The holiday season is fast approaching, and with it comes all the inevitable chaos – fun-filled vacations, visits with family, and partaking in beloved time-honored traditions.
While fun and worthwhile, these festive endeavors mean more employees will be spending time out of the office. While time away from work during the holidays has tremendous benefits for the employee who is out of office, it can actually negatively impact fellow coworkers who are left behind to pick up the slack.
A recent survey conducted by OTRS Group found that more than half (51 percent) of the respondents were asked to cover for colleagues several times a month. What’s more is that 38 percent of those people said that they wound up working more than an hour extra per day to cover for their vacationing colleagues. Overworked employees can lead to a notable dip in morale. Not to mention, even the vacationing employee will likely experience additional stress in the lead up to and the return from their break.
One of the easiest ways to boost workplace morale (and your bottom line) is to combat and reduce wasted effort. Encourage employees to think twice before they call unnecessary meetings and set up a streamlined out of office process.
Additionally, it’s important to maintain reasonable flexibility – nearly everyone is going to want some time off around the holidays, so be prepared to work with your team to make it work. And while you’re at it, spread some happiness! Encourage positive, “fun” projects like starting a food drive for your local food bank. Little acts of kindness can go a long way towards employee happiness. And after all, happy employees make happy customers.
Employees who feel satisfied with their work are far more likely to provide good customer service. And that is crucial. Another survey conducted by OTRS Group sought feedback from 500 global customer service leaders to find out what they are doing to support their business’s growth and revenue goals. Not surprisingly, 65 percent of respondents said that customer service has a significant role in improving retention, while more than half said customer service teams improve monthly active users.
Finally, you can take some of the pressure off your staff while simultaneously improving your bottom line through customer service software. Investing in software can streamline your customer service response process, improve response times, and ultimately lead to a better experience for your customer. Learn how to take your company’s customer service to the next level here.
After all, you don’t want to wait until the last minute to craft your holiday game plan. Start now, and come November, you will be happy you did!
