By
Erica Marois
|
Date Published: August 13, 2024 - Last Updated September 12, 2024
|
Comments
Burnout among contact center agents is a growing concern. Is your team feeling the heat? We tapped into the wisdom of the ICMI community to uncover proven strategies to help your agents thrive, not just survive.
Ready to banish burnout on your team? Discover six key tips to create a more supportive and resilient contact center environment.
Tip #1: Support Your Agents During Tough Calls
Contact center trainer, speaker and ICMI Top 25 Thought Leader Mike Aoki offers this advice for contact center leaders: recognize when your agents are dealing with difficult customers by observing their body language and call duration, then offer support during and after the call to help them cope and learn from the experience.
“Don’t let agents take their last call out on the next caller. Learn to spot when your employees are dealing with a challenging customer interaction. That includes noticing when someone is on a long call since that may indicate a contentious conversation. It means observing body language such as sloped shoulders, gritted teeth or clenched fists over the keyboard. When you notice an agent exhibiting these signs, give them support while they are with the customer,” says Aoki.
“If you are in person, you can make eye contact, smile and nod encouragingly. If you are remote, you can send them an instant message of encouragement. After the call, let your team member vent. Listen to them with empathy. Help them calm down. Give them perspective about how handling irate customers is a part of customer service. Let them know that everyone in a contact center encounters these types of situations, even if they did everything correctly,” he says.
Tip #2: Prevent and Prepare for Customer Challenges
One of the best ways to mitigate stress is to prevent it from happening in the first place, says ICMI contributor and Top 25 Thought Leader Afshan Kinder. Early intervention and support for your team are essential for supporting morale and preventing burnout.
“The best service is when a customer journey is low friction and effort, requiring no contact. Look for ways to eliminate known poor customer experiences,” she says.
“For customer situations that are a known customer dissatisfier and are unavoidable, arm your team members with responses that make sense to customers. The stress often comes from your team members not knowing what to say or if they do say something, it sounds nonsensical to a customer. This leads to high team member stress and high cost in escalations.”
Tip #3: Equip Your Agents with a Toolbox Full of Coping Strategies
Debbie Szumylo, a senior manager for customer and employee experience encourages contact center leaders to take a collaborative approach to mitigating stress. It’s less about one strategy, but more about doing things to boost confidence and resilience. Her advice? Focus on training, active listening, and post-call debriefing to build resilience and improve customer satisfaction.
"Dealing with angry customers can be a significant source of stress for front-line staff. Provide comprehensive training on handling difficult situations,” she says. “Role-playing exercises can help staff practice their responses and build confidence in managing customer interactions. Remind them often that it’s not personal. A lot of times, anger stems from misunderstandings. Teaching effective communication skills can help de-escalate situations."
Tip #4: Create a Supportive Workplace Culture
Whether you’re leading a marketing team, customer service team or any other collaborative group, contact center training expert Sheri Kendall emphasizes the importance of psychological safety.
“A psychologically safe environment creates a safe space for the agent to debrief with their leadership. Policies that empower agents to end calls with abusive customers are necessary,” says Kendall. “In addition, WFM leaders should staff so agents have the option to take a few minutes to recover.”
Tip #5: Treat the Root Cause, Not Just the Symptoms
Podcast host and industry thought leader Amas Tenumah cautions leaders that focusing too much on managing the symptoms of stress isn’t a long-term solution.
“I want to focus on the disease,” he says. “One, we must work on addressing the root causes of angry customers. Two, we must arm service employees with better tools than just saying ‘I’m sorry’ or 'smiling through the phone.’ There are demonstrably better tools out there.”
Tip #6: Lead the Charge Against Customer Anger
Finally, Senior Operations Manager Travis Stuart issues an important reminder. Successful management of customer anger starts at the top. Leaders must prioritize customer-centric tools, comprehensive training, and employee support.
“Regardless of all the prep, training and policies, there will be customers who take out frustrations on a caller,” he says.
“Here is where we need to ensure we allow cool-down times, encourage a walk, have Team Leads or Supervisors available to talk, etc. Finally, the leadership must be on the floor looking after their people. You cannot lead from the office.”
Your Agents Deserve the Best Support, and the ICMI Community is Here to Help
These tips can help you take steps to create a supportive environment where agents feel empowered to handle challenging situations. Remember, preventing burnout starts with addressing the root causes of customer frustration and equipping your team with the tools they need to succeed.