IT Support help

There's a gap here.

Company hires people to WFH, but it seems hardware provision and network provision aren't catered meaning the employee provides their own. This is being abused.

Company needs to provide reliable connectivity and a machine with support infrastructure to stop this happening Shirley? If the employee lives in an area when the connectivity isn't available then alternative provisions must be made like working from an office?

If the company won't provide equipment and connectivity on grounds of cost then they are opening themselves up to abuse, and it seems this is happening.

I would implement some kind of metric that gives a benchmark of performance, highlights repeat offenders and ultimately provides a mechanism for getting rid of a guff speaking work slackers. i.e how many people helped vs time online etc.

Failing that, how are they paid? Flat rate? If so, change the pay structure to be more in line with time spent logged in. If they've got connectivity or hardware problems, I'd imagine they'd be a lot more motivated to get them fixed if they're not getting paid.
 
EGuitarStar said:
Find new staff to actually work from home! Problem sorted without having to reinvent the wheel!

If they constantly break their machines or don't know what they are doing then they clearly should not be working for a IT support company.
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From the sound of it these aren't IT workers at all and this isn't an IT company they're basically customer service reps.
 
skyripper said:
Its not an IT support company though. Its a company providing chatroom services. And workers who are home-based. On home-kit.
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Fair point. Regardless it's a model that's not working and open to abuse so a system or metric needs to be implemented to kerb people taking the proverbial.
 
skyripper said:
Its not an IT support company though. Its a company providing chatroom services. And workers who are home-based. On home-kit.
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Ahhh, thanks for clearing that up.

OP if in that case then change policy so that:

1. The users are paid by how long they are online.
2. They must have their own equipment, state this in the job description. I am sure any computer will suffice.
3. You must be able to prove that your VPN is working when a user reports it is down. This can be easily done by logs of others logging onto the VPN when 1 user says it is down.

I think the current system is open to too much abuse and staff knowing this are taking advantage of it.
 
At the end of the day if these potential customers are worth so much to the company then the higher ups need to be prepared to pump some cash into their infrastructure, expecting non IT literate users to just bumble along on their own probably ancient kit when all this cash is on the line is pretty daft.
 
So basically you're running a company which can potentially net £100k per customer and you're cheapskating on customer-facing support? Your management have their priorities a bit screwed imo.

- Provide your reps with a device and even a proper VPN router at home to work from. Heck you can run VPN and chat software from an Android tablet so it's not exactly a huge outlay. If you administer the hardware then you can prove if disconnects are a hardware or user issue.
- If you can really lose £100k business from a missing rep then you need more than one rep available in that area.
- You should have availability clauses in home-working contracts. Anyone taking the **** can and should be sacked following the required verbal and written warning periods.
 
Guys, you're repeating all the stuff I pass on to the management here all the time. :(

I've argued for dedicated equipment for home staff, proper IT training to a decent level for all staff (hosts (chat room staff) are expected to help members out, I can't even get them touch typing training despite the fact it will increase productivity.

I'm getting there with something things but the company is dedicated towards new markets, expanding into the USA etc. Things like this are tiny issues in the company but still things which need sorting and I do seem to be the one that gets lumbered with getting things sorted.

The initial thing management want is to track the technical issues that stop home hosts from doing their job, and using flow diagrams etc to figure out what the main issues are. We can then look at genuine cases and how to solve them, as well as the HR route for the fake cases.

Ball ache of a job, not actually part of my job but as I said, anything slightly technical and I get stuck with it :)

EDIT:

We're always hiring for lots of jobs and in lots of countries : http://www.gamesyscorporate.com/careers

But if you apply, email me and i'll pass CV over. If you pass probation I get £500 and we'll split it 50/50 :p
 
nope, if they aren't connected they don't get paid already, but they have contracted hours to work etc so when they are on shift, they are working.

As said, it's a glorified job that people make what they want to. You put the effort in, prep games, quizes, chat topics etc and you can do very well with bonuses etc. It does have potential for the right people, we've just got a few of the wrong people.
 
Could use GFI monitoring, it uses an agent that you can install on the remote machines and that agent then connects out to your gfi server that monitors all the machines. But you should put a logging system on to the software that they are using to do their job. If they are using some chat software to do their job, then you need to monitor that chat software for activity and use and calculate their work based on their activity.

Just monitoring the vpn or the internet connection of the remote machine might not prove that they are working.
 
I've not read the entire thread so i may have missed out on some details.
- The employees who WFH, is this a permanent arrangement, or a one-off weekly/fortnightly arrangement?
- Are employees given a laptop to use for work?


The way I see it, if employees are expected to use their own equipment, then that can open up for all kinds of faulty hardware issues. By providing them with the equipment, it will be much easier to track hardware issues.

Internet issues are a bit harder to log/fix. But i guess at the end of the day, if the employee doesn't have a suitable internet connection to WFH, then they shouldn't be WFH.

EDIT:

Just read the last few replies. Seems employees aren't given company equipment. As it stands the only option i see is for the employee to install some software that monitors the health of the hardware, and for the employee to upload these logs on a daily/weekly basis. Obviously this could be tricky considering it's up to the employee what they install on their computer - i can't see the company having any say-so over making this compulsory.
 
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