Recurring Problem with HelpDesk Response

[Rhea737]

Scenario: A company has a helpdesk voice mailbox and four employeess as the helpdesk staff. Three employees start work at 7-730am and the other starts at 8am.

Problem: A cry for help is left in the voice mailbox at 630am. The three employees with the early shift ignore the message. The enduser calls again at 755am. No one answers the phone, so the enduser leaves a second message
depicting frustration and agitation. The 8am employee arrives at work, sees the message indicator light, picks up both messages, and responds to the problem in person immediately.

Questions: Should the 8am apologize for the behavior of the rest of the staff? Should the 8am employee continue to cover up the nonresponsiveness of the other three? Doesn't the supervisor need to know so the supervisor won't be blindsided when a complaint is carried up one side of the chain and down on his side? Should the 8am employee inform the other three and find out why they repeatedly do not pick up these messages?

 

[wbg34]

IMHO
Should the 8am employee inform the other three and find out why they repeatedly do not pick up these messages?
This should be the first question. If at all possible, then the 8am Employee needs to communicate with the other Employees. As long as this can be done without antagonizing the situation, then this should be the first thing that the Employee does. Make sure it is done without accusation or attempts to blame.

Should the 8am apologize for the behavior of the rest of the staff?
No. It's not their job to appologise for them and it could create a serious amount of stress between them and their co-workers.
Should the 8am employee continue to cover up the nonresponsiveness of the other three?
No. Make sure that the entire situation is well documented. If they cover up for them, then they are helping them and that could affect their employment status negatively.

Doesn't the supervisor need to know so the supervisor won't be blindsided when a complaint is carried up one side of the chain and down on his side?
It depends? Is this an ongoing trend or is it a one-time deal. If this has been going on for a while, then the 8am employee may want to bring the documented occurences to the supervisors attention. Be prepared for an icy work atmosphere if it comes to this.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Should the 8am apologize for the behavior of the rest of the staff? No, I don't think the 8am employee should volunteer an apology, because too much is unknown at this point, but if asked by the users, then you need to respond diplomatically along the lines, "I don't know why that happened, but I will certainly look into it."

Should the 8am employee continue to cover up the nonresponsiveness of the other three? Depends on what you mean by cover. The 8am employee should continue to provide the help as needed, as that is the department's charge. But if you mean by cover that the 8am employee should do nothing (other then provide the help), then no, covering is not appropriate.

Should the 8am employee inform the other three and find out why they repeatedly do not pick up these messages? Definately. If I were the 8am employee, then I would ask them once why they have not responded to these messages. They may or may not have a good reason, and what that reason is dictates future action.

Doesn't the supervisor need to know so the supervisor won't be blindsided when a complaint is carried up one side of the chain and down on his side? Absolutely, and it's up to the 8am employee to inform the supervisor of the situation. But the 8am employee must know the situation. When I would (if at all) inform the supervisor depends on the answer to the previous question. If they have a legitimate reason, then I would inform the supervisor immediately, being sure to include the valid reason, so that issue may be addressed. If they do not have a valid reason, then I wouldn't say anything until it happend a second time, essentially giving the other employees a chance to recover, now that it has been brought to their attention.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[BJCooperIT]

Could you consider sending a copy of a call log with who responded, including dates and times, to the supervisor? A simple spreadsheet format should do. If the supervisor reads it, they should be able to see the problem for themselves.

[sup]Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.[/sup][sup] ~George Bernard Shaw[/sup]
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000

 

[SemperFiDownUnda]

I agree 100% with Cajun.
Realistically they should have checked all messages when they came in I gather. What their reason for not doing that is unknown to us but you need to find out.
Why they didn't answer the phone when they where on shift is also unknown and agian we don't know but you should find out.

Atleast I would think that when you came in and if they where busy they should have said something like "We've been flat out with such-n-such and haven't gotten a chance to man the phones, there are a few calls can you take care of them?"

If this happens repeatedly then you owe it to everyone involved to escelate the call.
1) The customer deserves the support they paided for.
2) The supervisor and company deserve the work from their employees that they pay for.
3) You deserve to have your share of work and not yours and part of their work.

Like its been pointed out document from this point further.
Don't worry about upsetting the other 2 employees. Why do you ask. Well if it comes to the point where you have to raise the the issue with your supervisor your fellow employees don't care much about your feelings.
1) If anything happens with complaints you'll probably be repremanded too
2) They obviously don't care that they are making more work for you.
3) Their morals are a bit lacking all the way around.

