How to stop my employees from playing games during work?

[etalns]

PoopaSkoopa, all our calls are recorded and reviewed regularly.

 

[erikistired]

at my old the job the boss used to be the one who really liked playing games (quake and red alert) and so after work each day we'd have an hour long kill fest. but that only happened if all the work got done, so we worked during the day looking forward to fragging the boss at the end of the day. you might want to reward them by letting them have a lanfest maybe once a week or something, HL or whatever using the network for multiplayer. otherwise you should be able to cut them off with a good firewall if they are playing outside the company lan.

~erik

 

[etalns]

We're not able to do that becuase we have 6 computers to start off teh tech center. At all times there will be atleast 4 workers. Sometimes during high traffic times, we'll have 6. But once the first groups shift is over, the second shift is ready to roll and will need to use those computers.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Qosis
We're not able to do that becuase we have 6 computers to start off teh tech center. At all times there will be atleast 4 workers. Sometimes during high traffic times, we'll have 6. But once the first groups shift is over, the second shift is ready to roll and will need to use those computers.

Stagger your shifts so you don't have an entire group coming/going at once.

You will need to maintain people on the phones to handle the incoming calls.

Also, morale is a lot better when people have their own workspaces. Hot cubing sucks.

Viper GTS

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Step 1: Get a good helpdesk program with good reporting statistics.
Step 2: Log what the mean number of calls closed per day for the employees is.
Step 3: Use this mean to establish a minimum daily call count. If employees fall consistently below this you know something is up.
Step 4: Set the rule "When there is work to do you better be working."

There's no real reason to say you can't play games in jobs like this. I work phone tech support for a company and I know if I didn't have the forums at minimum I would kill myself. Everybody here plays shockwave type games, and some even have laptops they do stuff on. Some play soldier of fortune on them from time to time, some do program, some read... but NOBODY is working 100% of the time because with tech support jobs there simply isn't work 100% of the time (at least for non-enterprise companies). If you monitor how many calls they close vs. how many come in, and discipline based on that, I don't think you'll have a problem.

And finally... where are you located and will you hire me? $19/hr sounds good to me!

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Originally posted by: Qosis
Well, at the end of every week we take a look at who's answered the most calls and they get one day off the next week paid. So we hope that's a measure that will make them work a little harder, for call tracking we have that all setup. Although we wont be checking time, as differnet problems require more/less time.

:Q OK, now I really want to work for you!

EDIT: Less so now, hot cubing is evil. People need personal space. I don't want my coworkers googling at pictures of my girlfriend.

 

[Red Dawn]

Man why do they need systems like that just to do Tech Support. A P3 1000 with an i810 or i815 Mobo with integrated video should be more than enough.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: GoodRevrnd

Originally posted by: Qosis
Well, at the end of every week we take a look at who's answered the most calls and they get one day off the next week paid. So we hope that's a measure that will make them work a little harder, for call tracking we have that all setup. Although we wont be checking time, as differnet problems require more/less time.

:Q OK, now I really want to work for you!

EDIT: Less so now, hot cubing is evil. People need personal space. I don't want my coworkers googling at pictures of my girlfriend.

That $19 is canadian as well. So it's like 12 US.

And I completely agree on the 100% work time, in tech support if you're in available you're doing your job. If I didn't have the forums I would go crazy.

You'll also learn all the little tricks techs play to avoid calls. Rolling themselves to the bottom of the queue, sitting on outside lines without dialing anything, etc. Good tracking systems allow you to check all this - You can literally walk through their day keystroke by keystroke on their phones.

Viper GTS

 

[etalns]

Man why do they need systems like that just to do Tech Support. A P3 1000 with an i810 or i815 Mobo with integrated video should be more than enough.

RD, it's due to the programs that I have my CS reps usign on their comps, it's used to log alot of statistics on users and helps compile troubleshooting reads, and our program takes up a ton of memory and computing speed.

 

[Jerboy]

Have the management go around once in a while with a camera. Do the patrolling randomly, but not very often. Get them in picture and send whoever's caught with game a formal letter that next time they're caught off-task, they'll be fired.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Jerboy
Have the management go around once in a while with a camera. Do the patrolling randomly, but not very often. Get them in picture and send whoever's caught with game a formal letter that next time they're caught off-task, they'll be fired.

The thing is that in tech support you can be completely "on task" playing a game.

If I'm sitting in available, I'm doing my job.

