5 ways to halt customer service worker burnout

Customers today have more products to buy, and more channels through which to buy them, than at any time in history. Consequently, they have greater demands and higher expectations than ever before, most experts agree.

As a result, more customer service employees are burned out and stressed out. Surveys show that only police and various government caseworkers hold jobs that are considered more difficult and draining.

"What people are looking for, as individual consumers, is support in living their own unique lives with the choices and flexibility that they require," says Shoshana Zuboff, a Harvard professor and co-author of "The Support Economy."

What it means is that as customers change, the way that you deal with them must change accordingly. At the same time, however, working in customer service doesn't have to be a sure route to a heart attack. And your customer service employees shouldn't have to drag into the office each day dreading the workday ahead.

Here are five strategies to help customer service staffers feel more confident and more appreciated.

1. Have everyone — including top managers — spend time with customers.

Zuboff and her book's co-author, Jim Maxmin, former chief executive officer of Volvo UK, contend that upper management is often to blame for customer service problems. In other words, they say, the higher your position in a company, the more remote you are from what it's like on the front lines. So, top manager, spend some time dealing with customers too. This will give you some perspective of what your employees go through on a daily basis.

"The management of the company is far away; they're untouchable. Then you've got these poor people out there in the middle, the buffer zone," Zuboff says. "They're like the ball bearings, and they're just getting worn out."

2. Invest in a good training program for your employees.

One of the best investments you can make in your company is a solid, reputable customer service training program. Using a program with a proven track record will help equip your employees with the skills and tactics they need to deal with changing customer demands. Additionally, an outside program will skirt the problems that come when employees train each other — that route may be cheaper, but it also allows them to pass on their bad habits.

"There is a direct correlation between the companies that are known for good service and service training," says Nancy Friedman, president of The Telephone Doctor, a St. Louis-based customer service consultant. "There's a line that pulls it right from the top to the bottom."

Friedman emphasizes that good training programs don't have to take up lots of time. Some can be delivered in short segments; this allows the employees access to training with little lost productivity.

3. In training programs and in-house training, focus on phone and face-to-face communication.

Burnout isn't much of a surprise when you consider what a customer service representative faces. Whether it's e-mail, voice mail, snail mail, phone, fax or face-to-face, employees are bombarded with every type of communication imaginable. While you may expect them to be experienced and competent in each area, Friedman points out that two — the telephone and personal contact — account for the lion's share of customer service.

"What some people don't realize is that 90% of all customer service interaction starts with the telephone," she says. "It starts with the phone and then goes to face-to-face." Focus most of your training on these two channels.

4. Empower your employees with some authority.

Maxmin and Zuboff point out that, while employee autonomy is a concept that has been around for decades, very few companies have successfully developed it.

Take a look at the policies and regulations that may be keeping your employees from satisfying customers' demands. For example, are your employees' responsibilities so narrow that they end up handing off most customers to people in other departments — and the customers end up with multiple points of contact (and no real sense of who does what)? If so, why?

Why not allow your customer service representatives to handle more aspects of the customer relationship? As technology columnist Kim Komando says: "Don't stick the office ignoramus in this job. Be sure you have staffers you can trust to do it right. And give your returns people some leeway. They are going to have to make decisions. You can't plan for everything. Don't second-guess them. It's a tough job. If you make it tougher, you could end up doing it yourself."

5. Involve your customer service workers in company changes that will affect them.

Don't make a change without exploring how it will affect your organization. If something doesn't work out and you revert back to old procedures, your service staffers likely will be coping with angry, confused customers.

Once you do make changes to your customer service policies, make certain that every employee knows them and follows them closely. When changes are overlooked or implemented without their knowledge or involvement, employees are merely working against each other. That causes more stress and creates customer confusion.

"You can't just say this is the flavor of the week," Maxmin says. "It has to be ingrained in the culture of the business and you have to feel not only empowered, but to truly have the responsibility to be able to do these things and be supported by the organization."

Michelle Collins is a staff writer at CanadaOne.com, Canada's premier business channel on the Internet, with articles, tools and other resources.