One of the worst scenarios a call center can face is the burnout of its agents. To prevent it
from happening as much as possible, you will need to understand what it is and how it
manifests. Burnout is a psychological syndrome that comes from chronic emotional, mental
or physical stress inside the call center. There are many of the symptoms of call center agent
burnout, but here are some of the most common ones:
● exhaustion
● forgetting things and having troubles concentrating
● apathy and disengagement
● interpersonal effectiveness decrease
● a negative and cynical attitude
● drop in productivity
To prevent these situations from happening, call center management should have a deeper
understanding of burnouts and an effective strategy for handling it. By reducing the number
of call center agent burnouts, you will have a much healthier work environment which leads
to better productivity and profitability. Moreover, reducing burnouts in your company will help
in cross-selling and up-selling your other products as well. So, what can you do to avoid a
call center agent burnout? We bring you some of the most efficient ways to ensure you
agents are satisfied and motivated while working.
Finding the right people
Finding the right people is essential if you wish to reduce burnouts. Hiring people who might
not be the best fit for this job can lead to frustration and too much stress for both sides. A
company should hire agents who manage to deliver results easily even if there are
insufficient resources at the time. Such agents will not only provide you with the results you
need but also be satisfied and motivated to do their job. Also, communication skills are a
must in this field as agents are having intense voice-to-voice interaction with your customers.
Think of hiring as your first step in building the right team of people and preventing burnouts
from happening.
Improving the call quality
Sometimes, managers will be focused more on cost per call and even penalize their agents
for not completing the customer call soon enough which leads to high level of stress and
frustration in your agents. Burnout almost always happens in situations where agents feel as
if they failed to deliver the service to their customers properly. When they feel they are
unable to scale up their operational efficiency is where the burnout symptoms will become
visible. That’s why managers should ensure their agents have enough time to solve an issue
the customer is facing in the first call and not be focused on how much time it will take. This
will reduce the number of repeat calls and increase customer satisfaction.
Empower teamwork
Encouraging effective collaboration within your teams is vital when talking about reducing
the number of call center agent burnouts. To do it right, you can implement some of the
efficient tools such as call conferencing, call barging/whispering/transferring to ensure
teamwork. Having the ability to work together to solve a certain problem really brings out
team spirit in agents. They start to feel like they are part of the community and they are
being heard and seen. After all, the first reason why people are feeling frustrated over
something is because of the lack of connection to something or someone. If your agents
work in teams, it will improve their morale and soon you will notice the improvement in their
performance and productivity.
Conclusion
To really avoid burnouts, you will need to be focused on your agents. Letting them know they
are appreciated will encourage them to talk to you if they are facing some issues at work.
Investing in your agents is a long-term process but it’s extremely beneficial for the company.
Nobody denies the fact that being a call center agent is stressful but how your agents and
you as their manager deal with it is what will determine the outcome of it.