8 Ways to Reduce CSR Burnout

By Wendy S. Myers, CVJ, Founder & Communication Expert, Communication Solutions for Veterinarians

Your front-office team answers hundreds of calls a day, manages doctors’ demanding schedules, and deals with cranky clients. More than half of veterinary client service representatives (CSRs) last under two years in their jobs.[1] Signs of burnout include decreased productivity, increased mistakes, absenteeism, and loss of interest in work.

Make the work enjoyable and efficient with these job enhancements:

1. create workstations and rotate csrs

Doing everything all at once can be mentally and physically exhausting. Designate work zones such as check-in, checkout, phone operator, and floater. A floater helps teammates wherever needed in the moment, from answering calls during peak volumes to cleaning exam rooms when technicians need extra hands to keep appointments on time.

A CSR may work at the check-in station from 8 to 10 a.m. and shift to phone operator from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. After lunch, the CSR works at the checkout desk from 1 to 3 p.m. and ends the day as phone operator from 3 to 5 p.m. Complete tasks in batches, advise productivity experts.[2] You will get into a rhythm of the activity instead of constant starts and stops on multiple tasks. Shifting between workstations also encourages cross-training.

2. get an auto attendant

A CSR may spend 2 minutes to greet the caller, listen to the caller’s request, determine who can best help, and then assist or connect the caller to the right team. An auto attendant is the equivalent of a digital CSR. The voice menu lessens callers’ wait times and navigates clients to the exact team in your practice with the press of a button. The auto attendant connects callers to your team anywhere, whether to the treatment area for an update on a hospitalized pet to a remote CSR who schedules appointments from home.

Put menu choices in priority order based upon urgency and calls with the highest volume. Here’s an auto attendant script:

Welcome to <Your Veterinary Hospital>. To best serve you, please choose from the following options:

• If your pet is experiencing a medical emergency, press 1.
• To schedule an appointment, press 2.
• To refill a prescription, press 3.
• To check on your hospitalized pet, press 4.
• To speak with a client service representative, press 5.
• To leave us a message, press 6.
• To repeat these options, press 7. 

If a caller selects 2, the CSR may answer, “Thanks for calling to schedule your pet’s appointment. This is <CSR name>. May I ask your name and your pet’s name so I may access the medical record?” (Client responds.) “What will we be seeing <pet name> for?” You’ll speed the scheduling process by getting right to the point.

3. embrace online forms

Brodheadsville Veterinary Clinic in Brodheadsville, Pa., reduced time spent on new patient calls by 67 percent using Otto, a client communication app.[3] New client forms gather client and patient details and are sent through Otto Flow. “A call with a new client could easily take 15 minutes,” explains remote CSR Amanda Mitchell. “With Otto Flow, I can cut that down to 5 minutes.”

Have new clients send adoption or medical records before appointments so CSRs can import information into electronic medical records. Set up an email such as records@yourvet.com where you may request and receive medical records from other veterinary hospitals and clients. You will avoid records getting buried in your clinic’s general inbox.

4. lead clients to book online and through your app

Appointment scheduling is your No. 1 call type and averages 8 minutes.[4] Update reminders with links to online and app booking tools. Research shows 70 percent of consumers prefer to schedule appointments via text or app.[5] If half of clients choose online or app booking, a three-doctor practice could save six hours of talk time per day.

A productivity study found CSRs reduced time 54 percent by responding to texts or emails compared to talk time over the phone.[6]The 8-minute call drops to 4 minutes to review and reply to a digital request. You can serve two clients in the time that it took for one call.

5. provide away-from-the-desk duties

6. consider remote work possibilities

Technology such as VoIP phones, client communication apps, and cloud-based or remote access to practice software lets employees perform administrative duties from anywhere. CSRs could have hybrid work schedules, rotating between in-clinic and remote work. A CSR may work Monday to Thursday at the hospital and from home on Friday. A superstar employee who moves to another state could keep working for your practice.

Millennials are the largest generation of the veterinary workforce.[7] Remote work aligns with their affinity for flexibility, autonomy, and work-life balance. HomeVets, a mobile, in-home veterinary service in Baltimore, Md., employs a remote practice manager and CSR. Find out how practices do it in “Is Remote Work the Secret to Keeping Staff?” (https://staging5.csvets.com/remote-workers/).

7. ensure they take breaks

8. back up your team

While everyone has an occasional bad day, some clients behave badly every time they visit your hospital. Stop the drama. Have supportive managers who fire horrible clients. Teach CSRs conflict-resolution skills so they know how to confidently respond in tense situations. Discuss what to do should conditions escalate. With current appointment demands, practices can be choosy about the kind of clients they want.

When you create a positive work environment, provide job variety, and have caring managers, you can nurture and retain a CSR team that drives every client interaction at your practice.