It's not just you. CS leaders are burnt out.

We’re already more than halfway through the year – can you believe it? Some of us might have summer vacations planned, but even with that to look forward to, it’s easy to feel burnt out.?

Burnout is certainly a big problem we face in customer service. The scary thing, however, is that most of us don’t even know it. If you were to ask the average person working in CS if they were burnt out, they’d probably say “no.” By and large, we love what we do and get a great sense of fulfillment from helping people.?

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Zooming out, CS teams across industries face above average turnovers. Spending 40+ hours a week in the inbox listening to problems can wear on you, so if you are feeling a bit weighed down, that's okay.?

As a support leader, one of the most important things you can do is prioritize keeping your team happy, healthy, and engaged. It’s undeniable that a great team experience makes for a great customer experience, so here are a few ways you can fend off burnout.

Keep asking your team what's not working

At least once a quarter, I schedule check-ins with my team and ask questions like:

• What's one thing that's making your job harder than it should be?
• What's something we're not focused on but should be?
• What's slowing you down?
• What's making it hard for you to help customers?

Taking the time to engage one-to-one, actively seek out ideas, and then do something with the feedback shows your team that they're not just part of a machine. Rather, they're people you genuinely care about, and improving their day-to-day experience is as important to you as achieving the company's goals.?

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Use AI to make work easier

Ok. I know we're biased, but hear me out. Your team gets worn out because they want to go the extra mile and oftentimes, they can't. A customer might need help, and there's 10 different things your teammate wants to do to give them a great experience. When they're stretched for time, they have to be okay with just doing one or two of those things. As humans, we only have so much capacity, but feeling like you're underdelivering is exhausting.

We’re discovering exactly how much AI tools can lighten the load of repetitive, tedious tasks. We’re obviously enthusiastic adopters of Fin AI Copilot, but it’s genuinely been amazing to see how much easier it is to find relevant answers without having to go down rabbit holes looking for specific Google Docs or Slack channels. I’ve seen my teammates pull what they're looking for immediately – and boom! Their sense of satisfaction has gone up because they can do so much more in way less time.

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Shake up the workday

When you’re spending the majority of your week attending to the same customer problems, things can get monotonous pretty fast. Introducing some diversity into the day is a good way to keep work interesting.?

I'm not saying get out of the inbox and go learn to play the guitar (although that could be cool!), but rather, allocate tasks that will allow your team to stretch their brains in different ways and still add value. This could include updating articles in your knowledge base, or, for more technical team members, programming internal tools.

I've seen how energizing introducing new responsibilities is for my team, so building in capacity for out-of-the-inbox activities has become a non-negotiable. Not only does it keep things interesting, it also helps build different skills – which is so important with AI entering the mix and changing what?future careers in customer service look like.

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Don't forget to have fun!

At the end of the day, we all need to lighten up a bit and do what makes us happy. This will look different across company and team cultures, but find a way for your team to take their foot off the gas now and then, and enjoy doing something more lighthearted.

To spark some inspiration, here are a few things we do:

• At the start of every year, we hold what we call a "Spirit Week.” Everyone wears costumes and we plan activities, like a scavenger hunt and a "show and tell." It's a fun way for everyone to bond and kick the year off on a good note.
• Plan out a “fun” calendar with activities like book swaps or ice-cream outings.
• “Dad Joke” Wednesdays. No explanation needed.

We set up a dedicated “Culture and Recognition” team to run these activities. When things get crazy, having fun goes out the door first, so we never just assume these things will happen. We make sure we have a specific strategy for fun. And it’s made a big difference.

Burning the candle at both ends will burn you out, so don’t push yourself to breaking point. You deserve to be looked after the same way you look after your customers.

Take care of yourselves! ??

Bobby Stapleton

Senior Director, Human Support

PS. I know it probably sounds like we think we have everything figure out too. But really, it's never the case. We'd love to hear from you all too. What works for you to mix things up and help your team stay motivated, fresh and engaged? We might just even send some swag out to the best suggestions (and for just reading this far) ??

?? To get the full value of The Ticket, with all your essential Customer Service intel both inside and outside of Intercom, subscribe to the email version of The Ticket here.