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Published: itSMF Australia - November 1999
ServiceTalk - The Journal of the itSMF - December 1999
Keeping Your Help Desk Staff
Karen Ferris
The Help Desk is often considered the kindergarten of IT as it can be the starting point from which staff move into more technical roles such as PC support, network support etc.
This is not a bad thing in itself, but when you have invested time and resources in developing excellent customer service staff, you want to be able to keep them if you can.
Know why staff leave
Staff may have a genuine interest in working in other areas of IT. However, they may only be interested due to dissatisfaction with life on the Help Desk. It may be a combination of many factors including stress, burn-out, boredom, lack of training, salary, and career opportunities.
Ensure you know why your staff leave. Perform an exit interview to determine their motivation and act upon the information received.
Stress Management
The Help Desk can be a highly stressful environment. Staff can be taking calls all day, and every day, from customers reporting faults. Customers can be demanding, awkward, angry, and abusive. Customers do not often contact the Help Desk to say what a wonderful day they are having and how wonderful life is!! We need to ensure that we equip Help Desk staff with techniques to manage stress and that we recognise the signs of stress and take immediate action.
Training
Training is imperative if we want to retain staff. Some Help Desk managers rely on “on the job” training to reduce costs. This sort of training has its place but can only teach staff how others are doing the job including their inefficiencies and mistakes. Investment has to be made in formal training for the present and the future. If you don’t invest in it, you will get what you paid for.
In addition to soft skills training, staff should receive training in technical skills and procedures. Technical training should include products supported by the Help Desk and Help Desk tools themselves. Procedural training should include procedures in use at the Help Desk as well as in the rest of the organisation.
Stimulation
Work on the Help Desk should be stimulating and interesting. Staff should have other work to do than just answer calls.
Provide staff with project work focused on the improvement of Help Desk operations. However, ensure that you give staff the time to perform the project work. There is nothing more frustrating than being given a piece of project work which you are keen to do, only to find you are constantly being pulled back on to the Help Desk to assist with the fire-fighting.
Allow staff to use their initiative and be accountable for their actions. Help Desk staff should have a “can do” attitude.
Work In Other Areas
Help Desk staff should possess excellent business knowledge. Therefore allow staff to spend time in the business units. This will give them an insight into business operations and an understanding of the impact on the business of failure or degradation in service. This also helps develop the image of the Help Desk as the customer champion, as they develop that, all so important, empathy with the customer.
Help Desk staff can work in other service management areas e.g. problem management, change and configuration management, service level management. This will provide them with an understanding of other disciplines that have a close link with the Help Desk. It also gives them exposure to areas in which they may wish to direct their career path. If they really want to leave the Help Desk, try and keep them in service management than loose them to the traditional technical domains.
Career Opportunities
One of the most common reasons for staff leaving the Help Desk is that it is not seen as providing any further career opportunities and that the only way in which to progress is to leave. Depending on the size of the Help Desk, there may be the option of structuring the Help Desk so that it contains senior positions to which staff can aspire e.g. team leader, supervisor. Identify candidates for succession planning and coach / train them accordingly.
As already mentioned, if staff want to leave the Help Desk, try and keep them within service management disciplines where their excellent customer service skills and service management knowledge can be utilised to the optimum.
Salary
If Help Desk staff feel under valued, they will leave for either an internal position or one with an external company. If the latter occurs, not only is it the Help Desks loss but also that of the organisation.
Do some market research and determine what the market rate for Help Desk staff. Compare like for like. For example, if your Help Desk is performing a high level of first line resolution and additional tasks, compare it with a similar Help Desk.
The Help Desk should be paid their value to the organisation. If they are not regarded as important, this will be reflected in salaries.
Environment
The Help Desk environment is of utmost importance. The majority of Help Desk staff do not get up and leave the Help Desk area on a regular basis. Consideration must be given to accommodation, seating, lighting, PC screens, air conditioning and so on. Do not isolate the Help Desk from other staff but also find a balance between this and constant interruptions.
Everyone responsible for the Help Desk should be asking the question “Would I like to work in this environment? If the answer is negative, do something about it.
The health and well-being of staff is dependent upon a pleasant working environment. Staff will not stay long in a negative environment. Ask staff how they feel – after all they are the ones who have to work there!
Tools
Provide the Help Desk with the tools to do the job. Arm them with knowledge bases and case based reasoning tools to increase first line resolution at the Help Desk. Wherever possible, automate the mundane and routine tasks. Utilise telephony technology to improve Help Desk operations.
Support
The Help Desk are reliant on second level support in order to provide an effective and efficient service to customers. Ensure second level support are working in harmony with the Help Desk. Seek the co-operation of support managers and consider implementation of Operational Level Agreements so that each party knows what is expected of them, how and when.
Team Work
We all know the saying “one bad apple….” and this is never truer than in the Help Desk. It is essential that the Help Desk is a coherent group. The Help Desk may have been a dumping ground for undesirable staff elsewhere within the organisation. The Help Desk is the face of IT to the customer and you cannot afford to have inadequate staff.
I have seen Help Desk morale plummet due to one inadequate member of staff. Their performance will reflect on the customer perception of the whole of the Help Desk and staff are fully aware of this. Do whatever you can to bring inadequate staff up to the required standard but at the end of the day you may just have to remove them from that position. The key is to act as soon as possible, even though the task may be unpleasant.
Clear Vision
Above all, there should be clear vision for the Help Desk. The Help Desk needs good leadership and management. All staff should understand how the Help Desk is going to evolve and improve, what the scope of the Help Desk is and will be, and how they fit into the long term objectives.
Summary
Endeavour to make the working life of Help Desk staff as interesting, stimulating and pleasant as possible. It is a unique role requiring unique skills and should be recognised and rewarded as such. Provide opportunities for career progression within the Help Desk and service management. Your staff are your greatest asset and therefore you should invest in them. They will return that investment.
Karen Ferris Copyright © 2002 KMF Advance. All rights reserved.
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