“The Great Resignation” was a term coined during the pandemic, and it extended through the beginning of 2022. Since then, a new term called “quiet quitting” has hit the streets. The Harvard Business Review defines quiet quitting as, “opting out of tasks beyond one’s assigned duties and/or becoming less psychologically invested in work.” Maybe you’re thinking, “OK, I can name some people that have quietly quit.” But what about those you can’t name? They’re showing up every day and performing at a job, but not optimally.
These disengaged employees impact every industry and all positions. Perhaps it started with a feeling of being isolated or overwhelmed by circumstances. Or maybe it’s a lack of good corporate culture that is causing quiet quitting. It can be any one of several reasons. I encourage you to stop for a moment and think about the consequence of disengaged employees in customer experience roles specifically.
One important part of customer experience is your contact center. Your contact center is your face to the customer, it is your brand, and most often it is where a relationship with your company takes place. What is the consequence of disengaged agents? A customer experience that leaves something to be desired, at best, and forfeits the possibility of happy and returning customers, at worst.
What are the outcomes in a specific industry, like healthcare contact centers? The ramifications of withdrawn contact center employees are seen in the patient experience, as well. Contact centers span patient access, revenue cycle, emergency services, imaging, clinics and many other departments. A patient that isn’t greeted and cared for by a fully engaged employee can have some serious repercussions, notwithstanding branding and revenue.
According to the National Library of Medicine, if patients choose another provider, “hospitals under financial pressure may struggle to maintain quality and patient safety and have worse patient outcomes relative to well-resourced hospitals.” The idea of lifetime patient value is also impacted. Depending on what facilities you’re operating, the current age, lifespan and circle of influence, a lifetime value of a patient with a $3,000 expenditure can reach more than $500,000.
The question is, how do customer experience leaders in healthcare combat this growing problem? It starts with the patients, enabling smarter self-service will take some of the pressure off the agent. Professor Steven Van Belleghem conducted a study and found that “40% of customers now prefer self-service over human contact,” and with the ability for patients to schedule appointments and find follow-up care instructions at the touch of a button, that can lead to positive experiences. ConvergeOne works with Genesys to provide our customers with Genesys AI to help offer the right knowledge at the right moment. Genesys AI also offers agents the context of the discussion and the right information so the agent can provide answers or resolve the patient’s situation.
Genesys Cloud CX has a proven record of providing a 20% boost in agent productivity with faster, smarter and more personalized empathetic experiences. By future-proofing your business with ConvergeOne and Genesys Cloud CX, you can monitor performance and support employees, improve forecasting and maintain quality in patient experiences. These solutions will help you identify who is quiet quitting. Through this, I would encourage you to think about ways to help them move to becoming fully engaged in their work. Discussions like these should foster positive experiences for your employees. We all know that happy employees make happy customers, or patients, in this case.
Quiet quitting isn’t just happening in healthcare—it affects all industries and all departments. It’s become increasingly popular for employees to not want to go above and beyond their job responsibilities. If your institution relies on customer experience to support your brand, then it makes sense to be serious about the impact this may be having on your organization. Modernize with tools that allow customers to self-serve, as well as tools that enable agents to assist more effectively and efficiently. Other ways to engage include gamification, shift bidding/swapping and quality programs to not only identify but also stem this growing issue.
It’s important to be proactive as a customer experience leader to support agents before apathy compromises the positive experience that your customers can have with your business.
Improve how customers engage with your brand
Great customer experiences minimize friction and build trust. Our progressive approach blends human and digital interactions to empower employees, better serve customers and personalize secure experiences for all. We make sure every interaction counts—because people are at the heart of what we do.
Topics: Contact Center, Customer Experience, Healthcare
