How To Overcome Psychological Distress In Call Centres

In our previous article Stress And Psychological Distress In Call Centres, we present alarming numbers about psychological distress in the workplace. Here we give you a concrete example for overcoming stress with the use of new technologies and gamification strategies.

FROM VICTIM TO HERO

A company with an after-sales service call centre wants to reduce staff absenteeism.

Our observations: With the need to keep up a with a high pace, employees tend to pay more attention to failures (loss of customers, dissatisfied and aggressive clients). At the end of the day, they think about their most negative moments “the client hung up on me”, “he told me that I am incompetent,” “he insulted me” … These bad experiences are causing a huge amount of stress that leads to a high rate of absenteeism.

Our solution: We have a tool to help call centre employees see the positive in every situation and remind them of their success: a social web platform that promotes interaction with colleagues and motivation. Users of the web platform have access to a happiness meter that counts how many clients they made happy during the day. “Total: 150 happy customers.” These figures are based on positive feedback from the clients, and a short satisfaction survey.

Results: At the end of the day, employees think about the positive experiences. They remember customers they made happy, the one who told a funny joke, or the one that hung up on a happy note even though he was mad at first. In addition to this benefit, they feel more motivated to increase their results. They try to make five, and then six happy clients a day, for a total of 150 to 200 satisfied customers. When they have to deal with a aggressive clients, they let go of the negative emotions, and they develop strategies to address the situation.

Conclusion: stress, absenteeism and turnover dropped by 54%, productivity increased of 43% and in addition to this, the quality of service increased.

Want to learn more about our strategies and tools to promote happiness at work? Contact us!