1. Apathetic attitude toward customers. Has there been a recent change in the employee’s attitude toward customers? Apathy, rudeness or a negative perception of customers may suggest the employee is less committed to providing good customer service, and less committed to the organization.


2. Delays in customer response. Is it taking your employee(s) longer and longer to get back to waiting customers with a response? This could suggest a lack of motivation or apathy.


3. Increase in tardiness and absenteeism. Has attendance become more of a challenge for an employee recently? This could be a symptom of dropped motivation, burnout or apathy.


4. Substandard performance. Do you find that some employees are bored with their work, no longer pull their fair share, or have a tough time starting projects? Drops in performance can be due to a need for coaching or training, but   may also be symptoms of burnout.


5. Increase in average talk times. Believe it or not, this might suggest that employees are spending more time with pleasant customers in order to avoid that next call from a potentially difficult customer. This avoidance behavior is a red flag for burnout.


6. Decline in motivation. If you find that it’s harder and harder to motivate staff or that they seem to lack self-motivation, this could be alerting you to burnout.
    

The presence of the above risk factors does not necessarily mean your employees are experiencing burnout or are on their way out the door. Being aware of the potential connection, however, does give you an opportunity to proactively take steps before such problems occur.
 

Myra Golden runs Myra Golden Media, a customer experience design company helping organizations deliver the best possible customer experience and positioning companies to completely restore customer confidence when things go wrong. She is the co-author of Beyond WOW and a highly sought-after professional keynote speaker.