Huyền: Good morning everyone, welcome to our talk show “Raise your

voice” of Mobile World JSC today. And I am K.Huyen – the host of the
talk show. Nowadays, almost all of us face the problem of stress at work
If we don't know how to balance, it will be an obstacle that negatively
affects our work. So, to better understand these events, we’ll talk with
our three guests today about Workplace stress of office staff and how to
handle it.
Our first guest is Mr. Gia Kiet – a counselor in the office environment.
We also have Mrs. Minh Ngoc and Mrs. Thuy Nga. They are the
representative from employees association in Mobile World JSC. So
thank you for being with us today. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.
Kiệt: Thank you for having us there
Huyền: Now, we are going to start with some questions for our guest.
Mrs.Nga, as a customer service employee, what causes you the most
stress in this field?
Nga: The biggest thing that stresses me out is Customer’s Attitude or
Angry Customer. Because I deal with human beings, there are several
hurdles. I have to work with different people. Some are nice, while
others are harsh. Are you expected to be bubbly and smiling even if the
customer you’re dealing with is an asshole? The answer obviously is NO
but I still have to do this work.
Huyền: I know what you mean. It's really hard for us to stay calm and
behave in a friendly manner with all our customers. So Mrs. Minh Ngoc,
I know that you are working for Sales and Marketing department, right?
Surely you will also have difficulty dealing with customer-related issues
like Customer Service department?
Ngọc: I also have to deal with clients most of the time. One of our most
stressfull work to deal with is customers, as not everybody is kind,
patient, instead, some clients are always mean, they don’t accept the
mistakes and apologies, they have weird demands that make us
extremely confused.
Huyền: It seems that working with clients is the part that causes us the
most stress. Because just a small mistake, we will easily be judged badly
by customers, worse, lead to the loss of customers. But maybe we still
have a way to deal with this? Let's listen to our expert. So, Mr. Gia Kiet,
what do you think about this issue?
Kiệt: According to the survey 80% of call center employees say that
customers often or frequently blame them for sth they can’t control. So
I understand your feeling cuz it was not your fault. And you can deal
with this problem by some ways
Listening :Practice active listening rather than passive listening. Active
listening means concentrating on everything the customer is saying so
you have a clear understanding of why they’re upset.
And the second advice for you is maintaining the calm and avoid
negative language, everything will be worse if you’re mad at customers.
Huyền: We have very specific advice. It is understandable that we have
to practice a lot to form the right qualities and manners, right?
Kiệt: Yes, that's the best way for employees to be familiar with dealing
with customers on a regular basis.
Nga: Customers these days have no patience for slow service.
Customers say they want agents to respond faster and immediately.
People don’t want to hear the word “NO”.
Kiệt: Yes, impatient customers can be difficult to deal with. But what if
I told you that an impatient customer might be a blessing. And that’s
because impatient customers will express a problem they need solved
and will, therefore, give you the opportunity to fix it. In contrast,
customers who never say or write a word about a problem they are
having will give you zero opportunity to help them. They will simply go
away, never to be seen again. However there is a way to turn it around
that I mention :when connect with an impatient customer ,talk more
slowly because once you begin to explain things in a slower pace and
tone ,your customer will begin to mirror your communication style so
both will avoid under pressure.
Nga: I know. Bad customers are still customers after all
Ngọc: Maybe Thuy Nga just has to work with customers. But I, besides
that, am always in a state of stress when dealing with my opponents. As
everyone know, sales is means you have to win the other opponents in
financial market and sale more stock than other company or store, which
means people will do every thing they can even that is tricks to take
advantage. Our function is avoid and deal with those tricks everyday and
that must be very depressed because you would not know when you will
be victims of fraudulence.
Kiệt: I see your point, but I think being competitive is not truly bad. It
motivates you to work harder, setting your goals higher than your
opponents can help you work harder and as a result, do better. However
when you focus too much on dealing with opponents, it become stressful
and depressed. In this problem I have no particular solution for you but
you want avoid tricks and frauds, it’s necessary to secure your privacy
identity information ,be cautious of strange link or files in the internet.
Huyền: Thank you for your sharing, Mr. Kiet. Now let's move to the
other factors. I think one of the reasons we get so stressed out is because
we have to do a bunch of workload everyday. Have you had a similar
problem, Mrs. Ngọc?
Ngọc: Oh of course, The fear of meet the target makes me so stressed.
