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Customer service is never an easy job, especially if agents have to handle irate customers throughout the day. That’s why it is important to hire exceptional staff that enjoy working with others and helping people.

However even your best customer support staff need to be motivated and engaged so they can continue to provide superior service while using your company’s customer support software. After all, everyone requires an occasional boost to perform at their best. What can you do as a business to fight potential employee burnout? The following are some special tips we have compiled that may help your help desk agents stay motivated and cheerful:

HIRE SELF-MOTIVATED AND HAPPY INDIVIDUALS

Most companies consider this to be a crucial step in building a great customer support team. If you hire agents who are self-motivated, you don’t have to stress too much about managing or motivating them to complete each task every day. Although employees who are naturally ambitious and have a joyful attitude may not need constant encouraging or micromanagement, it does not necessarily mean that your business shouldn’t do anything extra to occasionally encourage them. A company-wide motivational strategy will uplift all of your employees.

SCHEDULE FREQUENT MEETINGS TO GIVE AND RECEIVE FEEDBACK 

Every founder or customer support manager needs to schedule some time in their schedule for frequent one-on-one sessions with each customer support agent. When you sit down with them, give specific feedback about their performance. Ask them how they want to improve and about any topics or issues that are frustrating them. This is also the best time to find out the truth or get additional information about certain issues that were documented on your company’s Vision Helpdesk customer support software. Apart from ensuring that your agents have everything they need to perform their job well, one-on-one meetings also help them understand exactly what is expected for them to complete their job. This is also the best time to measure their level of frustration with different problems so that you can work with them to have them resolved.

HELP YOUR TEAM MAINTAIN A GOOD WORK-LIFE BALANCE

We strongly advise that your company creates an environment where employees can maintain a good work-life balance. While customers may enjoy being able to enjoy contacting the support team every hour of the day, this kind of schedule will eventually make them feel exhausted and resentful. This additional stress may also lead to negative health consequences. When you and every manager or decision maker encourage team members to maintain a more balanced life, it can rejuvenate them so they can happily go to work every day with a high level of energy. Even workaholic customer support agents should be able to take a stress-free vacation because they know their job will not be in jeopardy.

SHARE THE COMPANY’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS WITH THE ENTIRE CUSTOMER SUPPORT TEAM

A little encouragement can work wonders in boosting employee morale. Whenever your company hits a sales goal, gets a new account or experiences any good news, share it with every employee! Especially since everyone wins when the company is successful. Depending on the size of your company and the number of locations, you can share the news by phone, email or in person. You can also provide catering and give away prizes as a special treat for your employees as a reward for their hard work.

CREATE COMPETITION BY SETTING UP TARGETS AND PROVIDING INCENTIVES

When gamification technology is combined with customer support, every ticket is turned into an opportunity for your help desk agent to win or improve their score. They can compete to gain more points, move up the score board and win coveted badges and bragging rights. You can also provide attractive incentives for achieving specific targets or goals.

ENCOURAGE THE TEAM TO WORK ON PROJECTS THAT AREN’T RELATED TO CUSTOMER SUPPORT

This might seem odd at first, but this tip will gradually pay off. Encourage and empower your agents to perform tasks that are not associated with the support department. This will help your employees understand how each business unit is connected and give them the additional skills they may need to be promoted to another position in the company. A well-rounded employee that believes their is a chance for upward mobility in a company if they work hard will be extremely motivated to perform their best every day. Regardless if they learn how to code, analyze data in Excel or work on other projects, as long as the customer support agents are constantly challenged and learning they are more likely to be happy and keep working at your company for a longer period of time.

ALLOW THE TEAM TO LISTEN TO MUSIC AND OTHER SMALL PLEASURES

Sadly, customer support isn’t one of the jobs which let you take a sick leave if don’t feel like going to work. Everyone experiences bad days, but people who work with customers every day are vulnerable to dealing with several unfriendly customers who can ruin their day even more. Another way your company can keep your employees engaged is by allowing them to enjoy the “small pleasures” in life. This could mean allowing them to listen to music, providing free snacks in the lunch room or offering other perks that can brighten up their day. These tiny allowances can seem inconsequential, but they can dramatically uplift every employees mood and make them very happy.