How to Keep Your Customer Service Team Healthy This Winter

Winter brings more than just colder weather. It can also bring the onset of cold and flu season. Customer service call centres can be particularly susceptible to the ‘sick season,’ partly because of the close proximity in which everyone works.

Here’s how to keep your customer service team healthy this winter and avoid absence through illness.

Prevention is key

Stopping the spread of illness is easier if you never let it become a problem in the first place. Practice preventive techniques such as handwashing and disinfecting surfaces all year long. This can help reduce illness in your office and stop the spread of cold and flu germs.

Telephones and headsets should also be cleaned and disinfected often, not just during cold and flu season. Don’t forget to clean your cell phones, too. Either wipe them down daily with disinfectant wipes or purchase a few UV cleaning machines for the office so your employees can disinfect the phones that way.

Encourage overall wellness

Besides encouraging your employees to get their annual flu shot, is there really anything else you can do to keep them from getting sick? It turns out, there is actually a great deal you can do. Encourage overall wellness all year long to boost the health of your workplace.

Provide plenty of drinking water and encourage employees to drink it rather than unhealthy sports drinks or sodas. Give employees opportunities to get up and move around throughout the day. Try to keep stress low in your workplace–stress can actually make you more susceptible to illness any time of the year.

Send sick employees home

Don’t encourage sick employees to come to work just because you need the staff. Plan for backup cover during months where you traditionally see a lot of sickness. By letting your staff stay home and recover, you’re not only protecting the other employees, but you’re also making sure your sick employee can focus on getting well instead of trying to provide great customer service when they feel terrible.

If you’re wondering how a call centre might be able to help your business during the cold and flu season, give Answer 365 a call today.