One IT person for how many buildings/people?

[KuariKaydrith]

I'm still a security site coordinator, thank goodness, and I handle most of my own IT requirements other than what is needed from the client's end. Thank goodness too, because I found out that the client is going down to one IT person to be shared between four sites with well over at least a thousand people. Nor are all the sites close to each other so it will be difficult for the IT needs of that many people to kept on top of.

I was talking to one of the folks here who is growing frustrated with the lack of progress on a computer issue that popped up yesterday. She explained to me what had happened and what the IT person had done so far, and when I told her what I'd be doing in his shoes she mentioned that the IT person was moving his office to a more central location next week due to him being the only IT person for all four of the sites! I just about shit myself.

At my old call center job with a lot less employees they had two IT people. Yet here is this huge telecommunications company cutting their IT support down to the absolutely minimum. I suppose it's probably a miracle that they haven't decided to outsource it. Yet.

I'm halfway tempted to tell the IT person to just leave me with an external drive with the company image on it so I can do at least that much. Oh, and the admin passwords if I need to bypass anything. But even if I make the offer it likely won't happen.

There are going to be a lot of pissed off folks soon enough. I'm so glad it's not me they'll be pissed off with!

[Geek King]

I'm seeing this a lot recently. Usually as a result of someone who has no real concept of what IT actually does making the decisions. Once work gets backed up to a certain point, the IT person requesting vacation, or major upgrade project, they'll have to hire more help. Sadly, the new person/people will need time to get up to speed with the environment.

Its getting to be a real issue with folks in my industry, because if we're doing our jobs right, the people making the decisions just see us sitting at our desks. Never mind that I may be doing backups, researching new virus/malware attack vectors, planning upgrades for the next 5 years, or self training on new software (`. cause no one wants to pay for training either ) Certain people just see sitting at a desk as "not doing anything".

[dalesys]

The org chart only had one box for IT support. One box = one person.

Reminds me of Stan Kelly-Bootle's definition: (deconstructed from memory)

Pigeonhole: A cruel and sadistic method of data storage. Origin: A painful contraction of pigeon's hole. The amount of data stored is limited only by the courage of the pigeon.

[wolfie]

Is the company providing a car? After all, if one person has to cover multiple sites, they will be driving on the job (as opposed to just commuting), and will require commercial insurance. If they don't have it, and get into a crash, their insurance will NOT cover it (I'm sure the pizza drivers here can give the details). Also, they'll be putting a lot more miles on their car, so it's effectively a pay cut. I'd suggest dropping the guy a hint about the commercial insurance - his financial future is on the line.

This is standard boss thinking - cut the staffing levels below the bare bones in order to save on payroll, and when things fall apart blame the peons for failing to do the impossible.

[EricKei]

For mileage in this situation: Either the company can pay for gas/mileage at a preset rate, OR the IT guy can claim it on his taxes (55c/mi or so, it's supposed to cover gas, wear & tear, tires and other reasonable parts, etc)...but only if he Itemizes, instead of taking the standard deduction. Generally a pain in the ass, but if his yearly travel expenses are greater than the standard D ($3500??), it's worth the trouble. Not sure if they have to pay him his salary for travel time on top of that, but it's done for work, so they probably do.

[Keiara]

My former job had 5 people in the IT dept.: director, systems engineer, Help desk lead and 2 help desk people(included me) They laid me off to save on payroll. For what I hear they're paying for it now. Can't keep up with tickets...sucks to be them

[Jay 2K Winger]

We're having problems like this at The Client, though not due to layoffs, and more just due to people departing the ITSD, either for other contracts/resignation, or reassignment to a different support team.

It's especially aggravating to me, since we'll be about 20+ people deep in the morning, but by 3pm, we're down to 5-6, but the call volume doesn't diminish. Indeed, it tends to tick back upward in those last few hours of the business day after 3pm.

Management is aware there's an issue, though, and is trying to hire more people, so it's not quite like the OP or other situations ITT.

[Chromatix]

IT is seen as a "cost centre" by the beancounters. There is no direct profit attributable to them, and shortages of IT manpower tend not to have an immediate impact on business performance, since by definition the systems they oversee are largely automatic, requiring attention only when they go wrong. And with a well-run IT setup, even when things go wrong, it often isn't noticeable because there's a backup system which still works.

But what non-technical folks forget is that with an understaffed IT department, things are more likely to go wrong, be noticed when they go wrong, and take longer to fix once the tipping point of "business critical system is non-functional" is reached. *That* is why cutting IT payroll is often a risky move.

[KuariKaydrith]

I have visions of things going tits up in a bad way if the employees can't get their work done. What really doesn't help the situation is that the client is in a period of transition - a few years ago the telecommunications business was acquired by a much larger one, and now my sites are switching to the larger one's business model...which, quite frankly, sucks. Jobs are being lost, early retirements are being pushed, and spending is being cut. I keep waiting for them to decide that they don't need/want outside security at any of their sites, and then expect me to train up whoever replaces us. So far, though, it looks like they agree that keeping my company on to provide security is a needed expense, especially after a major fire at one of the other data centers in a different province that pretty much tanked the fibre op network for most of the island and several areas on the mainland a couple weeks ago. By having security onsite we have a better chance of raising the alarm much quicker and getting things under control before there is a major outage...all this after a massive fire cut all communication, internet, and cable on the island several years back.

But the IT is a huge thing that makes me shake my head. It's so frustrating when you have a deadline to meet but your computer is dead in the water, your boss is yelling at you for not doing any work even though it's not your fault, and the IT person is stretched so thin between different sites and other jobs sitting on his bench, and there's nothing anybody can do because the corporate bean counters don't seem to give a rat's arse that it's their decisions fucking everything up in the first place as they yell about things not getting done in a timely manner.

I've already got visions of the folks at my main site coming to me for troubleshooting assistance before they get a hold of our poor overworked IT guy. They know that I've got an IT background as I've already helped a few times for simple things - usually just writing troubleshooting steps out for them to try and getting the issue at hand fixed, or having them at my desk with their laptops as I direct them on where to go. Heck, I've even helped IT diagnose a couple of issues, much to their surprise.

But if they really want me to help IT I ain't doing it for free!

[dalesys]

... *That* is why cutting IT payroll is often a risky move.

As several British banks have repeatedly discovered over the last year or so.

[Chromatix]

Hold on a second.

They're a TELECOMMUNICATIONS company with a ONE MAN IT department?

[KuariKaydrith]

Yep. A major one too. We are sooooo screwed when this whole thing goes tits up.

[drunkenwildmage]

So, I'm curious of what the contingency plan is if the IT guy quits or 'gets hit by the beer truck'.

[Chromatix]

I really have no words. These days, you'd expect a *large* proportion of what a telecoms company does *is* IT. After a fashion.

[jgeeksys]

Seriously? If I were that IT person, I would jump ship as soon as possible. There is no way that is going to end well, and he'll end up being blamed.