More Than Half of Retail Customer Service Agents Do Not Believe Their Employers Take Mental Health Seriously - Survey of Over 500 Representatives

LONDON, May 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Just 48% of customer service agents working in retail feel that their employers take the state of their mental health seriously, according to a survey published by DigitalGenius.

• 48% of customer agents agreed with the statement "My employer takes the state of my mental health seriously."
• 38% of agents at businesses with more than 500 employees disagreed with this statement
• Nearly half (46%) of employers do not provide any initiatives or resources to help reduce stress or promote mental health
• 69% of agents agree that if customers are left waiting a long time, it affects the agents' mental health
• 72% of agents' feel significantly more stressed and overwhelmed during busy trading moments such as Black Friday and Christmas

DigitalGenius, the leading AI customer service automation platform for ecommerce, conducted a survey of 517 customer service agents working in retail brands looking at how their mental health is impacted by aspects of their job.

Despite research from academics at the University of Oxford, MIT and Erasmus University Rotterdam that found that happy workers are 13% more productive, not enough retailers are doing enough to ensure that their frontline is taken care of. Less than half (46%) of customer service agents are not provided with any resources or initiatives to help relieve stress or improve their mental health.

Another report from Glassdoor points out that there is a correlation between employee well-being and customer satisfaction, suggesting that it is of prime business importance to ensure agents are as happy as possible.

"I'm a big believer that happy teams contribute to being a high-performing team," says Charlotte Laver-Bradbury, Member Happiness Manager at Beauty Pie, a leading retailer.

Martin Vatchkov, Team Lead, Customer Success Team at waterdrop agrees: "The first impression is vital. Mental health has a huge stake in constant and stable performance therefore we value it highly."

The key findings of the report are:

• 48% of customer agents agreed with the statement "My employer takes the state of my mental health seriously." 26% disagreed, while 26% neither agree nor disagree.
• Just under half (46%) of agents are not provided with any initiatives or resources to help reduce stress or promote mental health
• 73% of agents feel more stressed and overwhelmed during peak trading periods
• 69% of agents agree that if customers are left waiting a long time, it affects the agents' mental health
• 59% feel worse at the start of the day if they know there are significantly more customer queries to respond to, compared to normal
• 68% of agents like to see how much work is outstanding for their team in the day, but 27% of agents are not shown this information.
• 71% of agents would rather have fewer customer service tickets that required more attention than more average quality tickets

About DigitalGenius

DigitalGenius allows online retailers and ecommerce brands to fully resolve customer service queries using the power of AI and automation. Leading brands such as Reebok, AllSaints, On, Holland & Barrett, Rapha, Beauty Pie, and Boardriders use DigitalGenius to provide 24/7 customer service support, reduce response times and improve their customer experience.

About this data

During February and March 2024, DigitalGenius commissioned Censuswide, an international market research consultancy to survey customer service representatives at retailers. Censuswide complies with the MRS Code of Conduct and ESOMAR principles.

The 517 respondents each verified that they were a current employee working in retail or ecommerce, and were not based on a shop floor.

Media Contact:
Iain Moss
+44 7986307201
[email protected]

SOURCE DigitalGenius