5 Tell-Tale Signs Your Call Center Agents Are Burning Out

Chronic workplace burnout can lead to high employee attrition rates in call centers. What should customer support managers do to address this?

When you start noticing dips in your customer service team’s productivity levels, it’s easy to assume that it’s just because of laziness. When this happens, your first move would probably be to hold a meeting and reprimand your employees for poor performance.

Top 5 Reasons Why Call Center Agents Quit

This, however, won’t solve anything if the problem is much bigger and much more alarming than the occasional procrastination. If your consistently reliable call center employees suddenly start handing in unacceptable outputs, they may already be burned out.

Brands need to be extra observant to detect subtle changes in their team’s behavior. This way, they can manage their performance better, minimize employee attrition, and continue looking for effective ways to boost people’s morale.

Here are five signs that your customer service agents are burning out, along with some team management tips for handling them.

1. Disengagement From Work

   
   Employees who actively contribute to discussions, offer insights, and collaborate with their teammates are satisfied ones. When they start feeling too stressed, however, you may notice them talking less and less with their colleagues. They may even miss deadlines and let their pending tasks pile up

   In the call center sector, the cause may have something to do with too much routine work. As a solution, therefore, try to give your employees a variety of tasks. You may also offer leadership trainings for top-performing agents so you can evaluate them later for a management position.

2. Increased Absences and Tardiness

   
   Absenteeism can negatively impact your company’s productivity, especially when most of your employees’ absences are unscheduled—sick days, family emergencies, and others. Even your workforce scheduling may be affected, so you may end up not being able to accommodate all incoming transactions.

   If your agents’ frequent absences are suspicious, talk to them directly to uncover the root cause of the problem. Implementing employee engagement strategies, such as team building activities, can also encourage your call center staff to come to work regularly.

3. Health Issues

   
   We already know that stress can take a toll on us. For one thing, burned-out employees are more likely to experience impaired cognition. They may have difficulty finishing tasks or coming up with high-quality outputs.

   But aside from this, they may also be susceptible to infections and illnesses. To deal with this, call centers must actively promote a healthy lifestyle among their employees. You may conduct annual health exams, provide free gym memberships, and organize sports events.

4. Poor Work Quality

   
   When employees are burning out, work quality is probably your number one concern. When it comes to customer experience, you must be able to deliver consistently high-quality services. When you’re having a hard time adhering to clients’ standards because of a disengaged workforce, you need to strengthen your employee engagement strategies. Happy agents are more capable of delighting customers and delivering a good performance.

5. Interpersonal Problems

   
   One of the trickiest parts of call center team management is resolving internal conflicts. If your previously harmonious team starts having unhealthy disagreements, it may be a sign that they care less about their job and their colleagues. To prevent interpersonal issues from getting in the way of work, encourage your staff to communicate openly. Organizing group activities can also increase trust and friendship within the team.

Work in the outsourcing industry can be challenging to some people, and it is the contact centers and their clients’ joint responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of the people working on their programs. This includes supporting their self-care endeavors and initiating campaigns that promote better mental health.

As a multichannel outsourcing firm, Open Access BPO is home to multicultural teams across our global locations. We take this responsibility seriously, developing various health and employee engagement programs to help our teams manage stress and live healthy lifestyles.

Yes, this means successful, productive programs for our clients. More importantly, however, this means healthy, fulfilling work-lives for our people. Learn more about our employee engagement and health and wellness programs that empower our clients and their customers. Contact us today.