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Stress is a major barrier to success and it is affecting everyone. In a new three-part series Ross Daniels, Chief Marketing Officer at Calabrio, introduces Calabrio’s campaign to support improvements for people, processes and technology to enable greater wellbeing across contact centre organisations. This first article outlines the key triggers for agents, supervisors and senior managers and shows why it pays to take a comprehensive approach to organisational wellbeing.
The impact of the past few years has been wide-reaching and traumatic. Flexible working practices, growing customer demands and a fast-changing competitive landscape are all taking their toll. And these stressors are affecting everyone in the contact centre and beyond.
Let’s start with frontline staff
Stress levels among agents are rising sharply with 96% claiming to feel stressed at least once a week, while 33% of agents are stressed multiple times a week – up from 25% in 2017. Is it any wonder, given that they are dealing with 14.4 additional omnichannel interactions per day?[i] At the same time, many people are still adapting psychologically to an often disorienting ‘work from anywhere’ culture while faced with the practicalities of juggling home and work life.
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Agent stress has a knock-on effect on supervisors and customer experience (CX)
A recent study revealed that 60% of respondents agreed that staff attrition and absence, while initially pandemic-related, is still causing CX issues.[ii] Just how do those running the show (aka the operations of the contact centre) juggle agent schedules and skills throughout the day while planning for future recruitment, coaching and training, as cost-effectively as possible? Contact centre leaders also need to understand the bigger picture, such as why staff are leaving for the competition or why customer churn rates are higher than usual. The pressure is on contact centre operations to manage agent stress while at the same time dealing with hybrid working and increased numbers of digital communication channels. Add to this the need to optimise performance, keep teams connected and meet ever increasing customer expectations. It’s all created a perfect storm for anxiety and stress that threatens the wellbeing of employees and the long-term prosperity of their organisations. What can be done to reverse the trend?
Three ways to improve wellbeing
Wellbeing translates into agents who are empowered, taking control of their working lives and the customer experience; where supervisors support the business with a motivated workforce that surpasses key metrics and service levels and where executives strike a fine balance between cost control, innovation and business expansion. Here are three ideas for inspiration:
Success depends on removing stress at all levels of the organisation. In our next article, discover how modern Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) solutions including AI-infused analytics are the answer to wellbeing. We will also look at how technology can be integral to enhancing staff engagement, optimising contact centre performance and boosting profitability. Download Calabrio's "Workforce Wellbeing Recovery Kit" to gain hints and tips for three key stakeholders, with the main stressors to target, checklists to process change and tech buyer's guides.
About Calabrio:The digital foundation of a customer-centric contact center, the Calabrio ONE suite helps enrich and understand human interactions, empowering your contact center as a brand guardian. We maximize agent performance, exceed customer expectations, and boost workforce efficiency using connected data, AI-fueled analytics, automated workforce management and personalized coaching. Only Calabrio ONE unites WFO, agent engagement and business intelligence solutions into a true-cloud, fully integrated suite that adapts to your business.
About PR Artistry:A fresh approach to IT PR and Content Creation that focuses on deliverables.
Whether you are looking to scale up, expand, move into new markets or sectors, or in preparation for attracting new investors, whatever your goals, PRA has the experience and skills to provide help, guidance and a useful extra pair of hands.
We have over 25 years’ experience in the tech sector and we are still excited by the pace of change and innovation. We can quickly understand the essence of your business and what makes your products and services uniquely compelling.
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Published: Friday, April 8, 2022
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