Call Center Stress Statistics: They’re Alarming, and Here’s What You Can Do About Them

Chances are you’ve dealt with a call center recently. Any corporation that receives a high rate of inbound phone calls—or makes outgoing calls—probably has a call center, usually a centralized office used to manage inquiries from consumers and address their needs. What we don’t see when we call for support are the alarming call center stress statistics that drive burnout on the other side of the line.

These statistics are a wake-up call for companies of all kinds.

• “The U.S. call center market continues to expand due to corporate reshoring, onshoring initiatives and the quest for quality customer service. There is estimated to be over

in the U.S. employing 50 or more workers.”

Unfortunately, these call centers suffer shocking rates of agent burnout, with some of the highest turnover of any industry. Staff must be rigorously trained and retrained, with new hires pouring in to replace their fallen predecessors. Call center stress statistics are the public face of a huge drain on company time and energy, but very few companies do anything about it. Most companies, if anything, simply increase the training they give new hires.

Let’s look at what drives call center stress statistics, how that stress creates burnout, how to recognize negative trends and what can be done to combat it.

What is Burnout?

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines burnout as “a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, consisting of three primary features:
• • Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
  • Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
  • Reduced professional efficacy.”

These symptoms are obviously harmful to an organization’s overall efficiency and morale—especially when they occur in a widespread pattern across the company. On top of that, this kind of chronic stress can lead to long-term mental health issues, and even heart disease.

It’s important to recognize that the individual employee is not to blame for burnout. Call center burnout is symptomatic of a broad set of problems within a company’s information strategy. Instead of trying to change the behavior of the burnt-out employee, the focus should be on changing the qualities of the workplace that are causing this burnout—and that analysis should begin with information flow. What sort of calls drive your call center request lines? Can call center agents find the information they need to answer these calls quickly and accurately? If not, how might a company upgrade those conditions?

Training alone often provides no solution. And chances are if one employee is experiencing this, so are countless others.

What Causes Burnout?

Burnout can occur in any job, but the stress can be especially high for call centers. Call centers experience some of the highest turnover of any industry, and call center agents report very high levels of on-the-job stress and frustration.

• “

are notorious worldwide for their high levels of turnover, absenteeism, employee burnout and emotional exhaustion. Agents are at constant risk of angry outbursts from customers, sexual harassment and outright abuse.”

Burnout can be caused by any number of factors—usually many in play at once, creating a buildup of pressure with no sufficient outlet. From long hours and low fulfillment to unclear expectations and emotional labor, call center agents are suffering. It’s up to management to confront this problem at its core.

We know that support agent disaffection is extreme, and despite the above factors at play, most point to ready access to a knowledge base of product information as the single most difficult aspect of their work. With customer requests coming in left and right, agents need to be armed with a clear, concise and easy-to-use database of information so they can field customer needs quickly. This will prevent customer dissatisfaction and, consequently, agent burnout. A company who performs these changes effectively will see the results in reduced turnover, higher employee satisfaction and better call center stress statistics.

How to Identify Signs of Burnout in your Team

• “Before the full blow of the burnout, there are the months before when one is lacking motivation and simply exhausted with their work, which may mean that the

is reduced.”

Keep a keen eye on your employees for signs such as lateness or absenteeism, general negativity and irritability, lower productivity or careless mistakes. If you’re attentive, these signs will be easy to spot simply based on the decreased quality of work.

Unhappy and unproductive employees often quit or are let go, leading to huge costs in rehiring and training. But you can’t address the problem if you haven’t clearly identified it, so the first step is to take the time to evaluate your team. You may even wish to implement employee surveys to get a better idea of how your staff is really feeling.

How to Prevent or Alleviate Burnout

On top of managing unreasonable workloads and improving communication, there are some simple steps you can take to mitigate burnout in your employees. Remember, support agents cite a lack of knowledge base and support materials as their number one frustration, and understandably so. How can agents be expected to quickly and effectively address a plethora of customer needs every day without easy access to the information they need?

Investing in new call center technology can make a big difference here. Many systems are simply outdated and operating with inefficient software. There are some great tools on the market designed to alleviate burnout, the turnover it causes and the enormous cost of training, retraining and endless hiring wrapped up in it.

• A searchable, updated knowledge base creates faster first-time resolution rates, raises customer satisfaction, reduces the need for training and lowers turnover by 20%.

This technology—not to mention lower levels of agent burnout—cuts customer wait time and dissatisfaction. When customers face long wait times and unsatisfactory service–even just one time–they walk away with a negative impression of your brand. In one survey, 95% of US consumers said customer service is crucial to brand choice and loyalty. 62% have switched brands in the last 12 months due to poor customer support. Brand switching is easier than ever for customers, and it costs companies $137 billion per year.

Support your Call Center

Don’t ignore distressing call center stress statistics, and don’t leave your support resources to suffer the effects of call center burnout. See where your team stands and take steps to alleviate current burnout and prevent it from occurring in the future. The best thing you can do to support your agents is to invest in updated call center software in the form of a consolidated and easy-to-use knowledge base. This will help reduce turnover rates, save the company time, energy and money and maintain a more satisfied customer base.