" BURNOUT IS NOT SIMPLY ABOUT WORKLOAD. IT IS INCREASINGLY TIED TO WHETHER AGENTS FEEL EMPOWERED, SUPPORTED, INFORMED, AND SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ROLES."
FEATURE
LET’ S DIVE DEEPER INTO AI. DO AGENTS TRUST IT, AND IF NOT, COULD IT ALSO BE A CAUSE OF BURNOUT?
A: Trust in AI depends almost entirely on how it is implemented. Recent research found that 88 % of agents reported that AI had improved their experience when implemented properly.
Agents are increasingly receptive to AI when they see it helping them perform better, reduce repetitive work, and improve customer outcomes. The majority of agents now view AI positively when it enhances their daily experience.
AI that feels punitive or threatening can worsen stress. AI that acts as a support system helping agents succeed, learn faster, and reduce frustration tends to improve morale and engagement.
That said, AI can contribute to burnout when organizations fail to provide adequate training, communication, or change management.
There’ s a repeated theme here – many companies focus too heavily on cost reduction while overlooking the employee experience. Agents may become resistant when AI feels like a surveillance tool instead of a support tool.
To position AI as a“ friend, not foe,” organizations should:
• Involve agents early in AI adoption discussions.
• Gather ongoing voice-of-employee feedback on AI processes.
• Use AI to reduce friction and repetitive work.
• Deliver real-time support and knowledge guidance as well as continuous training and coaching.
• Focus on empowerment instead of surveillance.
The reality is, the future of the contact center is a blended“ agentic and human CX” environment, where automation and human agents work together rather than compete against one another.
The most successful organizations will likely be the ones that use AI to elevate the human experience, both for customers and employees.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO PREVENT AND MITIGATE BURNOUT?
A: Organizations need to move from reactive management to proactive workforce engagement. The best-performing contact centers are increasingly treating AX as a strategic business priority rather than simply an HR concern.
Telltale signs of burnout and how they can be detected early
Some early indicators include:
• Declining customer sentiment.
• Reduced empathy during interactions.
• Increased absenteeism.
• Repetitive policy violations.
• Lower engagement scores.
• Higher attrition risk.
• Signs of emotional fatigue during conversations.
" BURNOUT IS NOT SIMPLY ABOUT WORKLOAD. IT IS INCREASINGLY TIED TO WHETHER AGENTS FEEL EMPOWERED, SUPPORTED, INFORMED, AND SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ROLES."
You may be tracking all of this, but do you have all the data you need, and can you make improvements based on it?
Traditional quality management( QM) approaches often miss these warning signs because they only evaluate a tiny percentage( 3 %) of calls, as it has historically been cost and time prohibitive to QA more than that.
Older QM programs created distrust because supervisors were making judgments based on extremely limited samples.
What are the best methods and tools to respond?
There’ s no silver bullet. One method, one tool, will not help. You have to implement multiple techniques to improve outcomes. They don’ t need to happen all at once – that’ s very difficult and time-intensive to do.
Here are several areas to poke at:
• Deliver personalized coaching rather than generic feedback. JULY 2026 9