BUILDING A BUSINESS IS HARD. KEEPING IT IS HARDER.
If your business is a bakery, your patrons want exceptional baked goods. In your clothing store, beautiful silhouettes and great fabrics are a must. Your medical facility should be running like a Swiss watch, and your patients will expect you to take great care of them. Of course, how you deliver all that is none of your customers’ concern, and it shouldn’t be. But the truth is, excellent service comes with a great price which might cause a lot of stress to you and your employees. Without finding a way to deal with pressures, you can expect a burn-out that will undoubtedly cause revenue losses, if not the failure of the entire business. So let’s look at what we can do to prevent the disaster from happening, shell we?
CALL CENTERS REDUCE STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE
As humans, we are emotional creatures. Therefore, stress comes into play with emotions and daily interaction with customers, coworkers, and life in general. The four common causes of stress in the workplace are employee workload (46%), people issues (28%), the juggling of work and our personal lives (20%), and job security (6%).
As we deal with stress in the workplace, it is essential to note that although technology has taken over some aspects of business, it will never replace the human touch. For stress’s sake, the human touch is here to stay. For your sake, you can look to a phone answering service for relief.
WORKLOAD
Whether it is a vacation-filled summer or a flu-ridden winter, an employee’s workload can increase in the blink of an eye. The absence of one or more of your coworkers often means added responsibility and accelerated deadlines. As a result, stress will rear its ugly head. According to a survey of 800,000 workers in more than 300 companies in Great Britain, the number of employees calling in sick because of stress tripled from 1996 to 2000 and went up another 30% from 2000 to 2020. But, of course, every company’s makeup is different, so each solution to this problem is varied.
First step: stop and listen to your employees and take notes. The prospect of productivity and financial losses due to absenteeism should motivate you enough to pay attention to the needs of people who drive your business’ success.
Supplementing your staff with a staff of professional operators trained to handle your protocols is an option. Fill in the gap when a secretary or receptionist is out, or an office-wide meeting is called, with an answering service.
Also, and not to be overlooked, many companies combated stress with face-to-face conversations with their employees. Communicating with your coworkers in a one-on-one environment can quickly calm them down and relieve stress. Try it. The human touch is never overrated.
PEOPLE ISSUES
Help is just a cubicle away…so is stress. 80 % of workers feel pressure on the job. Team meetings where grievances can be discussed in an open and honest environment to help to “get things off your chest.” Yes, easier said than done, but completely worth it. Again, every work environment differs, so knowing your staff will go a long way in deciding how to address intra-office stress and to making their office a more pleasant place.
JUGGLING
“Get a life!”
We have all heard that one time or another, and our response is often, “I’m trying.”
It doesn’t matter if you are the vice president of sales or the mailroom clerk; when the clock strikes 5 or 6, our lives take a turn towards home and family. A phone call from your child’s school or a dental appointment that went wrong will induce stress. Juggling personal life and job responsibilities happens every day without your permission. This high wire act is a combination of our first two reasons for stress.
Many companies have decided to bring in a massage therapist into the office once a month for the entire staff. A fifteen-minute break will turn into a relaxing, loosening, and stress-reducing session. Once again, the human touch comes to the rescue.
JOB SECURITY
Job security may be the fastest-growing segment of stress in the workplace. With the tremendous boom of .com companies in the mid to late 1990s came the inevitable crash that followed in 2000 and 2001. Over 200 .com companies collapsed due to downsizing and bankruptcy. The economic collapse of 2007 caused the same effects only throughout all industries. And finally, the 2020 pandemic destroyed the physical business and turned it back to the online structure. All these changes that resulted in massive layoffs will be fueling the thought process of today’s workers for a long time, both abroad and in the United States.
The silver lining is that with any downturn, we can expect an upturn. The stock market has taught us that, and our resiliency as humans has reinforced that belief. So take a step back and look at your workforce, then Look at their workflow, and finally take a hard look at yourself. “What can I do to reduce stress in my business and still increase my production?”
The answer may be as simple as a conversation, a seminar, or a company outing for team building; your business, your decision. You got this!
For more information about call center services, give us a call at 888-588-9800. We are always open!