Creating a Stress-less Call Center Environment
Creating a Stress-less Call Center Environment
Did you know that that approximately 80% of what we perceive or experience is based upon our physical environment? (Sherry Burton Ways). Managing a call center is a stressful job, as is sitting in the chairs making and receiving calls all day. The pressure is unlikely to go away – customers need to talk to you, when they need to, and they expect their issues to be solved with little delay. Retaining customers is pretty important if you’d like to stay in business. You may not be able to reduce your team’s targets, but one thing you can do is create a call center environment that eases stress. Here are 3 easy(ish) ways to do this, today, to hopefully make tomorrow easier.
Clean Up
Susan Kousek, a Certified Professional Organizer (CPO), told Forbes recently “Productivity is impacted by our level of organization. Disorganization bothers most people and causes stress. The clutter of disorganization drags many workers down.”
Don’t you feel like you are a bit more in control of your work when you have a clear working space? A chaotic desk can lead to a chaotic mind. Or, failing that, at the very least you can look at your clear desk and give yourself a tiny high five, that no matter what other targets you might be struggling to meet, you have created a nice space around you.
The same goes for your agents. A clean desk mandate might not only allow them to have an uncluttered space in which to work, find important papers or rest their head when it all gets too much, it also can give them the little boost from knowing they can maintain a tidy desk. It’s small, but it matters. Little tweaks to your call center environment can go a long way.
Give them a special space
It might sound a bit like a yoga retreat, but a lot of companies are offering a quiet room for their employees where they can just chill out a bit. Minimal furniture, no screens, low lighting, little distractions. Just a little oasis amidst all the craziness. Doesn’t that sounds nice? I’d like one in my house. A child free, quiet room.
If you want to decrease stress in your call center environment, a quiet room doesn’t have to be a big space and it doesn’t need to be a requirement that they use it. But to have somewhere to go, to breathe, away from the hustle and bustle can make a big difference to productivity. Like anything, you’d need to set some ground rules to make sure people respect the space.
Cuddle a Furry Friend
Look at this face. Just look. Feel the stress leave your body.
Researchers conducted a study a few years back measuring changes in heart rate and blood pressure among people who had a dog or cat, compared to those who were pet-free, when they conducted a stressful task.
It’s probably not a surprise to you to hear that those who owned pooches or kitties had lower resting heart rates and blood pressure, were less likely to have spikes in heart rates and blood pressure while performing the task, and their heart rates and blood pressure returned to normal more quickly. They also made fewer errors in the task when their pet was present in the room (source).
Do you have enough space in your call center for a few dogs? Probably not. Maybe you could have an outing in the local park with your pups. Soak in the lovely therapeutic goodness that pooches have. Just being around these loveable pups can brighten anyone’s day.
No one will ever say that managing a call center is easy. The pressure is relentless, the targets ever-increasing, and the staff ever-leaving. The call center industry has a churn rate of anything between 30 and 45 percent, depending on who you talk to. Eek. That’s enough to keep any call center manager up at night.
So while you can’t control management, or the customers, or the agents themselves, you can control the call center environment – and creating a stress-free environment just might help all the other bits and pieces fall into place.
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