The client had a problem, that problem was their workload increased exponentially over seasonal periods. They were a marketing company, and a large part of their work involves marketing campaigns for seasonal periods such as Black Friday, Christmas and others.
The Problem
The client found that they were overloaded with work during this period. Due to the time constraints of getting marketing campaigns out before fixed calendar dates, like many industries, the pressure was on. They also realised that they were spending lots of time chasing up information they needed to complete the marketing campaigns. This led them to feel less able to support each other during the period. In the past they had dealt with it by powering through as they always had. But they were keen to find out if there was another answer.
Stress Factors
When we reviewed the factors that increase stress for them we found that several of the factors were particularly severe, resulting in higher likelihood of workplace stress.
These factors were workload, control and support. The issue was risk assessed against these factors and they found that they were struggling to get everything ready on time.
What Have Stress Factors Got To Do With Productivity?
When we undertake our employee support programmes, we link stress factors to issues that they have. This identifies the highest risk issues that could result in work related stress. We then uncover the key issues that affect engagement and motivation at work. Doing this uncovers issues that may contribute towards added problems such as absenteeism, presenteeism and higher turnover.
Following this we conduct root cause analysis to understand the underlying causes in the systems and processes.
What Were The Root Causes In the Case Study?
The client identified that the issue of seasonal peak work affected several stress factors. These were workload, control and support. The team took a deeper look at each factor to see why those factors were affected.
First of all the team framed the underlying problem. The initial issue was workload due to the period of year where their clients sell most products. But there was an underlying problem making the stress factors worse. That was that the clients weren’t getting back to them in time for their marketing campaigns. Why was this? To get the answer we needed to look at the process of obtaining information for marketing campaigns. We then looked at the client profile they had. What we found was that their clients were new, smaller companies with little to no marketing knowledge. Often they did not really know what to ask for. We also found that in order to get the seasonal campaigns out the marketing company would send their clients a questionnaire to complete ahead of time.
What was the problem with this? The customers were given control of the process, by returning the questionnaire. Unfortunately many would procrastinate, as might be expected if they were unaware of the urgency or uncomfortable with some questions. As such, they lost control of information flow and found themselves spending time chasing their customers for the data needed. This increased the workload and increased the loss of control of the process.
The Steps They Took
The problem was not the seasonal peak issue of workload. It was that their process was not optimised to support the seasonal peak for their type of client. So, instead of losing control of the process they decided to change it. Instead of chasing information from customers after sending questionnaires they would spend time with them upfront. They did this by removing the questionnaire and introducing a seasonal strategy meeting instead. During this meeting they would take the client through the information they needed so that they were able to get the right answers first time. This enabled them to regain control of the process by scheduling them in.
This was also an improved service compared to other marketing companies, by going the extra mile upfront the clients would feel supported and listened to without feeling uncomfortable about answering a question they were unsure of. Workload was reduced and the feelings of frustration and anxiety about not getting seasonal campaigns out were reduced.
Establish a New Approach
Consider how linking stress factors to issues can result in process improvement, and therefore, less stress. Improved performance, better results for the team and for the business. Read more about how Caldeira Consulting can help you and your team.