Helpdesk - How to handle long timers and the inevitable burnout!!

[ukjane]

Just wondered if there were any other Helpdesk Managers out there that have the same issue as me. Everything was running swimmingly, now everyone has been working so hard to achieve our extreemly stretching and possible unrealistic targets and now they are in the burnout stage.

My people are being snippy on the phone, snippy with me, most have been in my team for more than 2 years and have been turned down for promotions to other teams, as peoples names were on the jobs before they were even interviewed.

Morale is quite low!!

 

[VBmim]

Hello ukjane,

I am in a position where I do a little bit of everything: programming, helpdesk, network admin, db admin ect...
I feel almost nothing is done here to increase motivation, and no'one (management) realy cares about your motivation.

I think you made the first step: noticing and wanting to do something about it...

I hope tek-tips people can give you great tips, I unfortunately have none for you.

Greetz

VBMim

 

[aquias]

You're in a very tough spot. Most people view a HelpDesk position as a stepping stone into bigger and better things (as they should). Having them continually unable to move is going to hinder their motivation. Some thoughts I have and have tried...

1. Some kind of lunch reward, something, anything to let them know you appreciate the work they've been doing. If your people know you appreciate and will fight for them, it helps to keep them motivated because they want to help you out.

2. Go to HR, Desktop Support management, networking management and talk with them. See if you could have some of your team begin moving over for cross training, as time permits.

3. Talk to HR and the VP of IT (or your direct report) and see if you can stir up some funds to allow your team to receive training of some kind.

4. Goofy rewards. Make work a friendly competition between people in your group to try and keep them motivated in that manner.

In addition to the above, I'd talk with management about the goals you face. See if there is a way to scale these goals to be more realistic OR begin to create SLA's that will assist you in controlling and protecting what happens with your team.

The main point I want to make, is to let your team know you appreciate them. Thank them repeatedly for taking any extra measures, give them small rewards (as you're able), and back them up when the time comes.

 

[NickFerrar]

In the environment you describe you're bound to have staff issues, you have to change those conditions not introduce some gimmicks.

If giving the helpdesk staff a clear career path (to a desktop or server support role etc.) isn't an option then at least try to do a rotation where they spend a day a week or something in a desktop/server support team (and someone from that team spends time on the helpdesk). It gives both teams a much better understanding of what each other does, your helpdesk staff get on-the-job training and your desktop/server support people get more customer exposure to better their social skills.

 

[lionelhill]

... but don't let good help-desk staff think that they must move on up the career ladder or be labelled unambitious or low-achiever. A good help-desk person is worth their weight in gold. It's a very different skill to the rest of IT, requiring a huge understanding and tolerance of humans.

 

[orypecos]

If you have in your budget or resourses any equipment or monies , use it all. If you have monies, hire a massage therapist to walk around and give neck massages for agents on break or lunch. If you have any extra memory for their computers or better headsets, chairs or larger monitors, use them.
Encourage agents to take a walk outside or around the building on their breaks and lunch to help in the stress reduction.
Tell management to 'get real', they are killing their business with unreasonable demands, and the customers are getting really irritated at stressed out agents.
Look for a new job for yourself if things don't change. If things don't change, you are going to be out of the job anyway, so it is better to leave as your own choice intead of a boot in your hind quarters.

 

[Onyxpurr]

Do you know a few "professionals" in your team you could ask?? Perhaps if you could identify a few that would give you honest and professional feedback, they could give a you a better representation of what helps and what doesn't?

How about time off incentives? Or as some others have said here, do some training or cross-training.

 

[JimmyZ1]

I'm with orypecos,

Spend every dime the company has for you, and if your employees are persuing other avenues, help them out by better preparing them for the next thing. Let them know you're trying everything you can to help them move up and they will absolutely love you for it. And the time you do have them with you, you'll get 110% from them.

The mark of a great leader is to develop people beyond his/her abilities.

 

[damber]

hire a massage therapist to walk around and give neck massages

Yeh, I'm with that idea..... ;-)
I think I'll put that into next years budget...



A smile is worth a thousand kind words. So smile, it's easy!

 

[orypecos]

If you have the money use it. My old boss had almost unlimited movie tickets, so each week he awarded movie tkts for something different each week related to 'good stats' on the CMS. He worked through all the employees in his group and everybody felt better and rewarded.