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Helena Vieira

October 20th, 2017

How to counter the exhaustion of always having to be positive with customers

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Helena Vieira

October 20th, 2017

How to counter the exhaustion of always having to be positive with customers

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

When was the last time you voluntarily lent a hand to a co-worker? If it is not something you do very often, it is time to start. In addition to generating goodwill between you and your colleague, there are a whole range of other advantages. The most important ones are the ability to protect yourself against emotional demands at work, and the nurturing of self-worth.

This news is especially relevant to those in the service sector, as it proves employees need not wait passively for their employers to protect their well-being. Instead, by engaging in voluntary and autonomous behaviours aimed at restoring the sense of self, such as helping co-workers, they can positively control their frame of mind.

At the organisational level, this will lead to improved customer satisfaction and business performance. In light of this, managers and leaders should strive to develop a culture of trust, support and respect – elements critical to fostering heedful relating that will result in staff cooperating and giving help to one another. Surprisingly, the effects of being at the receiving end of any assistance from co-workers are not as positive as giving it. It in fact sends mixed messages. On one hand, it makes the person feel cared for. But on the other hand, it could imply incompetence, which could potentially affect self-esteem.

These findings were uncovered from a recent study we did on how the gesture of helping can buffer the negative effects of surface acting. Surface acting refers to displaying feelings that we are not actually experiencing, in order to abide by rules that govern the office environment. (For example, if I am feeling frustrated, I would suppress my feelings of frustration and instead show positive feelings towards customers, and continue to do so even if the customers become hostile and angry.)

With firms increasingly streamlining service interactions to prioritise speed and efficiency, surface acting becomes more pervasive and common among service employees. In the study, 102 full-time customer service representatives (CSR) based in a call centre in Singapore completed paper-and-pencil surveys for five week days. These questionnaires were answered at the start of the day before work commenced, at the end of the workday, and before they went to bed.

Emotional exhaustion

Analysis of the surveys found that individuals who performed surface acting on a daily basis experienced emotional exhaustion at the end of day. But it did not end there. The fatigue spilled over to the next day, preventing them from being whole-heartedly engaged with their work.

However, customer service representatives who actively lent others a helping hand at work could guard against the negative effects of surface acting. Interestingly, receiving help from colleagues did not produce the same results.

The implications are significant, particularly in societies that are shifting towards a service-oriented economy. Many such companies now place importance on speed and efficiency, imposing expectations on their staff to deliver high-quality customer interaction. In turn, employees are constantly expected to project a positive, happy image, and suppress any negative emotions when they interface with clients. If not addressed, the end result is unhappy staff and disgruntled customers, which ultimately damage bottom lines.

Some of the ways to prevent this include ensuring employees have enough rest days so they can relax, and even go on vacation, to mitigate the effect of burnout. Time-off during the work day is also advisable, for instance in the form of lunch hours. Past research has shown that those who involve themselves in respite activities during their breaks, such as taking a stroll in a park or reading a book they like, are able to top-up their emotional strength and subsequently, have positive customer engagements later.

But this is not enough. Given how we spend most of our waking hours at work, there is a need to understand and discover some restorative activities and interactions that can be done during office hours to help maintain good emotional health.

One significant conclusion we can draw from our study is that only self-initiated, autonomous activities, particularly giving help, can reinforce an individual’s emotional bank relating to the sense of self that was affected because of surface acting. Here, the concept of autonomy and voluntariness is key. It allows the employee to shape the context of his work, giving the person a sense of control and the realisation that one’s destiny is in one’s own hands.

Another issue not to be ignored is that helping too has its downsides. If taken too far, it could be a case of too-much-of-a-good-thing, making it unfavourable. More research needs to be done to understand how to prevent outcomes such as spreading oneself too thin, or being regarded as a pushover as a result of being too helpful. Yet, at the end of the day, it is clear that giving help is not a zero-sum game. While there could be downsides, the benefits outweigh them. Maybe it is time to head to your colleague’s cubicle and render some help?

♣♣♣

Notes:

  • This article was first published in The Business Times (paywall), Singapore on December 23, 2016, and is republished here with permission.
  • The post is not under a Creative Commons licence.
  • The post gives the views of the authors, not the position of LSE Business Review or the London School of Economics.
  • Featured image credit: Walmart checkout line, by Walmart, under a CC-BY-2.0 licence
  • When you leave a comment, you’re agreeing to our Comment Policy.

Marilyn A. Uy is an associate professor in the Division of Strategy, Management and Organization at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She received her Ph.D. from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research focuses on work motivation, stress and coping, well-being, and psychological processes in entrepreneurship. (muy@ntu.edu.sg)

 

Katrina Jia Lin is an assistant professor in the Department of Management and Marketing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests include helping behaviors, interpersonal interactions, work-family issues, and well-being. (katrina.lin@polyu.edu.hk)

 

 

Remus Ilies is Provost’s Chair and professor of management and organization at the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on employee stress and well-being, work–family processes, and leadership and motivation, with a particular interest in understanding the role of emotional processes in explaining outcomes relevant to these research topics. (ilies@nus.edu.sg)

 

 

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Helena Vieira

Posted In: Management

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