It started as a typical, busy Wednesday. Then a miracle happened.

A half-day event got cancelled. Another meeting was rescheduled for a different day. My calendar was suddenly wide-open.

It was tempting to fill that found time with more work. I took my dog to the beach instead.

We had a lot of fun. I was present, and didn't look at my phone, except to take a picture of my dog, Dublin, enjoying herself.

I came back refreshed. Smiling. Happy. Helpful insights jumped into my brain while I wasn't even thinking about them.

It took just a couple of hours. When I returned, Dublin was worn out and spent the afternoon napping. I was recharged and was amazingly productive for the rest of the day.

Taking time off in the middle of the day really works. Even shorter breaks can work wonders. It's something I've known about for years, and should do more often. It's a struggle.

Here's why we need breaks, how breaks work, and why it's so difficult to take them.

How fatigue affects customer service

Fatigue makes customer service difficult. Tired employees find it hard to build rapport with a customer. Listening skills become degraded. Exhausted employees struggle to focus.

All that makes it hard to solve customer problems and retain their business, which is the primary job of most customer service teams.

One customer support team measured the impact of fatigue through its customer effort scores. This is a type of survey that measures of how easy it is for customers to get their help they need. Survey scores were eight percent lower in the afternoons, when employees were tired.

Customer service employees frequently experience three types of fatigue.

1. Empathy fatigue, or compassion fatigue, occurs when employees reach a state of physical and mental exhaustion from caring for others. They slowly stop caring as a result.

2. Emotional labor is a close relative to empathy fatigue. It represents the difference between the emotions you outwardly display and how you really feel. Like other types of labor, you get tired the more you exert and find it difficult to display positive emotions like friendliness and warmth.

3. Directed attention fatigue comes from constantly focusing your attention and blocking out distractions, which is common in customer service environments. This type of fatigue makes it really difficult to focus and can lead to irritability.

When combined, employees find it difficult to care, pretend to care, or focus. That's a bad combination for service.

How breaks improve productivity

Breaks can help employees recover from the various types of fatigue that slow them down. It restores their ability to concentrate, display positive emotions, and make good decisions.

Data released in 2018 by DeskTime, a company that makes productivity tracking software, revealed a counterintuitive strategy used by the most productive employees. People who got the most done worked for an average of 52 fully-focused minutes, followed by a 17-minute break.

Two big things stand out.

First, fully-focused means just that. Productive employees were able to block out distractions and concentrate on their work without being constantly interrupted.

Second, breaks were real breaks, not checking email, Slack, social media, etc. Productive employees took a walk, got a cup of coffee, or socialized with coworkers.

These breaks allowed employees' brains to rest so they could quickly go back to fully-focused work.

While this 52 minutes on, 17 minutes off format might not be realistic for many customer service teams, there are still some lessons we can apply.

• Alternate fully-focused time with less intensive tasks.

• Block out distractions as much as possible during focused time.

• Give employees a place to fully decompress on breaks, such as a quiet room.

Why it’s so hard to take good breaks

Employees struggle to take good breaks for a lot of reasons. Some bosses don't provide adequate time, but a lot of employees' break challenges are surprisingly self-imposed.

I once worked two blocks from San Diego's Balboa Park. If you've never been, it's a large, beautiful park that's home to many museums and the San Diego Zoo. There are acres of grass and miles of trails.

At first, I had dreams of taking my lunch to the park. Perhaps I'd have a picnic or stroll to the Zoo, where I had a membership. I had control over my work and schedule, so this should have been easy.

In reality, I went to the park only a handful of times in four years.

The reasons were all self-imposed. I often felt the urge to power through an important project. My work was interesting, so I often got distracted. I failed to block off adequate time on my schedule. There was also unspoken social pressure from coworkers who rarely took breaks themselves.

Many employees experience the same struggles.

• Telling themselves they can't take a break. (Even if they can.)

• Immediately checking their phones on break instead of relaxing.

• Taking breaks at their desk instead of going outside.

It's not easy.

I started my own business in 2005. My work schedule is up to me, yet I still struggle to make sure I'm taking good breaks.

Conclusion

Breaks are an essential, but overlooked part of keeping employees ready to serve. Customer service leaders should set a positive example by taking breaks themselves and encouraging employees to do the same.

The pay-off is a team of well-rested employees who are more productive, create stronger connections with customers, and can ultimately retain more business.