3 Factors that Lead to Agent Stress and how Contact Centers Can Alleviate It

contact center challenges
A Contact Center job beats all others in terms of induced stress levels. While this poses serious health hazards to workers; contact centers suffer since overall performance is reduced leading to unwarranted expenditure.

When everyday Stress hits its peak, it can give way to ‘Burnout’ (chronic emotional and interpersonal stress) which is best avoided for employees as well as for Organizations. As such, Contact Center Stress is a serious issue that must be highlighted and addressed for the well-being of agents as well as for efficient Contact Center Management.

Since Contact Center Professionals are always on the edge of their seats responding to and resolving customer enquiries, while ensuring pleasant service; they are bound to succumb to the high-pressure environment.

Below are a few challenges Contact Center Agents face that directly contribute to Stress and what Contact Centers can do to help minimize its effects:

1.Intense Job Demands:

Contact Center Agents are responsible for the most important task; direct interaction with multiple customers. But alongside this crucial responsibility, Agents must also be mindful of daily targets, maintenance of performance metrics, and staying within stringent call schedules.

While managing a Contact Center, you can help Agents live up to the demands of their job with a custom dashboard on a Contact Center Management Software. When you can be aware of the daily call count; you can assign calls to specific agents without overburdening a few, analyze call types, and prevent calls from going unanswered.

2.Keeping Performance Metrics Up:

As a Contact Center Agent, meeting stipulated performance metrics is essential to maintain high-quality service for every customer calling in. Call Quality, Call Time, Customer Satisfaction Rating, Issue Resolution, number of calls attended are some of the most critical metrics that Agents must meet, among others.

If Contact Center Managers can better understand agent performance with a detailed reporting tool; sifting through the immense data becomes easier, identifying trends and problem areas becomes simpler. Report Metrics on the Contact Centre Management Software helps you measure agent performance better, show them areas that require more attention, pinpoint errors so that they can improve productivity with less effort.

3.Difficult Work Hours:

The biggest challenge Contact Center Agents must face is a difficult shift timing that hinders them from balancing personal and professional commitments in a healthy way. They’re expected to put in extra hours, work overnight, and switch weekly holidays which may seem appalling to your average office worker.

In such a scenario, if Contact Centres make use of a Shift Management System to set up call routing and manage agent timings, they can help agents attend to calls without being overworked. Also, this ensures agent availability in every shift so that the number of Unanswered Calls is minimal.

Conclusion:

When you run a Contact Center, you are equally responsible for providing excellent customer service as well as for reducing workplace stress. When stress levels are at a minimal; absenteeism, agent attrition (staff reduction), and agent burnout don’t occur which automatically boosts Contact Center Productivity.

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