Customer Satisfaction Assignment: Analysis Of Employee Burnout Rate

Question

Task: Prepare a customer satisfaction assignment analyzing how the employee burnout rate affects the customer satisfaction and critically review the literature of various authors.

Answer

Introduction
The customer satisfaction assignment has been examining the research of Xiaoming, et. al, (2014) which states that employee burnout can be understood as the physical, mental or emotional exhaustion among the employees while working in the organization. This can be due to the over exhaustion, stressful job and lack of rest to the employees. According to the recent study conducted by Gallup on around 7500 employees, nearly 23% of the employees are feeling burned out very often in their work which causes the absenteeism and employee turnover (Kraft, 2018). Customer Satisfaction is how the products and services can meet the expectations of the customers (Wadud, 2013). There is a relationship between employee burnout and customer satisfaction which is been analyzed in the research report.

Justification of the topic
The topic ‘Analyzing how the employee burnout rate affects the customer satisfaction’ is been chosen to build the report on customer satisfaction assignment because the employee burnout has been on rise since recent years and it is affecting the customer satisfaction levels. It is because when the over exhausted employees handle customers, it is visible in their behavior, service handling and customer handling. This affects the business as a whole and slowly and gradually the business also starts losing its customers. This shows that it is very important to know how customers are affected from the rising employee burnout.

Project aim
The main aim of the project is to analyze how the employee burnout rate affects customer satisfaction.

Research questions
The questions of the research on customer satisfaction assignment are:

Main question:
How does employee burnout rate affect customer satisfaction?

Sub-questions:

• How does employees’ display of burnout indications in a service encounter associate negatively with customer satisfaction?
• What are the possible consequences of employee burnout?
• How can employee burnout be reduced in the organization?

Literature Review
According to Day, Crown & Ivany (2017), it has been discussed in the customer satisfaction assignment that the organizations nowadays are going through a rapid change and this is one of the major reasons why the employees are facing heath issues and dissatisfaction from their jobs. But as these organizational changes are unavoidable, employees are facing the burnout due to the high pressures, over exhaustion and increased workload. This burnout is visible in their behaviors and in their work effectiveness. This is further visible when the customers are not treated well, and the customer dissatisfaction increases with the time. The organizational changes are unavoidable, but they can be prevented. The author further discusses that the organizational changes can be managed positively to negate the effects of employee burnout. Also, the supervisor can provide enough support to the employees so that the employees do not feel they are been cheated or overburdened by the change. The customer satisfaction assignment also discussed that if the employees will be given power or control on their jobs, it will reduce the negative outcomes and will reduce the anxiety and depression among the employees (Ziaei, et. al., 2015).

The research on present customer satisfaction assignment is addressing the opinion of Söderlund (2017) where the author says that not only mental but there are some physical consequences also which affects the employee burnout situations the physical health problems include insomnia, fatigue and weakness in the body. This also affects the social relationships of the employees along with the professional relationships. The author comments that it is possible to have negative relationship between employee burnout and customer relationships, but it is not supported by other authors (Salvagioni, et. al., 2017). Moreover, the other authors believe that the employee satisfaction enhances the satisfaction level of the customers and vice versa when the employee is dissatisfied. Söderlund (2017) further suggests that the burnout is the modern disease which is due to the prolonged stress and reduced personal commitments.

The research on customer satisfaction assignment also sheds light on the readings of Nesher Shoshan & Sonnentag (2019) that the burnout is not only limited to the humans, but it is also negatively concerned with the customer satisfaction which also results in the negative engagement of customers with the business. It is further added by Auh et al. (2016), that the employees and their customer handling have a major effect on the customer satisfaction rate. The customers feel mistreated when they communicate with the burned out employee. It is obvious that it creates a negative effect on the employees and their satisfaction with the services of the company. According to Kraft (2018), the job burnout is rising heavily in the organizations and it is estimated that the spending is also rising on the treatments of diabetes or heart diseases because people are more stressed and depressed than ever before. The main reasons identified in the customer satisfaction assignment for Job burnout turned out to be the unfair treatment at workplace, very critical deadlines, high pressure and workload, the strict managers, no support from the management and the work over the hours of job. Burnout is a serious problem in today’s work culture and to combat this problem, the companies must take steps so that a sustainable working culture can be developed, and work life balance can be maintained. Also, steps should be taken so that it is understood by the employees that it is their responsibility to meet the expectations of the customers (Khamisa, et. al., 2015).

