Help Desk Staffs ‘Get No Respect’

We all know them and depend on them, but like Rodney Dangerfield, the folks who work on the computer support help desks “don’t get no respect.

That’s according to a recent article in InformationWeek, which said that IT support managers earn, on average, $26,000 less annually than other IT managers. In addition to experiencing pay disparity, help desk workers regularly deal with agitated employees.

Human resources experts interviewed separately acknowledged that this is a problem that needs solving. Companies cannot afford to alienate help desk staffs, as they know the inner workings of information systems better than anyone.

Salary advances and a growing awareness of the importance of the help desk to a business’ bottom line are helping to make the job a bit more palatable, HR experts say. But until more is done, the help desk will remain a way-station job that people will hold only as long as it takes to land a better, less stressful assignment.