Burnout is a major challenge in contact centres. Repetitive tasks, high call volumes, and limited progression can all lead to low morale, high absence rates, and staff turnover.
But with the right strategies in place, it’s possible to keep your agents engaged, motivated, and committed to their roles.
To find out more, we asked John Ortiz, Technology Sales Manager, MiaRec, to explain how contact centres can reduce burnout and support long-term retention.
Video: Tackle the 3A’s: Ditch the Rigid Schedules and Publicly Praise
Watch the video below to hear John explain how ditching the rigid schedules and publicly praising achievement can help tackle attrition, agent burnout, and absence:
With thanks to John Ortiz, Technology Sales Manager, MiaRec, for contributing to this video.
This video was originally published in our article ‘Tackle the 3 A’s – Absence, Agent Burnout, and Attrition’
Three Practical Ways to Reduce Burnout and Keep Agents Engaged
Tackling burnout means creating a more balanced, supportive working environment.
These methods can help reduce absence, limit attrition, and improve day-to-day motivation for your contact centre staff.
1. Set Clear Goals and Offer Real Incentives
Contact centre work can feel monotonous. Without clear goals, agents may quickly lose motivation. Providing quantifiable performance targets – such as a daily call handling target – can offer a sense of purpose, especially when tied to monetary rewards.
“Provide monetary incentives, and quantifiable growth plans. It’s no secret that the role of a contact centre agent is monotonous, so doing the same things over and over again will lead to burnout, unless you provide your agents with specific quantifiable goals for motivation.
For instance, achieving a goal like handling 50 calls per day can earn agents a significant monetary bonus. However, I’ve even seen monetary incentives lose their appeal over time.
So, if you really want to prevent burnout, and keep your agents engaged, offer goals related to career advancement, such as promotions for consistently meeting certain KPIs. This approach should apply to all of your contact centre staff, not just your agents.”
However, financial incentives alone may lose impact over time. To keep agents engaged, it’s also important to build in long-term development opportunities.
Promotions linked to consistent KPI performance give agents something to work toward, and show that career growth is possible. These principles should apply across all levels of staff, not just front-line agents.
2. Use Technology to Remove Repetitive Tasks
Many agents spend a significant amount of time on repetitive administrative work, as John explains:
“Another way you can almost certainly help with preventing agent burnout is by leveraging technology to eliminate repetitive tasks.
Again, the same logic as before. If you’re doing the same things over and over again, you’re going to get burnt out eventually.
Take some time to evaluate your agents’ workflows, identify repetitive tasks, and ask yourself, is there technology available that can help me with automating any of these?”
One key area is post-call summaries, which can take several minutes per interaction. Over the course of a week or month, this adds up to hours of routine work that contributes to mental fatigue.
Investing in technology that automates tasks such as summarizing calls can make a real difference. Not only does it reduce workload, it also allows agents to focus on more meaningful parts of their role.
Reviewing agent workflows regularly and identifying areas for automation is a practical way to reduce the risk of burnout.
“For example, one thing that immediately comes to mind is having technology that can automatically write call summaries for agents.
Agents typically spend anywhere from two to five minutes on post-call work, for every call, with a majority of that time being spent on leaving manual summaries.
Extrapolate that to 100 calls per day, 500 calls per week, 2,000 calls per month, that’s a ton of effort they have to use to write manual summaries. So having technology that can write summaries for them will definitely help with preventing burnout.”
3. Recognize and Appreciate Your Staff
Recognition is a simple but powerful tool. Agents who feel appreciated are more likely to stay engaged and less likely to leave.
Research shows that employees who are recognized for their work are six times more likely to remain with their current employer, as John continues:
“Have a strong employee recognition programme. A study by the OC Tanner Institute found that employees who are recognized for their work are six times more likely to stay with their current employer compared to those who are not recognized.
Publicly praise your agents when they’re doing a good job.
It’s just basic human psychology. Everyone wants to feel appreciated, so let your agents know that you care, and that you appreciate their hard work, and watch the burnout levels drop and the attrition rates decline.”
Make recognition part of your culture. Celebrate wins – whether it’s hitting targets, delivering great customer service, or supporting colleagues.
Acknowledging achievements publicly helps agents feel seen and valued, and reinforces a positive working environment.
If you are looking for more great insights from the experts, check out these next:
- Tips to Use QA to Fix Broken Processes
- Why Orchestration Should Guide Your Next Tech Investment
- How to Improve Agent Consistency with Analytics
- Ways to Reduce and Improve Call Transfers
Author: Robyn Coppell
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman
Published On: 6th Jun 2025 - Last modified: 12th Jun 2025
Read more about - Video, Employee Engagement, John Ortiz, MiaRec, Videos, Well Being
