Contact center burnout grows as stressful calls surge, says director
ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES — The global contact center industry is facing growing concerns over agent burnout as the number of stressful and complex customer calls increases, according to Steve Morrell, managing director of the contact center research firm ContactBabel.
According to a report from No Jitter, he warned that reducing idle time—the period agents use to decompress between calls—could worsen the mental strain on workers already managing high-pressure environments.
Rising call complexity fuels agent burnout
Morrell said that burnout among agents is driven by three major types of calls: those involving high emotion, high urgency, and high complexity.
“Alt-tabbing between applications, understanding the customer’s real issue, inputting information, finding the solution, taking notes, etc. – all while knowing one’s performance is being monitored is a high-stress environment,” he said, further noting the emotional toll.
Attrition in United States contact centers remains around 30%, a figure that has been steady for several years but continues to represent a major business issue.
Morrell noted that the nature of calls has shifted as simpler inquiries are handled through self-service channels, leaving agents to handle the most demanding cases. “What’s left are the difficult calls,” he said.
“We saw it jump up during the pandemic, which was fair enough, but it’s not come back down. It’s actually rising [even more],” he added.
Remote work has also transformed the dynamics of agents. Before the pandemic, only 10% of contact centers used remote arrangements. Now, roughly 85% do.
“When you have agents working at home, they don’t have that immediate outlet, that decompression time, of putting their hand up in the contact center and talking to their supervisor,” Morrell explained.
AI tools offers relief—if carefully managed
Generative AI is emerging as a potential solution, but adoption remains limited. According to Morell research, there are only 20% of U.S. contact centers that currently uses some kinds of generative AI.
Additionally, these tasks are mostly low-risk, back-office tasks, such as transcription, note-taking, and call disposition.
He emphasized that, although AI can lighten agent workloads by handling repetitive tasks, contact centers must ensure it doesn’t overly intrude on the breaks between demanding calls.
Sustainable customer experience
In the broader outsourcing landscape, these findings underscore a pressing need for balance between efficiency and employee well-being.
As offshore providers integrate AI tools into their operations, ensuring agents maintain sufficient downtime will be crucial to sustaining service quality and workforce longevity.
The future of customer experience outsourcing may depend not just on technological innovation, but on how thoughtfully that technology supports human resilience.
