How Can Contact Centres Better Support Employees With Emotional Tax?

By Ed Creasey, Vice President of Solution Engineering at Calabrio

Contact centres are one of the most untapped opportunities in the UK job market, with only 0.1 applications each day for job roles. Its lack of appeal may be in part because employees find they must pay an ‘emotional tax’ – where you mentally prepare to talk to someone who may be unhappy with an organisation’s service.  However, much like a balanced financial portfolio, this emotional investment often yields significant returns through job security, supportive team environments, and flexible hybrid roles that many other industries struggle to match.

In addition, real-world job-related issues such as stress, burnout and feelings of disempowerment can also lead to disengagement and high turnover rates. With replacing staff costing up to 33% of their salary, it’s unsurprising that improving staff retention and role tenure has become a mission-critical priority for many contact centres.

With almost one third (31%) of UK contact centre agents stating their role is more demanding and difficult compared to 12 months ago, organisations will need to act fast if they are to lighten the emotional tax on their team. Otherwise, they risk losing talented people who play a central role in sustaining long-term business success.

The importance of promoting agent wellbeing

The strategic importance of the contact centre isn’t lost on today’s companies. Playing a critical frontline role, the contact centre is a primary point of communication between a business and its customers. One that is responsible for handling enquiries, resolving complaints, and offering support in multiple channels. 

Ultimately, what happens here has a direct impact on customer perceptions, satisfaction and loyalty that can lead to increased sales and elevated brand retention. This is why many organisations have invested in technologies designed to improve agent performance and streamline how customer interactions are handled. Now it’s time to go one step further and focus on agent wellbeing.

With 39% of agents uncertain if they will stay in the contact centre industry long term, improving staff morale and delivering meaningful support that prevents burnout should be a top metric that ranks alongside call closure rates and customer satisfaction scores.

The top pressures impacting agents

Advances in technology mean that customers now expect fast and seamless service across all channels – phone, chat, email and social media – and are less tolerant of delays. As a result, agents are under pressure to respond at speed and turn every interaction into a positive a memorable experience. A scenario further compounded by the fact that today’s self-service technologies and automated chatbots typically filter out ‘simpler’ routine customer issues and queries, leaving agents to deal with more complex and demanding requests during their shifts. 

But that’s not all. Today’s agents also say they frequently have to switch between multiple applications and systems to find all the information they need. An agent I met with recently had 15 applications open to do their job taking payments – something complicating rather than simplifying the role. Strikingly, over half (56%) of agents say they don’t find AI helpful in their daily tasks.

As the nature of their work becomes more demanding, many agents (46%) report that they have little influence or control over their schedules – whether that’s being able to self-schedule a break following a challenging call or organise a drop-in with their supervisor to get some post-call coaching and guidance.
Similarly, 38% of agents say their workplace doesn’t provide planned social activities. For agents working remotely or in a hybrid-work setting, these types of events are critical for connecting socially with colleagues and engendering feelings of being part of a team. All of which are key components for supporting mental health wellbeing.

Finally, a striking 62% of agents say they do not have a career progression plan in place. All of which creates a perception that there is no long-term investment or interest in their future development or growth.

Lightening the load

Today, a range of supportive technologies can help contact centres reframe the workplace experience for agents.

For example, workforce management tools offering scheduling flexibility can help agents achieve better work-life balance and contribute positively to their short and long-term wellbeing. As well as helping boost morale and prevent burnout, centralised scheduling visibility can eliminate agent frustrations with unfair scheduling scenarios, such as being assigned multiple consecutive weekends.

Similarly, organisations can utilise video conferencing and collaboration tools to boost virtual visibility and engagement for agents. Alongside helping maintain a sense of team cohesion and belonging, these technologies make it easy for managers to undertake regular check-ins with agents and gauge their morale and wellbeing.

Finally, modern workforce management tools help contact centres evaluate demand levels and selectively reallocate agents to undertake training and development tasks during quieter periods. In addition to demonstrating a commitment to learning and creating opportunities for agents to give and receive feedback, this allows organisations to schedule regular virtual 1-2-1 coaching sessions that enhance agent skills while signposting next steps in their career progression.

Technologies like Performance Management and AI-powered Quality Management offer powerful solutions to lighten the emotional tax burden on contact centre agents. Performance Management tools empower agents through centralised performance conversations, data-driven insights, and seamless integration with workforce management data. This creates a transparent environment where agents can see their progress, receive consistent coaching, and take control of their development—addressing the feelings of disempowerment that contribute to emotional tax.

Meanwhile, AI-powered QM's ability to evaluate 100% of interactions eliminates bias and elevates performance while reducing the pressure agents feel during traditional quality assurance processes. By automating contact reviews and providing objective insights, it removes the stress associated with selective monitoring and creates a fairer evaluation system. 

Together, these technologies create an environment where the emotional investment agents make is properly supported, recognised, and balanced—transforming contact centres from overlooked career options into rewarding long-term professional homes where wellbeing and performance can flourish side by side.

By giving agents greater agency over how they work, creating stronger social connections, and delivering the support and ongoing development, organisations will be able to elevate the workplace experience and create an environment where every agent feels valued and motivated.