If what I'm doing while available interferes with me when the phone rings, though, then it's a problem.

The phone only rings three times, though, so if I don't catch it by then it gets sent to someone else - And gets logged as a rolled call.

Viper GTS

 

[gunf1ghter]

you need a call management system that will track all of the stats for their work, including number of calls taken, average hold time, etc, etc, etc. If you really want to see what is going on with all aspects of the business (emails, faxes, phone calls, etc) then you need some sort of CRM (customer relationship management) solution. All this stuff costs money, but saves money when you reward the workers doing the job and get rid of the ones that don't.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

We use PII's with 128mb or ram and 3 different programs with memory leaks. :| It's quite nerv-racking, but GF3's definitely aren't necessary. Bring them to the FS/FT forum.

That $19 is canadian as well. So it's like 12 US.

Doh!

 

[Shelly21]

just install PC-DUO or Net-OP on those PCs so that the management can remote in at anytime to see what's on their screen.

 

[Noirish]

(2.0 GHZ P4's, 60 gig HD's, 512 mb of ram (needed for all the CS progs they run sim. and geforce 3 ti 200's).

that is ridiculous spec for tech support.
i don't know what type of industries you are in, but that's overkilled.
i'm a programmer and this is what i had to work with:

866mhz
30gb
512mb (at least this is identical)
onboard vga with 8mb ram.
onboard nameless sound card.

gaming should never occur during work time.
if it's after work, i guess it's okay.

 

[Stiler]

Here , took me a while to find this, hope it helps you - click

 

[CrazyDe1]

What company do you work for? What do you guys do? Do you run this company? Seems like you have a lot of money to throw around if you're spending that much on computers for tech support and payin 19 bucks an hour for tech support. Most people I know doin tech support barely make 14...

 

[OutHouse]

have you ever been part of a call center environment?

I support a call center with about 200 users. no offense to the people who work them now but its is comparable to a sweat shop.

you can expect a high turn over rate. lots of personel problems.

Its much harder to keep a call center running with qualified people than it appears.

to make them stop playing games just do what the other people have suggested and just put them on a proxy or make a list of rules in your firewall.

just my 2 cents.

 

[Kadarin]

What kind of tech support is this? Since these guys are only being paid around $19 per hour, I'm going to assume we're not talking enterprise/isp-level multiple router lab setups using BGP, OSPF, 802.1q, blah blah blah...? This makes a difference because of the difference in quality/maturity of the personnel you're hiring.

Employee performance must be based on more than simple call volume and % resolution/customer satisfaction. Every call is different; they can range from "how do i.." to "help! My network is down!" It would be easy for someone to pad their caseload with easy calls.

You don't specify what relationship you have with your employees; are you their direct supervisor, or are you higher up the food chain with no direct contact with members of the department? Their supervisor needs to be in constant communication with them, going over workload, problems, solutions, training, expectations, performance. Employees who do not perform can be weeded out, and if it's understood that certain forms of game playing are forbidden, employees who violate this rule can be dropped.

 

[etalns]

It's $12 USD btw

19 CDN

The reason we need those high speed comps is due to the fact that with the CS programs we run, it takes up alot of memory. We have our own sort of remote assistance program made, it works alot better for us then Microsofts remote assistance does, but it takes up a TON of memory for the admin.

Also, I do not own the company, I handle most HR related issues. But I was one of the founders of the company.

 

[OutHouse]

we can tell you dont have any experience with call centers. my advice to you is to hire a consultant and iron out the detail with you.

 

[gunf1ghter]

Well, it depends on the type of call center as far as the high turnover, low pay, sweat shop environment thing. We support everything from low end basic "key" phone systems to multi million dollar digital PBX running IP/ATM backbone and seperate UNIX/Linux based servers for voice mail, CRM, etc.... many of the lower end positions are unionized so even those pay pretty well. It is tough work though for people who constantly have to be busy and their metrics have to demonstrate that.

 

[AdamK47]

One program that I've used that works really well is Remotely Possible. Theres a newer version under a different name called Control IT. It's used to monitor and control desktops and servers even in a low bandwidth environment. When I used Remotely Possible, it allowed multiple desktops to be displayed at one time. All in (as close as possible) real time. If you don't like what a tech is doing you can just take over his mouse and keyboard. Thats always fun. Here's a link.

 

[etalns]

Adam, thanks a ton!. That is exactly the sort of program I was looking for.

Really appreciate it bud

 

[toant103]

take pts away. hehehehe.