Stressful by Nature
Call centre and large help desk personnel have a
unique challenge because of the nature of their work. They are
unable to move about freely by the necessity of proximity to the
telephone and computer. In fact, they sit in a chair focused on
their terminals for hours at a time. During that time they move very
little and their muscles stay in the same position.
The nature of their work is stressful. They
constantly take calls from people who are experiencing trouble of
one sort or another. While resolving these issues can result in
satisfaction, the calls often come in with the user’s emotions
attached. Those emotions often are unpleasant and occasionally
insulting.
Most call centers have call resolution and minimum
time to answer standards. Service Level Agreements, SLAs, are
commitments to customers and management, which are monitored and
need to be met. ACDs, automated call systems, quite often allow
agents to see the calls in the queue. This adds pressure and makes
the agent feel like the workload is never ending, which it is.
The situation then, is that call center and helpdesk
agents live in a stressful environment caused by user emotions,
heavy call loads and the inability to move around freely. Even in
smaller help desks, while movement is less restricted, call loads
and customer pressure are still a factor.
How can management support its agents? There are a
number of specific approaches which can truly relieve the stress and
allow agents to deliver more and better service.
Progressive personnel programs, including wages,
benefits and a training curriculum are of course a necessity.
Training must include both knowledge and skills, hard and soft.
However, the call center environment requires more non-traditional
approaches to relieve the moment-to-moment stress of immobility.
An “at the desk exercise program” is an excellent
tool. Furniture ergonomics have done a lot to relieve uncomfortable
posture. Adding an exercise program goes the next step toward
relieving muscle tension due to inactivity. Professionally developed
movements of the arms, neck, shoulders and legs along with breathing
can do a great deal to stretch muscles and relieve the tension
caused by holding the body in a constant position. Programs are
available which can introduce these exercises at regular intervals
on the terminal screen. The agent can take a few seconds to do one
of the exercises or in many cases do them as they continue to handle
calls.
Humour is a great stress reliever and can lift
attitudes instantly. If there are coffee or smoking areas, humorous
material can be presented on video or audio which will cause the
agents to smile and shift their attitude to become lighter and
happier. This will benefit the employee far more than nicotine or
caffeine.
Adding humor at the end of every call can do
wonders. The addition of an appropriate cartoon on the computer
screen at the successful completion of a call will be a pleasant
closing and the brief laugh will reset the agents’ attitude in
preparation for the next customer interchange. They will answer the
next call with the chuckle still on their face and in their mind and
therefore on their voice.
For the longer-term effect, some companies have
employee lending libraries consisting of humour material that they
can take home and listen to on the way to and from work. In large
urban areas the commute is sometimes a considerable part of the day
and humorous audio material listened to on the way to work can bring
an employee in with a smile instead of a growl from sitting in
traffic or on public transit.
Lunch is the major break in the day. The lunch area
should have an abundance of natural light and if possible fresh air.
Food made available in the lunch area should be of a healthy nature
rather than fast, fried and packaged. Proper nutrition is important
in attitude and in a more immediate way, lighter food avoids the
early afternoon letdown due to blood needed by the digestive process
of heavy foods.
Simple exercise classes that do not require changing
and showering are a great way to make the lunch break more
effective. Organized walks, Tai Chi or other forms of non-strenuous
movement are excellent for both general physical health and mental
health.
The ultimate support for call centre agents is to
institute a wellness planning process for the group, on an
individual basis. A wellness program built to suit the unique needs
of each individual is a true investment in employee productivity.
Wellness plans are guided approaches to employee self help
initiatives. The employees identify their own issues and build a
plan they are comfortable with. The mentor is merely there to help
with the process. The plan belongs to the employee and the goals and
time lines are ones they choose in response to the issues they have
identified. They attack real issues in their work and life and make
their own plan to resolve them. Thus they not only feel better about
the issues but are also rewarded with a feeling of self-control.
If this program is to be truly successful, it must
touch all parts of the individual’s life at work and at home. Like
EAP programs, confidentiality is required or employees will hold
back on many issues. Family troubles, substance abuse and etc., can
only be addressed by such a plan if the employee is certain there
will be no judgments or repercussions at a later date. They are
therefore of necessity done by outsiders to the company and are kept
from company records.
While all of these steps seem like a sizable
investment, the returns can be spectacular. Even implementing any
one of them can improve service from the agents involved. The
improvement in teamwork, call throughput and overall issue
resolution are very much influenced on a day-to-day basis by the
overall emotional state of the employees as a group and as
individuals. A calm, friendly, happy greeting can completely disarm
an angry user. This saves innumerable minutes of venting and allows
the agent to resolve the issue at hand, what they do best.
Call centers and help desks exist to support
customers and organizations by removing problems that get in the way
of reaching their goals as businesses and individuals. The call
centre is then a repository for the problems of the client or
internal user group and if those who work in it are expected to be
ready to receive the worlds troubles, management can assist and
support by helping prepare the agents not only in technical
knowledge and skills, but also by preparing them and supporting them
with attitudinal knowledge and skills. Much has been done over the
years to improve productivity through systems and technical skills.
Attitude is a relatively untouched area and is therefore an
opportunity. Attitude can make all the difference.
Nick de Jong,
RADAR Solutions Group Inc.
Toronto.
