How to Appraise the Manager of a Help Desk

Help desk managers lead a team that provides important organizational support.

A help desk manager oversees the front-line IT support office in organizations, managing a staff of support workers. The manager is responsible for a budget, for ensuring customer service levels are met and for seeking ways to improve efficiency and performance. Evaluating a person in this position requires you to consider feedback from users of the help desk and observe his work managing staff, in addition to checking metrics like turnover and length of calls.

Instructions

1. Evaluate feedback users have of the help desk. First and foremost, the help desk is there to serve as support and assistance for IT items for employees throughout the organization. If “customers” contact the help desk only to find their questions unanswered, the help desk person they talk to rude or that messages go unanswered, the help desk is doing a poor job.

2. Observe staff satisfaction. Any manager should be evaluated to some extent on how good he is at managing people and how happy the people under him are. This does not mean every work day should be a party, but that staff does their job in an environment that they find supportive and rewarding and that they feel central to the mission of the organization.

3. Calculate the budget performance. A help desk manager doesn’t necessarily have a huge budget, but has to manage labor costs and limit overtime, office supplies and software purchases. Managers are often responsible for the bottom line for their department, and even high performers will get into hot water if they finish the fiscal year in the red.

4. Listen to feedback to management. A help desk manager should be involved with high-level decisions in regards to IT support, software and the overall technology direction of the organization. If the manager gives good advice to management and shows he is thoughtful on these issues, it should be rewarded. If he seems disconnected, it should be mentioned in a review as an item of concern.

5. Examine his relationship with external vendors. The help desk manager should understand what products are on the market that could be beneficial to the organization and in which ones it would be best to invest. Part of this is keeping in touch with vendors, establishing relationships with them and having them in for demonstrations and sales pitches.

References

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Computer Network, Systems, and Database Administrators
• Helpdesksurvival.com: Help Desk Manager Job Description
• Education-portal.com; Help Desk Manager: Job Description, Duties and Requirements