Date Published January 4, 2017 - Last Updated December 6, 2017
The holidays can pose a challenge for support managers who need to have adequate staff available, but also need to accommodate vacation requests and holiday closures and time off. What are some of the ways to address the challenge?
Some may be fortunate enough to have some overseas staff to cover. Some face longer call times because of remote work. Some face the increased support demands created by planned and unplanned outages. Some creative solutions to the challenge:
- Ask for volunteers to work less desirable holiday shifts
- Have a team calendar and make dates “first come, first served”
- Engage staff throughout the year to develop the relationships you need
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Roy Atkinson is HDI's senior writer/analyst, acting as in-house subject matter expert and chief writer for SupportWorld articles and white papers. In addition to being a member of the HDI International Certification Standards Committee and the HDI Desktop Support Advisory Board, Roy is a popular speaker at HDI conferences and is well known to HDI local chapter audiences. His background is in both service desk and desktop support as well as small-business consulting. Roy is highly rated on social media, especially on the topics of IT service management and customer service. He is a cohost of the very popular #custserv (customer service) chat on Twitter, which celebrated its fifth anniversary on December 9, 2014. He holds a master’s certificate in advanced management strategy from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, and he is a certified HDI Support Center Manager. Follow him on Twitter @HDI_Analyst and @RoyAtkinson.