Customer service representatives spend a large part of their workday performing repetitive tasks. They look up customer information, switch between different applications, create summaries, record the reasons for contact, and sometimes enter information multiple times.
Each task on its own may seem insignificant. Taken together, however, they can take up a large portion of the workday—especially when employees are under time pressure, engaged in emotionally taxing conversations, and have little control over how they perform their work.
The solution is not to make employees work even faster. Above all, organizations need to explore how they can eliminate unnecessary tasks. This creates more room for the work in which employees truly make a difference: listening, asking follow-up questions, contributing ideas, and solving problems.
When does repetitive work become a problem?
Repetitive work does not automatically lead to stress or absenteeism. In fact, some recurring tasks provide structure and predictability.
It becomes problematic when employees are constantly required to perform the same simple tasks, while having little freedom to adapt processes or make decisions on their own. The combination of high task demands and little autonomy, in particular, can make the work difficult.
According to research by TNO and CBS, 16 percent of all Dutch employees in 2024 faced both high job demands and little autonomy. In total, 42 percent reported having little freedom to decide for themselves how, where, or when their work was performed. These figures apply to the entire Dutch workforce and are not limited to customer-facing roles. However, they do underscore the importance of sufficient autonomy.
The World Health Organization also emphasizes that burnout is not caused by a single, isolated task. Burnout is described as a work-related phenomenon resulting from chronic work-related stress that has not been properly addressed. Characteristics include exhaustion, increased emotional detachment from work, and a feeling of reduced professional effectiveness.
Repetitive work can therefore contribute to overexertion when it is combined with:
- high production and time pressures;
- little impact on work processes;
- emotionally taxing conversations with clients;
- insufficient system support;
- limited variety;
- limited opportunities for development;
- a lack of appreciation and support.
The Hidden Workload Between Customer Calls
Workload in a contact center is often measured by the number of calls, emails, or chats an agent handles. But a significant portion of the workload actually occurs before, during, and after customer contact.
For example, an employee must:
- collect the correct customer information;
- look up previous contacts;
- combine information from different systems;
- consult procedures and knowledge articles;
- verify data;
- summarize the conversation;
- update a file;
- initiate follow-up actions;
- Forward information to another department.
Customers usually don’t notice this work. For employees, however, it requires constant attention and concentration.
As a result, even a simple customer inquiry can still require a great deal of mental effort—not because the inquiry is complicated, but because the employee has to coordinate various systems, processes, and departments.
Customer service is also emotional work
In addition to the administrative burden, customer contact requires emotional effort. An employee must remain friendly, calm, and professional, even when a customer reacts with anger, sadness, unreasonableness, or aggression.
The difference between what someone is feeling at that moment and what he or she needs to convey during the conversation is called emotional dissonance.
A study of call center employees shows that greater emotional dissonance is associated with lower job satisfaction and a stronger intention to leave the organization. Autonomy and support from a supervisor, on the other hand, are associated with greater satisfaction.
Technology cannot completely eliminate this emotional strain. However, effective work organization can ensure that employees do not have to perform an unnecessary amount of administrative tasks in addition to having a difficult conversation.
Automate the task, not the human relationship
When it comes to automating customer interactions, organizations often think of chatbots, voicebots, and self-service. These tools allow customers to handle simple questions on their own.
But there are also many opportunities for employees. For example, technology can help with:
- identifying the customer and the reason for contact;
- collecting relevant customer information;
- searching knowledge bases;
- proposing appropriate responses;
- summarizing conversations;
- automatic completion of registrations;
- initiating a follow-up process;
- identifying missing data;
- scheduling appointments;
- tracking callback appointments and follow-up actions.
As a result, employees no longer have to coordinate all the systems and process steps themselves. The technology provides support for routine tasks, while the employee remains responsible for the conversation and the final solution.
What can generative AI offer?
A survey of more than 5,000 customer service representatives shows that generative AI can truly support employees. During digital customer interactions, employees received suggestions from an AI assistant.