Like any departments, we have own targets every month, quarter and
year to get. However that target is not only rely on our staff but also
other factors, take the disease for example, in recent years, we have to
face up with severe disease named Covid 19 and many country have to
be locked down for several months, which leads to the difficulty of
buying and sale, customers will unlikely to chose unnecessary things
like technological items,… that makes us find it difficult to meet the
previous unchanged target and get the criticism from our managements
Kiệt: That must be something that any office worker has to face.
Nga: Too much work leaves me exhausted and anxious. I could take up
to 80 calls in any given day. That’s talking to 80 different people, 100%
immersed. I face the sometimes difficult challenge of keeping up with
changes in products, services, policies and procedures so that they can
continue to provide customers with the correct information. Every day,
customer service industry workers like me must juggle demands and
complaints of varying degrees of complexity, all in a fast-paced, high-
stakes environment.
Huyền: Sure, this is a common problem that everyone has to deal with.
And so am I, in order to achieve the target of the job, I also have to meet
the deadline every day. What do you think about that, Mr. Kiet?
Kiệt: To this problem, no one has a specific solution. But the best way
to limit the overload is to know how to manage your time properly and
take more short break per hour. If I were a call center manager, I
wouldn’t hire more workers to lighten the load - better technology can
make the existing tasks faster and easier to complete
Huyền: Meeting deadlines is a real challenge. But there is also a benefit
of that we will know how to allocate our time properly to complete each
task. Gradually we will form our own biological clock, it is very useful
in our life. What about soft skills, each department must have its own
qualities, right?
Ngọc: We are the special department, which always demands being
creative and active. We need to keep up-to-date all the time, understand
the potential customers’ requirements and trends. And every time we
think about campaigns and sales-marketing strategies. However, ideas
are limited and we cannot come up with new idea instantly or in a short
time. It leads to lack of strategy development
Kiệt: If generating good ideas is part of your job, you know it's stressful
and there's nothing fresh in your brain. The best advice on fostering
creative I give you is treating it like a muscle, one that needs to be
regularly worked out. Just like going to the gym, try to set aside an hour
every day to write. If you’re stuck on a problem, sometimes it's helpful
to step away from the desk and take a walk around the block or even
take a shower you know, you always have your best ideas in the shower.
Do you know Acsimet? He exclaimed : eureka when brainstorming a
new idea while talking shower.
Huyền: Oh, that’s an interesting example. Today, we not only need to
work hard but also learn new things and improve our creativity. The
development of technology requires us to be able to adapt to it, to know
how to innovate our thinking. To be honest, I’m a low-tech person.
Alright, what about you, Mrs. Nga?
Nga: I have to work with computers all day so I am not a low tech
person like you. I'm just kidding. But I have problems with myself.
Sometimes stress is caused by my setting unrealistic expectations of
myself. I’ll promise a client I’ll do something tomorrow, and then
promise another client the same thing, when I really know it’s not going
to happen. Over-committing puts me under pressure.
Huyền: I can understand your trouble. Many times we take on too many
things just because we think we can handle them all. But it’s not good. If
we don't deal with them all, they will always be present in our mind.
Then when we go home, instead of resting, we will think about the
remaining tasks even in the shower, even in our dreams. I've been
through this already. It's really annoying.
Ngọc: Your thinking is similar to mine, sometimes thinking that I am an
important part of the company makes me feel really pressured. You may
know know that sales and marketing is one of the most important part of
a company as our work results affects dirrectly on other sections. If we
can not sale products, there won’t be enough money for company to
operate and pay salary for staff. Managers always put pressure on us
because of financial burden
Huyền: So let's consult our counselor, do you have any advice for them,
Mr. Kiet?
Kiệt: About the expectation of yourself. I know, call center work isn't
easy. Be yourself, try best and think positively. Otherwise, you should
think thoroughly and have a clear plan.Don't place unnecessary pressure
on yourself.
And, the feeling of being the most important part : Just take it simple
and don’t too worry about it. I believe that all departments of a company
are responsible for the turnover and net profit, not just sales and
marketing. If we lost, it just because the staff didn’t connect well in
work and managers didn’t have suitable direction.
Huyền: Some advice from Mr. Kiet is really valuable. Surely our two
wonderful guests today have accumulated a lot of useful things from this
talk show.Thanks for our guests for taking the time to participate in
“Raise your voice” to speak out on behalf of the company's employees
and give valuable advice. Thanks to the audience in the studio for
listening. Goodbye and see you on the next talk show.