Help desk software solutions promise to improve service efficiency and lower staffing costs. While automation can play a critical long-term role in developing a cost effective service orientation, it does not help an IT manager looking to solve immediate staffing issues. Use these "tech-free" best practices to improve help desk staffing today.

The Big Leagues or the Minors?

Does your help desk advocate a strong service orientation with demanding service level agreements (SLAs), or is it a stepping stone into higher profile IT jobs?

If your organization is built around a customer service model, then chances are you have an advanced help desk with three tiers of support. You need to recruit top-flight staff, and compensate them accordingly. If your organization views help desk support as a "bottom rung" activity, recruits must display an aptitude to learn other areas of IT, such as networks and data management.

How your organization defines the help desk function will determine how you use the following help desk staffing best practices.

Best Practices

1. Determine a clear career path for your help desk analysts. What is the long-term career progression of a help desk analyst?
   • Successful employees are encouraged to progress through the three support tiers, and up to help desk management positions.
   • If your help desk is a "farm team," successful employees need to move into other IT areas quickly. For example, a help desk staff member can become a network technician, a network technician can become a network administrator, and a network administrator can become a network engineer.
2. Calculate support staff-to-end-user ratio. Establishing the proper ratio is essential for any organization. Use the Info-Tech Research Group's "Finding Your Help Desk Ratio" tool to determine the optimal support-staff-to-end-user ratio in your organization. Assume a starting ratio of 75 to 100 customers per analyst (75:1 to 100:1), then adjust the ratio to accommodate the list of factors included in the download. Unfortunately, determining staffing levels is not an exact science. There is no universal formula that will give an exact answer.
3. Assess the job market. To recruit and retain the best analysts in the market, you need to offer a competitive compensation package. Find out what the market is paying for analysts in the region where their services will be provided. In addition, find out what benefits are offered, and if other intangibles are offered. Note that for an advanced multi-level help desk, there is a wide range of compensation between Tier 1 and Tier 3 positions. Given the high demands placed on help desks, entry-level compensation packages should be higher than those offered to recruits working for a "farm team." Salary.com, salaryexpert.com, and salarysource.com can help provide this information.
4. Determine salary and benefits. The first table below lists the national base salary averages for junior and senior help desk positions. For more detailed data, including by geographic location, use salary.com's salary wizard. Meanwhile, the second table shows how total compensation is structured.
   
   

   Position	25th percentile	Median	75th percentile
   Jr. Help Desk	$31,844	$35,733	$40,053
   Sr. Help Desk	$43,312	$49,570	$57,269

   
   

   Benefit	Percent of total
   Base salary	70 percent
   Bonuses	1 percent
   Social Security	5 percent
   401k/403b	3 percent
   Disability	2 percent
   Healthcare	9 percent
   Pension	2 percent
   Time off	8 percent
   Total	100 percent

   
   
5. Know the "big league" skill set. When staffing a multi-level help desk with demanding SLAs, there are a number of things you should look for in potential candidates (in order of importance):
   
   • Previous help desk experience, with references, in the same industry, for a minimum of two years.
   • Completion of a customer service program from a business school or an accredited agency.
   • Certifications in customer service from Help Desk Institute (HDI).
   • Application-specific support experience.
   • Microsoft Certified Professional designation.
   • A+ certification.
     
6. Know the "minor league" skill set. If your help desk is a "farm team," finding the right mix of existing skills and an aptitude to learn new technology quickly is the key. If you deal with proprietary technology, finding recruits with exact skill set matches is unlikely. Although successful candidates will move off the help desk quickly, customer service aptitude is still an important consideration. You can teach customer service skills, but it is costly in terms of customer satisfaction and training costs.

Bottom Line

Properly staffing a help desk is about more than getting the staff-to-user ratio right. It is about defining a career path for help desk recruits and finding the right skill set.