Who knows if it keeps up they may loose their jobs and 2 new employees get highered and you could get a little team leader promotion out of it. I wouldn't do it because of this but I wouldn't feel bad if it happened if I was you.


Hope I've been helpful,
Wayne Francis

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

 

[SQLSister]

In my view if you have a situation with an upset customer, it is your responsibility to let your supervisor know immediately. Supervisors don't like to get blindsided on things like this. It is up to her or him to investigate why the call was not answered.

If this is frequent occurence, the employees need to be counseled and then gotten rid of if their behavior doesn't change. One thing I have noticed about employees whose work hours are different from the rest of the company is that often the reason why they don't handle things like this is because they aren't coming to work on time since they know no one else is there to see if they are late. The supervisor should randomly come in to check on them.

 

[rphips]

As I see it the supervisor should already beware of the problem if he/she is doing their work (and if it happens repeatly)

A good help desk has reporting mechaniziums on how many calls in Que and for how long. Also help desk programs should and do track who answered and when. so between the reports a good help desk supervisor should never be blind sided and he/she should be aware of what is going on at the desk whether they are there or not.

Now if the supervisor wants to do anything about it well thats a different subject.

You as a help desk employee have to take in considration the environment, tools avalaible and wheather you believe the supervisor will do anything or not.


bob

Jones' Law
The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on.

 

[KimberTech]

Perhaps a way around it?

Next time they have to go to an upset user in need of help, and they have called repeatedly before the shift of the 8 am person, the user could be the one to make the enquiry as to why it was not addressed when the call came in.

Not the perfect solution, but definitely a way around what could be a very uncomfortable working environment if one peer points the finger at another...which from the initial post seems to be the case and why it is posted here.

Hope this is not an ongoing thing, poor working relations make for a long day at the office.

K

Members of Tek-Tips provide answers to questions based on the information given. For the best answers, post detailed descriptions of the issue. Use the search features of the site to see if your issue was previously addressed in a thread or FAQ.

 

[ChrisHunt]

Seems to me if the Supervisor is supervising (s)he should know about the issue already. Like other posters have said, I'd ask the early guys why the call got missed (maybe they were busy dealing with even more urgent calls?), if it happened frequently & for bad reasons I'd quietly draw the supervisor's attention to it - but, as I said, I shouldn't need to.

I'm surprised that two people have recommended that the 8am person shouldn't apologise. The customer doesn't know (or care) about your shift patterns or the dynamics of your help desk team. All he knows is that his call was ignored for an hour and a half, and only dealt with (it would appear to him) when he called a second time to complain. As a representative of the help-desk organisation, the 8am person should apologise on behalf of the organisation for the poor service the customer has received. It doesn't have to be a big production, something along the lines of "I'm sorry it's taken so long to get back to you", adding a reason if there's one you're able to share. Answering an hour and a half late without apologising is going to seem really arrogant to the customer, even if it wasn't personally your fault.

-- Chris Hunt

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

http://www.napitalia.org.uk

http://www.leicesteryha.org.uk

 

[Rhea737]

The Outcome:

I responded to the call immediately, apologized to the enduser for the delay, told my boss we picked up a call late without naming names, and said nothing to the culprits.

 

[bluedragon2]

Can't wait for the sequel...

[Blue]Blue[/Blue] [Dragon]

If I wasn't Blue, I would just be a Dragon...

 

[Onyxpurr]

Good job Rhea!

I definately agree with you in apologizing for the problem. Although you didn't make the mistake, I personally believe that it's still everyone's responsibility within a team to ensure professional service which includes apologizing and fixing that broken relationship between customer and team.

However, I would bring up the item with your other two co-workers. Maybe they were working on a priority project or other problem? Just seeing another side of the story possibly. Also this gives everyone an opportunity not to point fingers, but to resolve a possible future issue. "Okay, if you guys are working on something and a customer calls in, what can we do to make sure they get the appropriate response?" Maybe a voice mail that states that someone may not possibly answer their call until 8. Maybe they can remotely check voice mail and just let that person know that they are working on a priority project and that another person will call them shortly after 8 a.m.

See this as an opportunity to catch a loophole that might happen in the future.

 

[Zelandakh]

Sounds an all too regular problem.

I am that 8am guy. Unfortunately, the "7.30 guys" are supposed to be 9.30 guys, but are realistically 10am but take a good 30 minutes to get going. Consequently, I have to field all first and second line calls until they are ready. I have to do the admin, the chase ups and the documentation.

Oh, and I'm the supervisor. The only way to get around this type of problem is to change companies...