The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on IT Support Staff

It’s tough working in IT support at the best of times and during the COVID-19 crisis, I think we can all agree that these are not the best of times. There was, and still is, so much to do in terms of enabling employees who have been forced to work at home – adding pressure to the service desk analyst role. Then, with lockdown affecting customer mobility and potentially income, there are also job security worries in organizations that are seeing their revenues slashed. It’s yet another factor that’s potentially negatively affecting IT support staff wellbeing.

To help with the wellbeing of your IT support staff, this blog looks at the various impacts of the COVID-19 crisis in terms of how to fix the negatives and how to maintain the positives. Think of these as the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Here @Joe_the_IT_Guy looks at the impact that the COVID-19 crisis has on IT support mental health and wellbeing, and more importantly what we can do about it. #COVID19 #mentalhealth #ITsupport Click To Tweet

The ugly – the toll on colleague health and wellbeing

2019 research carried out by SysAid found that – even in a pre-COVID-19 world – 84% of respondents think that working in IT will get harder over the next three years. Now add in the global pandemic and its impact and you have a mental health crisis in the making.

What to do about it

As an industry, I’d like to think that we’re definitely getting better at considering the potential for mental wellbeing and health issues. But there’s still more work to be done here. For example, the same SysAid survey found that 55% of respondents feel that working in IT has adversely affected their wellbeing.

@Joe_the_IT_Guy looks at the various impacts of the COVID-19 crisis in terms of how to fix the negatives and how to maintain the positives. #COVID19 #ITSM Click To Tweet

We collectively need to do better. So, here are some ways for better supporting colleagues who are struggling (or showing signs of struggling) with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis:

• Create a “safe space” for employees. Make sure that people know they have a safe space to vent, talk about the stresses of IT support, and how tough the current situation is for them.
• Talk about what’s happening. It’s easier said than done I know. I don’t think talking about mental wellbeing and health comes easily to many of us, but think of it like this: How many of your colleagues are putting on a brave face when actually all they want to do is hide from the world? Sometimes things can only get fixed by talking about them and mental wellbeing and health is too important to not talk about. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to start a conversation so just say something. Anything. Even if it’s just checking in with a colleague and acknowledging how weird the situation is at the moment. It’s a start and the most important thing is to really connect with people.
• Really listen. So many people worry about saying the wrong thing, especially when dealing with mental wellbeing and health, but the reality is that sometimes what the person actually needs is someone to listen and be supportive.
• Consider a buddy system. It sounds cheesy I know but please hear me out. So many people are trying to put a positive spin on things at the moment, but I don’t think that there’s a single person who’s not worrying or struggling in some way. So, set up a system where each person has a peer they can talk to if it all gets too much.

A good read... @Joe_the_IT_Guy shares some ways for better supporting colleagues who are struggling (or showing signs of struggling) with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. #COVID19 #mentalhealth Click To Tweet

The bad – just about everything seems more of a problem right now

Things that were mere annoyances or minor challenges before the COVID-19 crisis hit are now turning into potential showstoppers. At a business level, there’s technical debt, single points of failure, not enough knowledge sharing, and lack of continuity planning have made providing IT support harder than ever. Then, for us as individuals, the more we’re overworked, stressed, and tired, the harder it is for us to deal with issues. The human brain finds it harder to process things that were once simple to do so.

What to do about it

In the words of the first ITIL 4 guiding principle: Start where you are. Just do something, anything, to improve working conditions for your IT support team and the employee experience for your business colleagues. Here are some ways for alleviating the pressure from the business-level issues affecting IT support:

• Technical debt. We need to make it as easy as possible for IT to support their colleagues because it’s stressful enough trying to keep “the show on the road” without battling outdated tech as well. Something relatively easy to do is to keep your known error database (KEDB) stocked with workarounds and long-term resolution plans. If you don’t have one already, a KEDB doesn’t have to be fancy. If you don’t have an IT service management (ITSM) tool with the capability, then a spreadsheet can be used.
• Knowledge sharing. There’s nothing more frustrating to a service desk analyst than having to escalate to the next level of support when they could fix an issue themself with the right system access and some basic training. So, ask the most experienced technicians to make their knowledge available to second and first-line analysts. Upskilling them and helping them to tackle more challenging issues. By sharing knowledge freely across teams, you open them up to resolving more issues, increasing resolution rates, and reducing the time the affected employee is unable to work.
• Continuity planning. How many of us were caught out by the current crisis and found that their IT continuity plans weren’t as good as they should have been? I’d bet that it’s pretty much all of us. It doesn’t matter how hard you’ve worked on your contingency plan, it’s impossible to plan for every possible scenario, we can only do our best with what we have available to us. But we can make it better. Service continuity is an ITSM capability that sadly doesn’t get the visibility or love of the more operational ITSM practices/processes like incident, problem, or change management. One of the reasons is that it’s difficult to plan for unknown quantities. But this right now is a known quantity. So, use this as an opportunity to do “future-you” and your colleagues a favor. If you don’t have a continuity plan, document everything you’ve done so far in response to the COVID-19 crisis. It doesn’t have to be perfect – even bullet points will work and can be expanded on later. But take some time to capture what you’ve done already and ta-dah! You have the makings of a continuity plan.

Here @Joe_the_IT_Guy shares some ideas on how to alleviate the pressure from the business-level issues affecting IT support amidst COVID-19. #COVID19 #ITSM Click To Tweet

The good – the increased flexibility and teamwork

Now that the world and its dog are socially distancing, perhaps even locked down, there’s been a massive uptake in employees working from home (and for IT support staff too). Working from home has many benefits for employees, such as the ability to focus, a better work-life balance, and no stressful commute.

Another positive to come from the current situation is the increased teamwork and people looking out for each other. Everyone pulling in the same direction, and little acts of kindness, seems to be everywhere at the moment.

What to do about it

Please keep going! While the world is a worse place right now, it’s also a better place. Here are some ways in which you can keep up the momentum:

• Team meetings. Have regular check-ins with your colleagues to make sure that everyone is as well as they can be and that no one is alone and struggling. In these times of remote working, it can initially be strange having meetings over Zoom or Microsoft Teams. You can encourage participation by introducing fun elements such as challenges or quizzes. I’ve seen virtual pub quiz type sessions, “honorary colleagues from your household” competitions (usually won by a small fluffy animal or a child that’s gone rogue), or simply have some fun with backgrounds.
• Continual improvement. It’s probably not the easiest time to initiate a full-scale service improvement program so work smarter, not harder, to deliver marginal gains. Look for small blocks of work that are quick and easy to do but will make life easier for your IT support team and improve the employee experience. For example, templating the most frequently occurring incident and request types so they’re easier to log, introducing standard changes for low risk and well-practiced changes, and expanding your knowledge base to include “hacks” for remote working.

It’s probably not the easiest time to initiate a full-scale service improvement program so work smarter, not harder, to deliver marginal gains – @Joe_the_IT_Guy #servicedesk #COVID19 Click To Tweet

You might have noticed other good things to have come out of the COVID-19 crisis. For example, better collaboration with incident handling using newly-introduced technology solutions. Or perhaps the coaching of newer staff by those who are more seasoned. It doesn’t matter what these unexpected improvements are, it’s important to capture them and to build on them going forward. After all, it would be a shame to lose the good that has come out of the pressure of providing IT support during this time of crisis.

How is COVID-19 affecting your IT support team? Have you found some innovative ways of upping morale? Please let me know in the comments.