The viewpoints of Mcdermott (2019) noted in the context of customer satisfaction assignment to address the main argument depicts that the annual cost of burnout to the today’s business economy is estimated at $324 billion which is a very high amount and loss to the businesses. It is further added by Savage (2019), in Sweden, less than 1% of the population work 50 hours a week or more than this. The culture of work is strong and at least five holidays a week is provided to the employees but still number of people are been diagnosed with chronic illness, depression or exhaustion and it has increased in the recent years. The rate of burnout has increased in the young population recently and the affected population is mainly the women. These shows those young generations especially women are overburdened with work which causes burnout in the employees and dissatisfaction among the customers.

Relationship between employee burnout and customer satisfaction
The customer satisfaction is very influenced by the behavior of the employees. The body language of the employee who is dealing with the customer is very important to determine whether it is going to please customer or not. A positive and a smiling face of the employee can be very helpful in enhancing the customer satisfaction and vice versa. When employees are happy and behave well with the customers, they tend to be with the company for the longer period. This is true that there is a negative association between the employee burnout and customer satisfaction.

How to overcome Employee burnout
According to Kraft (2018), employee burnout and its effects can be reduced when the employees learn from their own strengths and understand their weaknesses. This helps them to overcome their negativities and reduces the chances of burnout. The author further suggests that the employees should develop strong partners at the workplace which will provide mental help and will boost the efficiency and performance. As per the study in the Journal Personnel Psychology in 2015, it is observed in this customer satisfaction assignment friendships at workplace are a blessing for the employees. There are many studies which show that the friends at workplace reduce the metal health problems and reduce the chances of depression, anxiety and high blood pressures (Lizano, 2015).

One of the most important solutions is communication. Good communication at workplaces can help in reducing the misunderstandings and frustrations. The employees can share their feelings and views which gives them a sense of satisfaction. A two way conversation is always good for the employee employer relationships and thus, it help in the good customer relationships also (Ochoa, 2018).

This shows that several steps taken both by the employer and by the employees can reduce the chances of employee burnout and it helps in giving good satisfaction to its customers which helps in good relationship building between the business and the customers for the longer period.

Research methodology
This is the main part of the whole research report of customer satisfaction assignment where the research methods will be discussed which are used to complete this research.

Research method: This research has been completed by using quantitative research technique. By using this technique the relationship between different variables has been identified and established. The research on customer satisfaction assignment is based on the secondary data and this data has been collected from different sources like Journal articles, research papers, websites, books and more. The dependent variable in this research is customer satisfaction and the independent variable is employee burnout. The data gained from these resources will help in establishing the relationship between the dependent and independent variables i.e. customer satisfaction and employee burnout.

Data collection: As already discussed in this context of customer satisfaction assignment, the data has been collected from the secondary sources which mean that the data is already been used. The data is collected from various sources and analyzed in order to answer the research questions by using the statistical tools and correlation analysis. This will help in building the relationship between the employee burnout and customer satisfaction.

Data Analysis: The data collected has been analyzed in this research of customer satisfaction assignment using the links which has information about the employee burnout rate and customer satisfaction. This will help in determining the relationship between two variables i.e. Dependent variables and Independent variables. Various charts and data will be used to develop the findings.

Research Findings
The research has been done for the customer satisfaction assignment by going through the secondary data. Various links and websites have been studied to find out the data about employee burnout and how does it affect the customer satisfaction.

