"Burnout: How Does it Affect Customer Service Agents?"

“It’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.” Elon Musk

Elon Musk has such a powerful statement about our customers but what if we turned that around and looked at our customer service representatives as our customers? What if we take a look at them and actually look at what they do on a day in and out basis? Do they struggle at their job? Do you think they are happy? What are their hopes and dreams? Are they their for a paycheck or because they want this to be a career? These are questions as middle, upper and executive management we need to start looking at and asking ourselves these questions.

You know when you first hired this employee, they were happy to come to work and excited to be there and to help your customers do everything they can? Now, have you come to noticed they seem to be increasing withdrawn and call in absent a lot?

Regardless if they work in sales, customer service, ect: do you notice they have lower productivity, they don't care about their job like they used to, they aren't as attentive or ineffective as they were before?

You certainly have noticed a change in their commitment to your company and the poor performance but the only thing you can think of is to write them up on notices and give them poor reviews. However, do you think that will change their behavior? They already dislike the company? Do you really think that is going to make them want to change their ways? The answer is more than likely: NO!

Recently, there was a study by CNN that the World Health Organization declared the illness named "Burnout" an official medical diagnosis and condition. Of course, doctors have to rule out certain other factors but it is a extreme work health condition. We know our front line customer service agents have to deal with people who are unhappy, yelling at them, ect and a lot of our agents take it seriously. They don't understand they are just the fact of our companies and we need to adjust their thinking to realize, they don't make the policies the management team does. Also, we need to teach them to say, "On behalf of our company, I apologize for this action!" This way the customer service representative don't feel the burden is on them to accept responsibility for the companies actions. Also, I feel we should do away with metrics completely. Give the agents the time on the phone to handle customer's compliments and issues. Give the customer's their voice back. Give the customer service representative the empowerment to fix the issue. Never let a customer hang up dissatisfied because of an issue an agent could have fixed but didn't have the time because they were worried about their metrics.

Remember just like any customer, it's a lot easier to retain an employee than it is to have them leave and to you find a new employee, train them and make this a continuous cycle. If you don't fix this cycle, it is just going to be a constant loop for you that is never going to end. Things to remember to help customer service agents boost their self esteem is to reward them for complimentary calls. If you overhear them being nice to a customer send them an email letting them know how much they are appreciated and valuable within your organization. Have Town Hall meetings and let the agents know where your business is going and where you plan to take it for job security. A lot of agents work and don't know if they will have job security with all the new technology coming out. Start a reward program for those with perfect attendance or find some other way to reward them. Please don't use metrics, your representatives don't like to hear that someone is constantly watching their talk time or their after work time, if they are doing what is right for the customer, it's a catch 22. Do I do what's right for the customer or do I make my stats? It a revolving door for them!

These are just some suggestions, if you can think of some other ones, please feel free to post them on the comments section.

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