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ASP Forum
After-Hours Equipment
"When techs work at home providing after-hours coverage, is it
customary for their company to provide a notebook computer and
Internet connection? My new boss wants me to use my own PC, but
it's often used by other family members. Any advice?"
—Fernando from Frisco
Fernando—
In my experience, this is SOP.
If you were working after hours for a car manufacturing plant,
you wouldn't supply the tires, would you? ;-) Some folks will
say, well, at the plant, you supply your coveralls, gloves,
etc., so this is no different.
We're not talking about the basics, but the necessities of doing
the job. A car plant provides the equipment required to do the
job. The plant supplies power for the tools and facilities, this
is what is required for the employees to be able to do their
jobs.
To provide after hours coverage against stated metrics, the
company must supply the computer and compensate for internet
connectivity, to the extent that the internet connection is
used.
Not providing these basics does not setup your staff or your
valued customers for success.
—Daniel Hinojosa
Sr. Manager, Customer Support
SourceForge®
dhinojosa@corp.sourceforge.com
510-687-7141
At Network Engines, we pay for the support engineer’s internet
connection and we give them a laptop.
—Tim Giebelhaus
Director, Customer Service
Network Engines, Inc.
timg@networkengines.com
781-332-1937
In some of my former companies we have done one or more of the
following:
- Provide a laptop computer — this usually rotates
with a cell phone and/or pager to whomever is on call for that
period;
- Pick up some amount of internet (cable/DSL) charges —
usually limited to a cap amount;
- Pick up some amount of mobile phone charges — usually
limited to a cap amount — and only if we have not provided
a company-owned rotating cell phone as per my original bullet.
I have not seen provision of a dedicated notebook for on-call
personnel. Usually when this is the case the laptop/notebook is
their primary device, and we do not provide a separate desk/office
system. So the laptop is their main work device in the office and
while on call. And I’d advise you against family use — it is
a corporate asset which can be recalled at any time, so you don’t
want personal stuff on it which you will either miss (i.e. family
pictures, school papers, etc.) or get in trouble for (inappropriate
pictures, etc.).
Note that I work in the “Silicon Valley”, so the assumption that
most everybody has a personal computer and decent internet access
at home is a common one.
—Miles Goldstein
BlueRoads
miles.goldstein@blueroads.com
In the days of the dot com boom, companies had more money and
the economic attitude was one of wealth and abundance. Technical
support teams got their own laptops, pagers, and cell phones all
funded by the company. Companies paid for internet access, and
adopted PC re-imbursement programs to help their employees buy
computers. After the crash of the doc com market, software regards
to equipment and internet access. I’ve seen companies offer a
loaner laptop that everyone shares, and give their technical
support engineers a pager and a cell phone that is only used for
the after hours support. I’ve also seen companies insist that
anyone who is on the after hours roster have a laptop as their
primary machine and then they always have a machine to provide
after hours support. Most companies use some kind of Knowledge
and ticketing system that are accessible through a browser so no
custom software is needed.
I have a desktop at home that is used by family members. And when
I’m on after hours duty, they know that I have priority on the
machine. If a call comes in, they drop whatever they’re doing and
get off the machine, because I’m working on emergency support.
It’s not a permanent state, and my job depends on how fast I
respond to a support call.
—Heather St.Peter
StreamBase Systems
heather@streambase.com
[If you have any other advice on this question, please send an email to
membership director Jane Farber at jfarber@asponline.com, and
we'll post your feedback.]
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