As per Fagen (2019), Employee burnout is a rising problem in industries and many famous companies are also facing the issues of employee burnout because they keep their employees work for longer hours and expect long hours of productivity from them. It is evident in the customer satisfaction assignment that the company named Blind created a survey on more than 11000 employees who works at the 30 big companies. The purpose of the survey was to find out the burnout status of the employees. It is found that more than 57% of the employees are burned out of their jobs. The company named karma topped this list with 70% of the burned out employees which is followed by the companies like Twitch (69%), Nvidia (65%) and Expedia (65%). The companies like Oracle and Snapchat has employee burnout rate of 63% and 60% respectively.

There were only 5 companies out of the 30 companies who have less than 50% of the employee burnout rate and these companies include Uber, Facebook, PayPal, Netflix and Twitter.

The below table provided in this customer satisfaction assignment summarizes the data retrieved from the source:

Figure 1: The employee burnout rate of the surveyed companies
Source: Fagen (2019).

Figure 2: Burnout survey results
Source: Fagen (2019)

As per SHRM (2019), it is considered in the customer satisfaction assignment that around 120000 deaths are caused due to the workout stress which is a very serious issue. The below infographic shows that 52% of the US workers are stressed on daily basis and 60% of them admitted that the stress has increased in the past 5 years and this burnout is also responsible for high employee turnover.

Figure 3: Employee Burnout facts

It has been noted in the customer satisfaction assignment that the author further suggests that the top reasons for the burnout includes unfair competition, high workload without reason, Overtime and poor management. The burnout is also because of negative culture followed at the workplace.

Figure 4: Reasons of Employee Burnout

It is clearly found after analyzing the information provided in the customer satisfaction assignment that the length of the average work week in US is 47 hours but 1 in every 5 employees works for more than 60 hours a week. People due to over stress do not use their vacations too and 54% of the employees ended the year 2016 with unused vacations. The stress and burnout conditions include sleepless nights, tiredness, aches and pains, weight gain and anger issues. The statistics shows that 1 in every employee in US is engaged in their work and only 2 in 10 employees agree that they are respected at work.

Figure 5: Employee Burnout, causes and effects

The job Burnout influences the Job performance and the interpersonal relationships which are clearly shown in the above diagram of customer satisfaction assignment. It clearly shows that the burned out employee will not be fully satisfied and will not be able to satisfy the customers also.

As per the diagram provided in this customer satisfaction assignment below, the employee satisfaction and the customer satisfaction are interrelated which affects each other. If employer will not be satisfied, it will also affect the customer satisfaction and vice versa.

Figure 6:Interrelationship of Customer satisfaction and Employee Satisfaction

Discussion of findings
It is found from the research carried out for this customer satisfaction assignment that the employee satisfaction drives customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction is derived when there is no stress, overload and anxiety at work. The data derived proves that the companies which have a very good customer satisfaction rates and are very well delivering their services, have high burned out employee percentage. This proves that it is not necessarily true that employee burnout is the only factor which affects customer satisfaction but the other factors like uniqueness of the product, service delivery and the image of the company which affects the customer satisfaction are of the company.

How does employee burnout rate affect customer satisfaction?
It is clear from the data that the employee burnout is caused due to over stress and over burden at work and this leads to the anger issues and tiredness in the employees which causes the delay and low quality service delivery and ultimately it leads to the low customer satisfaction.

How does employees’ display of burnout indications in a service encounter associate negatively with customer satisfaction?
For the present study of customer satisfaction assignment, several sources have been referred for the research and the employees often show some signs which displays that the employee is burned out. The employees show some symptoms which displays the emotional behavior of the employees. The individuals who are burned out displays their symptoms with their colleagues. The customers may hear these conversations and it might affect their satisfaction levels. The emotions of the burnout employee are very difficult to hide, and it is assumed that it is clearly visible to the customers as well.

The emotions of a burnout employee are highly leaked through the service encounter. This might have a negative impact on the customer satisfaction. The display of the burnout emotions has an increased level of customer emotions and influences the image of the company as well. 

