization.
• However, in doing so, managers can sometimes push
  agents to the brink, causing one of the most
  problematic scenarios in the telemarketing
  industry agent burnout.

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• While we have been able to come up with
  different call center software that help optimize
  work in the call center, the basic premise of
  performance still lies with the agents working
  there.
• And if they are asked to work beyond normal
  capacity, sooner or later they will run out of
  inspiration and energy to continue working.
• One needs to only take a glance at the alarming
  attrition rates plaguing the industry, to
  understand how far the average agent is being
  stretched beyond his or her means.
• Burnout is a psychological symptom that results
  from chronic physical, mental or emotional
  stress, resulting in a decline in productivity
  and morale, and leading to a greater number of
  agents opting out of the job every year.

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• Not only does this stress affect the agent
  directly, it also contributes to a negative vibe
  around the workplace, with everybody running low
  on morale and impacting the overall quality of
  customer service being provided.
• Therefore, agent burnout needs to be identified
  and the agents in question need to be given
  proper care so that they can handle the stress of
  the job better and continue to contribute to the
  organization and work for their own benefits as
  well.
• For a manager, retaining a skilled professional
  is of paramount importance.
• Because of the high attrition rate attached to
  telemarketing industries (over 30 on a global
  average, with the number rising above 40 in the
  main markets developing countries with cheaper
  labor) a whole lot of time and resources
  dedicated to training an employee is essentially
  wasted if that employee chooses to leave after a
  year or two.

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• Sometimes, it can turn on the other side as well,
  if that very same employee takes up a new job
  with one of your competitors and then uses the
  skills he learnt at his previous job to bring
  about profits for his new bosses.
• Thus, managers need to ensure an environment of
  motivation, and prevent agent burnout.
• This will help not only in keeping the workplace
  high, but also increase customer retention, help
  in cross-selling and save up resources in
  training and skill development.

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Hire the right people for the job

• The most complex problems are often solved by
  exploring the root cause and setting it right.
  When hiring, managers need to look for candidates
  who have a penchant for innovatively getting
  things done even if they run into a shortage of
  resources.
• Conducting a personality assessment test would
  help managers gauge which candidates are the
  right fit for the job.
• Once you have the right men and women for the
  job, they are far more likely to provide better
  quality of service, less inclined to burning out
  under stress and generally more suited for
  high-pressure environments such as a call center.

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Focus on quality-centric metrics over
quantity-centric ones

• Managers should provide more emphasis on metrics
  like Customer Satisfaction Score and First Call
  Resolutions, rather than cost-oriented metrics
  like Average Cost Per Call, etc.
• This is because often the bare cost factor is not
  enough to indicate the quality of a conversation
  with a customer.
• Every agent has their own unique way of dealing
  with the situation, and so they should be given
  the chance to prove the quality of their efforts
  rather than being bound to cost-oriented
  statistics.

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Set clear target expectations

• Lack of clarity in communication between the
  managers and employees can lead to confusion,
  disagreement and ultimately, burnout.
• As a manager, it is very important that you
  define a clear goal in every aspect for your
  employees, so that they know exactly what is
  expected out of them.
• The managers should also be clear about the
  metrics that they are stressing on, so that
  agents are aware of how they must go about their
  job to bring the best possible results.
• This communication is one of the most effective
  tools to prevent rampant agent burnout. No matter
  how stressful the situation, a conversation can
  only make it better.

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Take the help of technology to prevent agent
overwork

• Modern tools have significantly reduced the
  requirement of human intervention in a lot of
  spheres. One of the best ways to prevent burnout
  is to provide agents with the technology they
  need to get their work done easily, quickly and
  effectively.
• Repetitive processes should be automated,
  decision making should be based on the data being
  collected and agents should be encouraged to let
  the machines do all the dirty work, while they
  reserve their efforts for the customer directly.
• This raises the efficiency of operations without
  putting much pressure on the agents themselves.

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Allow agents some degree of autonomy to make
decisions

• If agents are allowed to handle a customer
  according to their best judgement, it not only
  helps to boost their confidence, but also
  increases productivity because the agent is the
  first person who is directly in contact with the
  customer and is thus in the best position to
  understand his exact requirements.
• If an agent is not given the freedom to solve a
  query even though they know they can, that is one
  of the leading causes of burnout.
• Allowing a degree of autonomy keeps agents
  invested in your company and interested in their
  work.

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Stress on collaboration and teamwork

• Enabling individuals to feel part of a team is
  essential to preventing burnout. When an agent
  knows that there are others who have his back,
  who are willing to share the stress of the job
  and work side by side, it does a lot to help them
  cope with pressure situations.
• Empowering teamwork means that people from
  different departments can come together to solve
  a problem, bringing their various fields of
  expertise into the picture and creating the best
  situation possible to bring out a solution.
• Working in a team has been known to enhance
  performance not just of the team as a whole, but
  for its individual members too.

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Let your agents take responsibility

• The job responsibilities assigned to an employee
  must match his skills and interest.
• The perfect scenario would be if managers could
  assign work according to whoever is the best fit
  for the role, and then give each of these agents
  the responsibility to see their part of the
  project through.
• In this manner, not only are you engaging in a
  meaningful collaboration with your employees, you
  are showing them your trust in their abilities.
• This contributes to a positive morale and helps
  in preventing agent burnout.

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Put a recognition system in place

• Everybody likes to feel appreciated.
• However, call center employees often complain
  that their good work is taken for granted, and
  they do not feel valued at the company, which is
  why some of them opt to leave.
• Putting a system in place which recognizes the
  exceptional efforts of agents and rewards them
  through recognition or incentives, allows the
  entire workforce to galvanize and try to put
  their best foot forward, since everyone is
  motivated to receive that appreciation.

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Make way for some recreation in the workplace

• The stress of the job can be overwhelming unless
  there is an outlet for agents to cool off and
  relax.
• It is a good idea to introduce some sort of
  relaxation after a tough week, allowing agents to
  get some well-deserved rest and keeping their
  minds fresh for the next challenge.
• This way, agents feel like their work was worth
  all the effort, and managers are able to ensure
  that their employees remain satisfied with the
  conditions at the workplace.
• This in turn, helps in preventing agent burnout
  because the agents can cool off periodically.

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Provide quality feedback

• As a manager, it is important to realize that
  your employees look up to you for guidance.
• If you can explain to them the areas where they
  can improve or work on, it helps them realize
  their frailties and gives them a sense of
  purpose.
• Firms where managers give frequent feedback
  outperform the firms that do not, by almost a 50
  margin.
• Thus, providing feedback about the performance of
  employees is important, but it needs to be done
  in a manner that motivates the employee to work
  even better and keeps the teams morale on a high.

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