Managing Human Resources

deanwebb · October 14, 2015, 02:18:17 AM

How many of you are in environments where you do mostly engineering/architecture and use other staff to resolve most of the helpdesk tickets and repetitive processes? What are some of the things you do to make sure they're not overloaded or underutilized?

Nerm · October 14, 2015, 08:01:32 AM

I work for a pretty small company so I only have two other staff people to help with the repetitive type tasks you are describing. Even with two support techs I still have to do about 25% of the repetitive task work because there is just too much of it for only two people to handle. Being underutilized is not a concern in my environment but overloading them is. To help with their workload when a ticket or SO comes in it is assigned a "difficulty" level and anything above a certain level is automatically sent on to me. Eventually we plan to bring in another tech/engineer so that I can focus 100% on engineering/design project work.

deanwebb · October 14, 2015, 08:40:28 AM

A "difficulty" level on a ticket sounds like a good idea.

routerdork · October 14, 2015, 09:09:51 AM

We are supposed to be like this but unfortunately adequately trained staff are a rare thing here. We have a front line to take the calls and generate tickets. They are supposed to be able to do things like password resets and that sort of thing. Then each site or region of sites has an IT person or more. They do all the desktop work, printers, local hands on, etc. The Network and Server teams are global. Unfortunately though the first line of support doesn't understand any sort of troubleshooting so we get all kinds of stuff thrown at us that could have been resolved at a lower level or even on the first call. So for us many things are repetitive that shouldn't be. Unfortunately management is to blame and no matter how many times you tell them what's wrong they can't seem to understand what you are saying.

mmcgurty · October 14, 2015, 10:45:10 AM

Quote from: routerdork on October 14, 2015, 09:09:51 AM
We are supposed to be like this but unfortunately adequately trained staff are a rare thing here. We have a front line to take the calls and generate tickets. They are supposed to be able to do things like password resets and that sort of thing. Then each site or region of sites has an IT person or more. They do all the desktop work, printers, local hands on, etc. The Network and Server teams are global. Unfortunately though the first line of support doesn't understand any sort of troubleshooting so we get all kinds of stuff thrown at us that could have been resolved at a lower level or even on the first call. So for us many things are repetitive that shouldn't be. Unfortunately management is to blame and no matter how many times you tell them what's wrong they can't seem to understand what you are saying.

Exact same thing where I am at. We have Help Desk that receives the phone calls, emails, and IM's from end users. If it is simple task they handle it, if not they log a ticket to the appropriate group's queue. I would say 25% of the time it is assigned incorrectly. Most of the time, the Help Desk logs the call and moves on leaving the Level II and Level III guys to figure out the simple issue.

Honestly, it is a matter of how much the Help Desk staff is paid and the high amount of turnover. They are here and gone so quickly they don't get proper training to make our jobs easier. They also don't get paid enough to care (although I would disagree). The people that have been here forever don't have motivation to work harder or better because they know they can't move up and they can't be fired. It really comes down to a management problem.

deanwebb · October 15, 2015, 12:31:23 AM

"I work just enough to keep from getting fired." - Peter from "Office Space"

wintermute000 · October 15, 2015, 02:15:29 AM

Also everything is a different game in India. I setup a helpdesk there back in 2007 and it was an eyeopener. Advice pertaining to a helldesk in an Anglo first world country won't have much relevance in Hyderabad or Bangalore

Protip: the eyes say yes or no, ignore the head wiggle, and assume all certifications are fake or dumped. Find the alphas / "big man" that the others look to, empower them and buddy up with them and direct though them. Your designated proxies will be ten times more effective at cutting through bs than Any foreigner ever will. For some reason it just works better if you setup a hierarchy rather than first world style flat management. Just my opinion...

deanwebb · October 15, 2015, 03:21:06 AM

Good pointers, wintermute. Thanks.