It can be challenging to come up with new ideas for celebrating the team that cares for the most important people in your business: the customers. But have no fear! We have six unique customer service week ideas to make your customer service team feel truly valued and cared for.
Some people see customer service as a thankless job. After all, your customer service team works hard all year to ensure that your customers are happy and satisfied — yet they rarely get the same attention as sales teams, for example.
It's important to go out of your way to celebrate these employees and make them feel appreciated, and Customer Service Week was made for it!
National Customer Service Week is commonly celebrated during the first full week of October, and it's dedicated to elevating and recognizing the team that's constantly on the front lines of your workforce, solving problems, and handling complaints with style and grace.
Celebrating your customer service employees helps them feel like their work truly matters. In turn, this inspires a feeling of purpose and boosts their morale. These positive feelings and attitudes not only lead to better employee retention but can rub off on other employees as well, lifting everyone's mood as a result.
As an added bonus, celebrating your customer service team can also help to enhance your customer service experience. When you have happy employees who feel appreciated on the job, your customers will receive better, more enthusiastic service. Studies show that your customers care about how you treat your employees, and knowing that you care about and celebrate them regularly can potentially lead to even higher customer satisfaction and retention.
Simply put, supporting your customer service team is how you empower them to support customers.
If you need a few ideas on how to best show your customer service team some love, check out these 6 ideas that can't go wrong! Make sure you pick a few from the list and use them together to ensure your team knows how much you appreciate them.
If you have a good customer service team that works hard to help customers thrive, you must recognize them for their stellar performance to encourage more of the same!
Keep in mind that recognition and shout-outs coming from managers and the leadership team are great, but it's also valuable for your customer service team to hear what their peers value about them. Also, remember that specific praise is always the most meaningful. Make sure that you are always giving a specific compliment or shout-out so each member of your customer service staff feels individually valued.
If you feel like your team could do better, you might feel like there's nothing to recognize. On the contrary: By celebrating any win, no matter how small, you encourage better performance in the future.
How to get started 👉 Thank your team with Workplace Gratitude!
If your customer service representatives are remote or hybrid, it can be challenging to ensure that everyone knows they are seen, heard, and cared for. So if your team often feels isolated, having a water cooler experience to celebrate Customer Service Week is the perfect remedy.
A water cooler experience gives your customer service reps a chance to get to know each other beyond the responsibilities of the job. They'll be able to share fun, weird facts about themselves and hear about the strange or interesting things their teammates love. It's also a great place to share war stories about customer service — not in the spirit of complaining about the job, but uniting around a common cause and deflating some of the common stressors that build up over time (while also providing humorous anecdotes).
These types of events are great for bringing the whole team together and fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared mission.
How to get started 👉 Break the ice at the Water Cooler!
Your customer service staff will feel valued if they know you care about their well-being. What better way to show this than by helping them incorporate healthy lifestyle practices at work? An Eating for Immunity class is a fun way for your staff to come together and learn recipes they can use to fight off illness and combat the effects of outside stress.
Luckily, a cooking class doesn't always need to involve lots of ingredients or cooking utensils. It can be something as simple as a drink or snack with just a few ingredients. Regardless of the recipe, the point is for your customer support teams to walk away with something delicious that can help them with their self-care goals.
How to get started 👉 Learn how to eat to feel your best in an Eating for Immunity class!
Customer service is not the easiest job. Between dealing with complaints, fielding irrelevant calls, and often answering the same questions dozens of times each day, customer service agents can easily succumb to stress if they're not careful. So giving your employees some space and time to relax and unwind is yet another way you can make them feel valued and cared for.
One of the best ways to combat stress is by engaging in creativity. Of course, speaking with customers all day doesn't exactly invite opportunities for creativity, so this is your chance to inspire your team in a different way. Invite your customer service team to bring their favorite beverage to the event, and provide them with a calming space free of the normal distractions of work life. You can even invite someone to teach your team techniques to stay calm and present while tackling their daily challenges.
How to get started 👉 Give your team some time to Calm and Create!
Fitness is a great way to encourage your customer service reps to leave the day's stress behind them and find a feel-good activity to engage the mind and body. And when you share this experience, it can provide opportunities for employees to engage with and encourage each other beyond metrics.
When hosting a fitness class, make sure to:
Sweating it out together is a great way to remind teams that working hard can be fun when you do it together!
How to get started 👉 Sweat out the stress in a Tai Chi Class!
Even if your customer service team loves their jobs, they'll surely be excited about attending a happy hour when it's over. There's nothing quite like coming together around drinks and laughter. Providing this kind of experience for your employees is one way to encourage your team to have fun.
While you can simply host a happy hour at your team's favorite after-work dive, why not host it at the office, complete with an in-house bartender or mixologist? A private location with custom decorations will give your team a chance to get to know each other more deeply as they share their favorite drink recipes or create new ones together.
How to get started 👉 Unwind from the day with a Mixology Class!
Customer service teams often feel like they work in a silo, cut off from the rest of the company and grinding at a thankless job. That's why it's so important for businesses to show these workers what an integral part of the company they are. Providing experiences focusing on team building and self-care can help you accomplish this goal. If you're not sure where to start, Confetti can help.
We specialize in creating unforgettable team-building experiences for businesses. Simply let us know the kind of experience you'd like to create for your employees, and our team will do all the heavy lifting to make your vision come to life. We have many different experiences to choose from, so there's sure to be something everyone can enjoy.
Book your Customer Service Week celebration today! Discover how Confetti's experiences can strengthen your culture, increase employee engagement, and give your team shared memories that will bring them closer together.
The purpose of Customer Service Week is to bring well-deserved recognition to those who spend their days serving and supporting customers. It has been a nationally recognized event since 1992, occurring in the first full week of October each year.
Team Service is the theme for 2023's Customer Service Week. This theme should remind everyone that whether you're remote or at the office, an agent or a supervisor, or on the phone or talking to customers via chat, every person is on the same team.
You can plan a Customer Service Week by searching for ideas to bring fun and relaxation to your team. Consider planning one event for each day of the week and surveying your team to find out what kind of events they would like to see. You can also hand off the responsibility to Confetti and let us execute the ultimate experience.
