Four Tips to Avoid Contact Center Burnout

When you started out in the contact center industry, you found the work to be interesting and exciting. Unique scheduling options and diverse coworkers were great perks of the job. Over the years you have honed your craft, improved your skills, and put on different hats like project management, change management, and human relations management. This effort has led to promotion and career growth. You have a sense of satisfaction and pride in what you’ve accomplished.

But strangely you are also starting to feel worn out and drained, both emotionally and mentally. You may struggle with pinpointing the specific issues causing these feeling, or you may have a list of issues that make you feel discouraged. In either case, you find yourself wondering if you’re on the right career path or if it’s time for a change.

I’ve been there multiple times in my career. One of the greatest challenges I’ve struggled with is that contact centers are often undervalued or under-resourced within an organization. As a result, we often are paid less, have inadequate representation in management, and are handed paltry budgeting. This state of affairs has led to times when I’ve felt burnt out and seriously considered exploring a different career path.

Here are a few tips that have helped me stay dedicated and committed to being a contact center professional over the years:

Remember Why Your Job is Important

I believe that great customer service is truly the differentiating success factor in today’s world, and I believe that contact centers spearhead the ability for organizations to provide great customer service. In times of burnout, I go back to my core beliefs and remind myself of them. This brings on a sense of pride; it strengthens and reassures me that I’m on the right path.

Join Groups or Communities

Reading about other people’s experiences as contact center professionals and knowing that I belong to an elite family of professionals can help refresh and reenergize my soul. I know that I am not alone and that what I am doing is meaningful.

There are lots of groups across many social media platforms and websites that speak directly to our experiences. These platforms offer a feeling of community and connectedness; taking part in the conversation can give you support that revitalizes and encourages you.

Invest in Learning and Development

Staying abreast of enhancements in technology, process, people, and platforms has always been a great help to me. Learning more about my industry gets me excited about growth opportunities and shows me ways to make a positive impact on my team. I feel recharged after learning new information or skills.

You don’t have to limit your learning to contact center-specific skills to benefit. Investing in other skills, like change management, project management, and human relations, can bring you a greater sense of confidence and satisfaction. We wear many hats as contact center professionals, and this increases my sense of pride.

Take a true break

Vacations are wonderful in helping me reenergize and reset.

A true break involves completely disengaging from work. Many times, as contact center professionals who are managing 24/7 teams or Monday-to-Sunday teams, we’re unable or unwilling to leave work at the office. We’re constantly ensuring KPIs are being met, staffing schedules are being updated to meet SLAs, emergencies are being handled promptly, and investment is being made in our team members. This has us in the “always on” mode, which is very exhausting. It’s important to turn the button “off” and rest fully.

These are a few things that I’ve found to be very helpful when I feel burnt out. I encourage you to commit to taking care of yourself by employing some of the strategies above, and taking other deliberate steps to empower yourself.