How to prevent “quiet-quitting” in the field service industry

Service organizations are already understaffed due to a labor shortage and a Baby Boomer retirement wave. “Quiet-quitting” could further impact workforce performance and the customer experience. With a little help from technology, service leaders can increase workforce engagement. Here’s how.

The philosophy of quiet quitting is not about leaving a job, but instead, doing exactly what the job requires, no more no less. It means no longer going above and beyond and withdrawing from the idea of “hustle culture” in an effort to find a better balance between life and work. 

Taking steps to set healthy boundaries at work is important—and something everybody should do to avoid burnout. However, “quiet quitting” culture is a step beyond, and is understandably worrying business leaders and managers across industries. There’s a difference between working to find a better work-life balance and being totally disengaged. A successful workforce is full of employees who are motivated, engaged, and self-driven because they find meaning and fulfillment in the work that they do. 

Experts argue that although doing less might feel good for employees in the short term, it could harm your career—and your company—in the long run. It can also cause conflicts between employees, as some employees will feel others aren’t carrying their weight. So how should field service leaders address quiet-quitting culture and what steps should they take to keep their workers engaged?

Equip your workforce with the technology they need to operate at their highest potential

Help your technicians and teams work smarter, not harder. Employees need leaders and direct managers who offer them the necessary tools, resources, and technology that enables them to get their work done at their highest potential. When employees feel like they can get their job done more efficiently, they are more engaged in their work. Higher employee morale = increased productivity. 

AI-driven diagnostic tools like Aquant’s Intelligent Triage can help technicians get to the root of the problem faster and complete jobs without running into any hurdles. This kind of technology benefits all generations.  Techs with less seniority no longer need to lean so heavily on experienced techs for support to resolve a customer issue. Senior technicians can spend less time training younger generations on simple tasks and can spend more time helping them grow in more holistic ways. And even the most experienced workforce gets a boost in new or extremely complex machinery. Because the technology helps all levels of technicians solve the issue faster, they’re able to use that extra time in their day to focus on other areas of professional development. 

Business leaders need to be able to measure the performance of their workers

It’s difficult to know which workers are overperforming and which are underperforming unless you have the technology to analyze and measure their performance. Certain AI platforms are designed to objectively measure workforce performance so that leaders can identify training needs, see where employees excel, dig into areas that might be institutional or product failures versus employee issues, and even highlight the best candidates for mentors. 

Field service organizations are using Service Insights to measure their teams’ performance. A leader at one large med-device company described the software as “a scoreboard where you’re able to reflect the performance of your team in real dollars as well as efficiency.” And this kind of pinpointed intelligence is the best of both worlds for managers and employees who benefit from targeted training programs.

Employees are burnt out. They need resources that take work off their plate

Most industries continue to struggle with labor shortages and skills gaps. Leveraging the right AI-driven tools gives service organizations access to a wider candidate pool, letting them hire great people and train them on the technical aspects of the job. Tools like Service Intelligence combines the wisdom of the most skilled workforce with information like parts data or machine feedback and puts that information into the palm, or the phone, of every worker. Employees will face fewer struggles during their day and have the extra time and mental capacity to deliver exceptional customer service. New hires will feel more confident. This access to 24/7 information will help alleviate the burden and extra work that often rests on the shoulder of more experienced staff. 

All of these small improvements will help boost employee engagement, which is more critical now than ever before. Service leaders need to listen to their workers, understand where they might be falling short or why they’re disengaging, and offer them the tools they need in order to get their jobs done more efficiently. Employee disengagement is often a result of burnout so it’s critical that leaders get proactive before their employees hit a wall. AI is here to help your overworked technicians find the work-life balance they’re looking for.