{"id":1087,"date":"2015-05-05T11:54:58","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T11:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/csm210469\/?p=1087"},"modified":"2015-05-05T11:54:58","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T11:54:58","slug":"customer-service-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/customer-service-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Tackle Customer Service Stress"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4466\" src=\"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/callcenterat.jpg\" alt=\"stressed employee\" width=\"77\" height=\"60\" \/>As anyone who has worked in customer service can tell you, a customer service job can be highly stressful. If this stress gets out of hand it can have many negative effects.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines stress as an \u2018adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Prolonged workplace stress leads to absenteeism, sickness, dissatisfaction, high employee turn-over, and reduced job efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>Work-related stress is also thought to be linked to a variety of physical and mental disorders, either by directly contributing to ill-health, or by increasing the tendency for those affected by stress to engage in behaviors that lead to illness and disease.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Customer service stress<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4463\" src=\"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/customer-service-stress.jpg\" alt=\"workplace stress\" width=\"200\" height=\"133\" \/>Customer service personnel are vulnerable to stress as they are typically expected to handle pretty much any possible complaint or problem a customer might have.<\/p>\n<p>The stress and anxiety of having to find solutions to problems that, in most cases, are not the customer service representatives&#8217; fault. They also have to deal with unreasonable or even angry customers.<\/p>\n<p>This type of stress may be manageable for a day or two, but if your company is consistently on the receiving end of customer complaints, the situation can be overwhelmingly stressful.<\/p>\n<p>Long hours, threats of being laid-off, and workplace bullying can also cause harmful emotional and physical responses. Even petty office politics can be the cause of stress, making employees irritable and rash with their decisions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Symptoms of stress: what to look out for<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Headache<\/li>\n<li>Upset stomach<\/li>\n<li>Aching muscles<\/li>\n<li>Restless sleep<\/li>\n<li>Fatigue<\/li>\n<li>Loss of appetite<\/li>\n<li>Irritability<\/li>\n<li>Low morale<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How to break the cycle of stress<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4464\" src=\"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/stress-cycle.jpg\" alt=\"cycle of stress\" width=\"200\" height=\"169\" \/>The Health &amp; Safety Executive (HSE) has identified six personal strategies to break the stress cycle:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Demands &#8211; such as workload and work environment<\/li>\n<li>Control &#8211; a person&#8217;s individual influence over how their job is carried out<\/li>\n<li>Support &#8211; from the organization; management and colleagues<\/li>\n<li>Relationships &#8211; to reduce conflict and deal with unacceptable behaviour<\/li>\n<li>Role &#8211; understanding of what the job entails; what is expected and needed<\/li>\n<li>Change &#8211; how change is managed within the organization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s worth looking at each of the above areas and taking action where necessary. Are there any issues that you can tackle right away?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ideas for Combating workplace stress<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Perspective &#8211; view problems at work as a challenge and nothing more<\/li>\n<li>Balance \u2013 find time to focus on your personal and family life<\/li>\n<li>Social Network \u2013 surround yourself with colleagues and friends you\u00a0can lean on<\/li>\n<li>Positive Outlook \u2013 let work-related issues cease to bother you at work<\/li>\n<li>Proper Planning \u2013 schedule your business trips and other matters, but leave room for adjustments<\/li>\n<li>Yoga \u2013 preferably in a gym near your office<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In order to tackle stress in the workplace, organizations need to have stress management programs. Managers should be concerned with employees&#8217; mental and physical health, help solve difficult work situations and get to the bottom of the causes of stress.<\/p>\n<p>Learn how to recognize customer service stress\u2014and do all your can to alleviate it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ian Miller is Editor of Customer Service Manager Magazine &#8211; the leading resource and community for customer service professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As anyone who has worked in customer service can tell you, a customer service job can be highly stressful. If this stress gets out of hand it can have many negative effects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1087"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4467,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087\/revisions\/4467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}