How to prevent burnout in customer service departments?

Burnout has dire consequences for both employees and employers. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon. According to data collected by Gumtree, as many as 31% of white-collar workers consider themselves burned out. 

Professional burnout is often experienced by people who have direct contact with the client – as this type of work is associated with stress. 

Do you manage the customer service department? Then, you need to be aware of the fact that your team members may be at risk of burnout. Find out how to effectively prevent it.

Causes and consequences of burnout

Too high demands, constant stress, time pressure – all these factors can contribute to burnout. Unfortunately, in the work of many customer service employees, it is an everyday reality.

Burnout obviously affects their well-being. This results in a lack of commitment or a reduction in their productivity. As a result, this leads to a deterioration in the efficiency of the entire department, as well as – an increase in rotation.

Burnout also leads to unpleasant consequences in private life. It can result in mood swings or even depression.

You should therefore avoid it at all costs.

How to prevent burnout in customer service departments?

If you see a burnout problem in your team, you should act as soon as possible. Among disturbing signals that should draw your attention are:

  • increasing absence of employees,
  • negative opinions from customers about the service or specific employees,
  • cynical behavior towards superiors or colleagues.

So what can you change to improve the satisfaction of your employees?

Reduce the number of duties

Your employees do not have to answer customer questions that repeat every day. Instead, they can focus on tasks that require creativity or commitment – not just mechanical work. 

It will be possible if you invest in an automation system. Artificial Intelligence can successfully take care of routine, repetitive activities while your employees focus on professional development and building relationships with customers.

Ensure a clear division of responsibilities

Lack of clearly defined roles in the team leads to chaos and frustration of employees. Conflicts over who should handle a given report are unfortunately not uncommon. It cannot be denied that such situations are not conducive to the creation of a friendly work environment.

You can eliminate them thanks to the system that will support employees. The AIBusters automation engine automatically assigns customer requests to the most competent people. This eliminates chaos and helps to organize the structure in the department.

Specify the requirements

Customer service consists of a lot of issues that you can’t describe in a cold manner in an Excel. However, there are a number of indicators that you can monitor. 

Remember not to impose excessive demands on your employees. In the first place, the goals should be realistic. If they do not meet them – offer them a constructive conversation and training.

Learn more about customer service metrics.

Remember about feedback

Burnout is very often the result of poor communication. Employees expect help from their superiors, as well as tips and opinions related to their work. 

When they do not receive feedback, they lose their motivation to work, and thus only a step away from burnout.

So make sure you have regular meetings where you will share feedback with your team. This will not only prevent them from burning out, but will also contribute to increased efficiency.

Conclusion 

The most effective way to prevent employee burnout is to offer them effective support. You can eliminate many negative factors related to working in customer service departments by implementing automation.

Find out more about the possibilities of AIBusters!