Everyone who has ever held a job is familiar with burnout, but studies suggest that customer service workers are at a higher risk of experiencing symptoms of stress and exhaustion due to the intensely demanding nature of their work.
Customer service burnout is thus worryingly common. Dealing with dissatisfied customers and having to mediate complicated incidents on a daily basis make customer service positions emotionally taxing.
In this article, we will discuss how to prevent job burnout in customer service roles. If you’re a student holding such a job to support yourself through college, your risk of experiencing burnout increases significantly as you have to struggle with a double number of responsibilities. Read on to discover how to mitigate the risk of burnout and keep yourself in check to make sure you’re giving your best in terms of productivity with no cost on your health and well-being.
How to Prevent Job Burnout in Customer Service Positions
Psychologists define burnout as a state of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion which occurs when someone works under constant pressure and can no longer maintain attention, focus, and productivity.
Prevention is Better Than Treatment
If you want to maintain your mental well-being while juggling between college and your customer service job, take some pressure off your back by optimizing your most challenging tasks. Find an online tutor for difficult courses, utilize essay examples for writing tasks, and seek other free online educational tools. Thinking about a college essay deadline while dealing with an angry customer at work is a recipe for developing the feelings of anxiety and helplessness that precede burnout.
Why not search for free essays online to use as inspiration and save yourself from the trouble of excessive worries? If you let worry get to you, you will suffer a decline in attention and productivity that will affect both your job performance and your grades and will not benefit anyone. Preventing these symptoms is much easier than treating burnout.
Causes of job burnout among customer service professionals include:
Repetitive Work
Many customer service managers report deep feelings of dissatisfaction regarding the repetitive and non-flexible nature of their job. Even if they face an endless stream of calls, support requests, and service tickets, most of the tasks are repetitive and not mentally stimulating.
Emotional and Social Exhaustion
Customer support managers deal with a continuous stream of frustrated, angry, or confused customers and often experience verbal abuse when a customer doesn’t like the solution provided. This leads customer support agents to feel emotionally drained, stressed out, and exhausted.
Top Tips for Avoiding Customer Service Burnout
If you’re a student who also faces academic challenges on top of job responsibilities, job burnout can severely impact your ability to study effectively and thus will sabotage your educational goals. These are well-tested tips that can help you fight burnout:
1. Develop Patience and Detachment
In customer service roles, patience is one of the most important skills that can help in preventing and treating burnout. Most customers who seek your assistance have a problem that needs to be solved, which means they might be angry and frustrated. You need to realize that their feelings are not directed at you. Don’t take it personally and don’t lose your temper. Patient people are less affected by external pressure.
2. Take Control Of Your Time
Most customer support managers feel that they must always be available to clients and always say “yes” to any request. As many problems they would solve, the list of obligations is still full, which can lead to unhealthy time management. The main tip here is to not overwork yourself. Prioritize your tasks and assign breaks in your schedule for relaxation. You can use the breaks to distract yourself from work. Read essay samples, articles, books, or papers samples and take notes for your courses. This way, you can be productive while taking your mind off work.
3. Reach Out to Coworkers
A pleasant work environment can easily prevent or help in treating burnout. Even if you’re dealing with dissatisfied clients, having good relationships with your coworkers and knowing that you can rely on them anytime can be a great confidence boost. Make an effort to get to know your coworkers outside the office. They will help you stay grounded and get excited about work. Sharing both positive and negative feelings with people who can understand what you’re going through is crucial for well-being.
How to prevent job burnout as a student struggling to sustain himself financially? Follow our tips and you’ll find the strength to deal with all your responsibilities efficiently.
