Can call center agents battle stress?

It has happened to all of us at least once before. We have tried to get in touch with a contact center, waited in queue for what seemed like hours, only to get connected to an agent who cannot speak clearly and is unable to offer any kind of assistance. Before we know it, we become upset and find ourselves speaking above our normal tone and volume of voice. But after a while, our conscience gets to us and we wonder if we had become so irate and unreasonable as a customer.

Like other employees, call center agents also have to deal with a variety of work "stressors." For the average call center or customer service agent, stress simply comes with the job. It is a fact of life that cannot be avoided no matter how hard one may try.

The most common type of stress a customer service agent will experience is dealing with different kinds of customers on the phone. The person answering the call from a lot of people is a customer service representative who is acting on behalf of the company one is calling. The customer service agent is usually the one who gets the brunt of angry customer calls. The difficult part is that they need to deal with some angry customers on a daily basis, all day long. Of course, there are cheerful, polite callers but having irate callers is a given in the call center industry.

Call enter agents also face different types of crises, work with new and complicated technology and constantly monitor each call. Because the call center environment is indeed a stressful environment, which management cannot do a great deal about, call center agents should be stress tolerant.

Being stress-tolerant is the ability to perform well under conditions of pressure, resistance, or opposition. It is the ability to remain productive in times of crisis or critical events. Contributors to stress in the call center include the need to deal with rude customers, pressure from management, sales quotas, and the shifting schedules. Working in a team and contributing to the team effort can also cause stress if a call center agent's performance is lower than the other agents' performance.

Working schedules, policy procedures and quotas are also some of the factors that are causing stress to call center agents. Customer service agents must have thick skin, and learn how to relief stress or deal with this type of stress if they are going to be doing this job for a long period of time.

So what can be done to relieve stress and remain successful as well as gainfully employed as a customer service representative? The first thing to remember is to recognize when the stress hits the agent. If one can't do that, it is impossible to deal with it. Once the agent recognizes the reasons for his stress, he must take time to figure out the small things to improve the working conditions in regard to the particular issue. The agent as part of a bigger system should remain as stress-free as possible in order to ensure flexibility and success.

We have heard this maybe once in our lives, and it still definitely plays a big factor in handling stressful situations at work too: If you have a problem, don't just complain about it, find a solution! By no means, one can figure out how to handle angry customers and get away with it with ease. Remember, it doesn't hurt to keep in mind that it's just another day and it will be over soon.

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