On average, the number of customer inquiries successfully resolved per hour increased by about 15 percent. The greatest improvement was seen among less experienced employees. They were able to more quickly draw on knowledge and work methods that had previously been the domain of experienced colleagues.
The results do not mean that every AI application will automatically yield the same improvement. The study was conducted at a single organization and examined a specific application. Furthermore, the benefits were smaller among highly experienced employees, and in some situations, quality actually declined slightly.
AI support must therefore align with:
- the employee’s experience;
- the complexity of customer interactions;
- the quality of the available information;
- the reliability of the AI model;
- the options for reviewing or ignoring a recommendation.
The employee must always be able to see what the system is doing and retain the ability to make a different decision on their own.
When Technology Actually Increases the Workload
Automation does not automatically lead to better work. Technology can actually increase the workload when every minute saved is immediately translated into a higher production standard.
An employee who, thanks to AI, needs less time to summarize a conversation should not automatically be expected to handle more conversations without a break. In that case, the benefit to the employee is lost, and the technology is primarily used to further increase the pace of work.
New technology can also create additional stress when employees:
- AI results must be monitored continuously;
- not understand how a recommendation is reached;
- must not deviate from the system recommendation;
- have to work with yet another application;
- do not receive sufficient training;
- are based on automatically collected data;
- remain responsible for system errors.
Therefore, the best solution is not necessarily the technology that automates the most tasks. It is the solution that demonstrably helps employees do their work more easily, more effectively, and with greater confidence.
Five Steps to Reduce Repetitive Work
1. Map out your entire workday
Don’t just focus on the duration of the customer interaction. Also consider what employees need to do before, during, and after each interaction.
What information are they looking for? How many screens do they switch between? What data is being entered twice? Which steps add little value for the employee or customer?
2. Involve employees in the analysis
Employees usually know exactly where processes get bogged down. Ask them which tasks are time-consuming, which steps often go wrong, and which systems make the work unnecessarily complicated.
Be sure to provide feedback on what happens with their comments. Simply collecting feedback without showing visible improvements can reinforce the feeling that employees have no influence.
3. Start with predictable tasks
Start by automating tasks for which clear rules and reliable information are available.
Think of tasks such as gathering case information, summarizing conversations, classifying reasons for contact, or preparing follow-up actions. Fully autonomous processing is by no means always necessary in these cases. Even partial support can make a big difference.
4. Keep the employee behind the wheel
Employees must be able to modify, ignore, or undo proposals. Make it clear which information was used and which actions were performed automatically.
In exceptional, sensitive, or emotionally complex situations, human judgment must always remain an option.
5. Measure more than just speed
A shorter processing time does not automatically mean that the quality of the work has improved. Therefore, you should also measure:
- the number of system changes required;
- the time employees spend on administrative tasks;
- the number of transfers;
- the percentage of questions that are resolved immediately;
- the perceived autonomy;
- the mental and emotional strain;
- the ease of use of systems;
- employee satisfaction;
- absenteeism due to illness;
- voluntary employee turnover.
Combine operational metrics with interviews and employee surveys. This will reveal whether technology truly makes things easier.
More room for human interaction
The goal of automation in customer service is not to eliminate every human action. The goal is to reduce unnecessary searching, duplicate paperwork, and predictable process steps.
This creates more room for situations in which human qualities make a difference: listening carefully, recognizing emotions, asking follow-up questions, evaluating exceptions, and working with the customer to find an appropriate solution.
A future-proof contact center, therefore, does more than just handle customer inquiries as efficiently as possible. It organizes the work in such a way that employees can continue to do their jobs with care, confidence, and satisfaction.
Wondering which repetitive tasks within your customer service organization can be streamlined or automated? Pegamento brings together processes, systems, and customer journeys and identifies where technology can truly support your employees. Contact us to set up a productive discussion.
Additional articles:
True listening begins where automatic responses end
How Do AI Assistants Automate Repetitive Customer Inquiries?
