It is no secret that working in customer service is no walk in the park (well, except in this context).
I mean, what do I know, I’m just a lowly writer here at Goody Feed, which means I’m nice and secure behind my computer screen while our audience (you guys, if you haven’t caught on) are nice and secure behind theirs.
So any interaction is limited to something like this:
Goody Feed Reader: OMG Goody Feed sucks!!!
Goody Feed Author: IKR!!
But my heart goes out to all the valiant ones in customer service anyway.
Imagine facing a horde of customers every day who just want to have a good time, but for some reason can’t.
It’s your job to fix their day, and your job to make sure everyone behaves, so other people won’t stop having a good time, and your job to keep serving the drinks, or answering those calls, or operating the machines.
All while keeping that increasingly manic rictus on your face, and do you understand why the stress levels in this line of work can shoot through the roof?
Well golly gee, someone actually does.
A company in Changzhou, called China Dinosaurs Park, has this wonderfully coveted employee welfare policy.
If you tell the boss, “I feel low”, it’s enough to grant them paid leave.
No need to go through the trauma of your imaginary diarrhoea, nausea, that 38°C-fever-that-occurred-last-night-but-it’s-gone-now, bloating, seizure and death just so you can get a fake MC.
Staff First, Customers Second
The rationale behind this move, as explained by the company’s spokesperson Chen Qingcheng, is that it helps employees work better when they feel better.
The company’s workers union recognised that their staff frequently handle unreasonable guests in the park, which could be very emotionally draining (if you’ve worked in USS, you’d know what they mean).
So the measure works to ‘show the company’s support and love towards our staff’.
The company also subscribes to the idea that their staff comes first, customers second, since ‘only when the employees feel happy can they pass on their happiness to our visitors.’
How It All Began
It seems that initially the staff were allowed to take a short break from their post to cool off, but now employees are given one day a month to manage their stress levels. Just how taxing was this job that made this revision necessary?
You’re probably thinking: Hm, I bet nobody exploited the heck out of this policy…
And, you’d be…nearly right. Inconceivably, Mr Chen said that not many workers have actually taken the ‘bad mood leave’.
Pull this stunt in our office and Goody Feed will shut down for the lack of staff.
Effectiveness of the policy
Some muse that perhaps allowing staff to take paid leave is not enough to solve the elevated stress levels if it stems from more deep seated personal issues and they opine that it may be more beneficial to provide practical help to employees.
However, it is probable that the option of taking leave when needed itself will already improve the morale of workers who would feel like their welfare is being taken care of, even if they don’t actually exploit this option.
The ability to take a break as and when within the month will also give them the opportunity to resolve their problems.
Anyway, it is a concrete measure and a step in the right direction, which is apparent from the support and envy from internet users in China.
Now to make my boss believe in this philosophy too.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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