What are the possible consequences of employee burnout identified in the customer satisfaction assignment?
Employee burnout is a serious situation and must be taken seriously by the companies. Employee burnout can decrease the employee productivity with the lack of motivation to work and reduces speed of the work as well. It might also affect the work quality due to the decreased interest in work. The employees tend to take more offs than before and high turnover rate is experienced by the companies (Rožman, Treven & Cingula, 2018).

This is not the end. It research on customer satisfaction assignment found that Employee burnout also affects the career of an individual and affects the personal and professional relationships of an employee. The customer satisfaction is highly affected because of the burnout situation of an employee. It does not only affect the single employee but also the productivity and revenue of the whole organization. It creates the negative image of the organizations as the statistics are clearly shown in surveys and through employee feedbacks. This is how employee burnout is dangerous (Wu, et. al., 2018).

How can employee burnout be reduced in the organization?
Employee burnout is a serious situation which should be reduced by the organizations by taking certain steps. The companies should increase employee engagement. This can be done by providing training and by organizing the activities which involves employees. The company should look out for the causes of the burnout and should work on them. This can be done by surveying the employees and knowing where does the company lack. The companies should not overload their employees and focus on recognizing the efforts of the employees. The companies should allow room for creativity and the employees should be given a chance to showcase their creativity, ideas and talents (Maslach & Leiter, 2016).

Conclusion
After analyzing the above context of customer satisfaction assignment, it can be concluded after that the organizational norms can be strict and perfect for creating burnout, but the companies should focus on how burnout can be reduced as it is not only affecting the individuals personally but also affecting the employee performance and productivity which is ultimately affecting the overall image of the organization. It also reduces the revenue of the companies and therefore, the companies should be more attentive towards reducing the employee burnout. The companies should keep in mind that Employee burnout has its negative effect on the customer satisfaction which affects the company’s success and overall business. The research concluded that the companies should take certain steps which could help in the reduction of the employee burnout. This is how they would be able to keep their employees happy and ultimately the customers happy. As customer is the king of the business, it would help the business to increase their productivity and raise their profits in the market.

The data for the research on customer satisfaction assignment was collected through secondary sources and the data is analyzed and findings are derived to resolve the research questions.

References
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Auh, S., Menguc, B., Spyropoulou, S., & Wang, F. (2016). Service employee burnout and engagement: The moderating role of power distance orientation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44(6), 726-745.

Day, Crown, & Ivany. (2017). Organisational change and employee burnout: The moderating effects of support and job control. Safety Science, 100, 4-12.

Fagen, K. (2019). Employee Burnout Is Real. A Survey of More Than 11,000 Tech Workers Reveal Where It's Worst. Inc. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/business-insider/employee-burnout-survey-blind-app-tech-workers.html.

Khamisa, N., Oldenburg, B., Peltzer, K., & Ilic, D. (2015). Work related stress, burnout, job satisfaction and general health of nurses. International journal of environmental research and public health, 12(1), 652-666.

Kraft, S. (2018). Companies are facing an employee burnout crisis. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/14/5-ways-workers-can-avoid-employee-burnout.html

Lizano, E. L. (2015). Examining the impact of job burnout on the health and well-being of human service workers: A systematic review and synthesis. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 39(3), 167-181.

Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103-111.

Mcdermott, M. (2019). Burnout is on the rise, and it's contagious. Customer satisfaction assignment. This is what we need to do about it. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/the-rise-of-workplace-burnout-and-how-to-tackle-it-2019-6?IR=T

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Rožman, M., Treven, S., & Cingula, M. (2018). The Impact of Behavioral Symptoms of Burnout on Work Engagement of Older Employees: The Case of Slovenian Companies. Naše gospodarstvo/Our economy, 64(3), 3-11.

Salvagioni, D. A. J., Melanda, F. N., Mesas, A. E., González, A. D., Gabani, F. L., & de Andrade, S. M. (2017). Physical, psychological and occupational consequences of job burnout: A systematic review of prospective studies. PloS one, 12(10), e0185781.

Savage. M. (2019). Burnout is rising in the land of work-life balance. BBC.

SHRM. (2019). The Problem with Burnout. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0817/pages/infographic-the-problem-with-burnout.aspx

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