paper -
67 Helping Student Workers Help: Empowering Employees
Court
Sansom, Texas A&M University
In the Help Desk environment at the Open Access Labs
(OALs) of Texas A & M University, student workers perform most of the
services provided. We have reached a
remarkable service performance level by enabling the student workers to execute
tasks from all of the Help Desk disciplines. Via staff web pages, student
workers can do everything from diagnosing complex problems to resetting user
account profiles. Student workers
utilize in-house problem tracking software, reset account management passwords,
and write articles for the online newsletter, the OAL Gazette. However, empowerment also reaches beyond the
service area.
This paper also outlines the methods through which student workers help manage facilities. For training, the Student Training Advisory Board and student instructors help employees' voices to be heard in the planning stages. The Student Leader and Student Representative systems ensure that students help control the future of the labs. All student workers can control their own schedule by using the online scheduling utilities. Turnover rates are kept low and performance levels are kept high by empowering student workers in all aspects of their jobs, from frontline Help Desk to behind-the-scenes management.
Keywords: student workers, empowerment, service, management, performance