There is a strange dichotomy in customer service. At its core, it should be joyful!
It feels good to help customers solve problems, have a moment of delight, and feel better about their business relationships.
However, the truth is that those same customers, whom we are happy to serve, do not always sing our praises or use their ‘inside voices’ when asking for support.
Serving customers is hard work. Retailer LL Bean conducted a company-wide wellness study in 2015 and found that the largest concentration of employees at most significant risk for medical and emotional problems worked at their call centers.
Those employees had a higher percentage of issues with blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and, perhaps most telling, more than 60 per cent of them reported feeling emotional stress.
Burnout in your business is a real threat to not only your staff but also your customers.
If your employees perpetually battle burnout, their attitudes will affect their service. Your customers will feel it, and the well-being of your staff, your customers, and perhaps the whole customer experience may be negatively impacted.
Are you thinking seriously about how to prevent burnout in your business? If not, it’s time to start now. To assist you, here are just a few ideas to help your best people serve your customers on their worst days.
Provide meaning
Engaging your staff in meaningful ways is critical. Employees who are more engaged are more likely to give their best to the task at hand. But what does it mean to engage them?
Meaningful engagement means creating a culture where employees feel empowered, heard, and safe to be themselves.
Cultures that punish employees who come forward with ideas or issues suffer lower engagement than others.
The Harvard Business Review reports that 42 percent of employees withhold information from managers out of fear. That’s right, fear! They fear what will happen to their role, status, or employment if they share information.
Employees who feel this way will not stay long, and if they are disengaged negatively, they might begin to spread that negativity around your business.
Ask employees what is meaningful to them. Some might feel heard simply by having a chance to speak up in a staff meeting, while others might prefer the safety of anonymous suggestions.
Closing the communication loop with employees who offer ideas and insights is just as important as closing the communication loop with customers. If an employee provides an idea, it isn’t meaningful if it is implemented; however, that employee is never informed or recognised for it.
Celebrate the contributions of engaged employees, and others will see that as an example of the culture.
Encourage wellness practices
You should encourage wellness practices during the workday, not just in theory.
It’s one thing to say, “Get up from your station every hour,” however, it’s another to live it.
With tools available such as timers, it’s imperative to encourage this and make it easy and supported. Employees should feel empowered to take those necessary breaks for their well-being and for the better outcome for the next customer they serve.
Some businesses provide cardio exercise equipment outside the door, and workers there are encouraged to take a 10-minute active break.
A business I visited recently would look for opportunities to hold ‘plank’ contests for either small groups or the entire staff. A manager who was particularly enthusiastic about wellness asked shift workers to take a minute each time they stood or sat back down to do a quick yoga pose and practice mindful breathing.
It is the manager’s way of reminding workers they had control over their health and well-being. I observed how that shift would remain motivated and engaged.
Connect the daily with the vision
Burnout often presents itself in slow motion, with a previously engaged worker feeling disenchanted one day and silently perusing job postings the next. That disenchantment is usually caused by questions about how their role and daily duties relate to the business's vision.
Hold regular training sessions to help your staff understand how serving one customer and gaining their trust again can increase retention, loyalty, and revenue for the business.
Better yet, if your vision is connected to the customer experience, you can reinforce the positive behaviour that lives up to that vision. Leaders must do this regularly to avoid burnout.
It’s time to take burnout seriously. Take care of your people so they can take care of your customers!
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