It’s time to start thinking outside of the wellbeing tick-box

With challenges in recruitment and stubborn levels of attrition impacting almost all organizations in the contact centre sector, it’s hardly surprising that wellbeing remains firmly in the spotlight. However, if we’re serious about creating lasting and effective wellbeing strategies, then it’s important that – as an industry – we start to be much more precise when addressing the topic.

That’s why I’m excited that we’ll be discussing wellbeing in detail at two important events taking place over the next two weeks. First up on Thursday 26th January 2023 the CCMA will be hosting an online seminar on Contact Centre Colleague Wellbeing where its Research Director Stephen Yap will share the findings from a Sabio-supported study into colleague wellbeing. You can watch the seminar here or download a copy of the report here. 

While on February 7th Sabio will be hosting our Disrupt digital transformation event at The Brewery in London. Disrupt 2023 will feature a dedicated People Track focused on Effective Wellbeing Strategies. During the session I’ll be discussing how it’s vital for us to use data to think outside the wellbeing “tick-box”, while Get Out of Wrap’s founder Martin Teasdale will also chair a round table session that includes input from the CCMA, Direct Line Group, Genesys, The Cotswold Company and Nespresso. Again, you can sign up for Disrupt 2023 here.  

Wellbeing is one of the key drivers for successful contact centre performance and high quality CX performance, and innovative use of workplace data is key when it comes to improving the daily working life of contact centre advisors and team leaders. Our Wellbeing model and evidence-based maturity frameworks provide a lens to interpreting this data and are driven by psychological theory and real employee experiences. Complimentary training makes sure that advisors, team leaders and contact centre leadership address and discuss wellbeing using shared knowledge and a common language. This is vital in ensuring a joined up and communal approach to tackle this important issue, and is an essential foundation for having the right kind of wellbeing conversations.

The CCMA’s new Contact Centre Wellbeing study helps to illustrate the importance of getting this right. Key considerations addressed in the report include identifying some of the causes of workplace stress and burnout, trying to understand just how prevalent these stressors are, and also suggesting how contact centre leaders can provide support. The report also considers what kind of impact the rising cost of living is having on advisor wellbeing.

What’s clear from the CCMA’s findings is that signs of work-related stress or burnout are widespread, with the study identifying that over half of the advisors polled reporting at least one symptom of work-related stress. More than one in three also said they sometimes or often turn up for work when sick. 

The study also highlighted the ability to take breaks as the most important factor separating those who experience signs of stress and burnout versus those who do not. And as simpler queries increasingly get deflected to self-serve,  the pressure on advisors is growing.

Being able to tie stress factors to specific operational practices such as breaks is an important step, and illustrates the importance of integrating wellbeing reporting with existing workplace data. It also shows why it’s essential that wellbeing evolves from being treated as a self-managing, tick-box process to a more structured and strategic issue that is a huge differentiator for the organisations that get it right. 

Learn more about Sabio’s approach to wellbeing by downloading our latest Wellbeing ebook – Placing Advisor Wellbeing at the top of the Agenda here.