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Justification for staff position

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by mostlyharmless42

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I am providing all IT support functions for a church on a contract basis. I feel that they are at a point where they need to hire someone on full time. Has anyone put together a justification for such a situation? Or do you have any recommendations?

Environment:
Currently there are three servers (email, app and domain controller).
There are 26 desktops and 4 laptops.
Full time staff - 18
Part time staff - 3
"Other" users ? varies, but minimum of 10
Server OS - Windows 2000 server
Desktop OS - Windows XP Pro

The technology needs are growing very rapidly. Three years ago there were no servers and the desktops were peer-to-peer Win 95 machines. I do not see a slow down in growth. They need to add another 4 desktops soon. (They have added at least 5 full time staff members within the last year.) I am working anywhere from 10-20 hours a week (aside from my full time job) just trying to keep my head above water (security patches, problem resolution, etc.: just the basics). They have no real tech savvy people on staff, so I get calls at work for even minor issues. I can also see a need/use for many more areas (phone system, app development, purchasing/product research, cable runs, etc.)

HELP...

7 replies

by cactus pete

Perhaps there is a 'temp agency' in your area that has a technology base to it. There, they could get a part time employee at a low wage, and not have to worry about the HR aspects. This person would be able to work during the day and could handle much of the work you're being troubled with. This would not necessarily put you out of a job, mind you, as you'd still likely be in charge of the larger project-based issues.

Or you could sub-contract to someone else.

by mostlyharmless42

dpetrak, I appreciate the feedback. That stills puts me in the same situation: justifying the additional cost. Once, I had suggested that they hire a college student to be on site, even for a few hours a week to help out, but they didn't go for that.

The main issue is that I need to produce some sort of ?business case? type justification to have any movement in this area.

by cactus pete

...unless they begin to use MORE time. And that's completely up to them.

Instead of calling you while you're at your 'real job', they would be contacting their on site lower level tech, who could handle most of the day to day needs. When something bigger happens, it would be given to you still, and you would have technical-speak background on the issue.

And you'd still handle the normal load you would have when working on the big projects.

One thing you might consider is having this individual sub-contract through you, while you take something off of the top of the rate to pay for your administrative costs of having this person work there, through you. [Not necessarily FOR you, but that's up to you and your accountant's recommendation.]

The potential added cost in additional hours would be a natural growth from having more work done, but it would be done in a much more timely manner for the client, too.

by timwalsh

In my mind, this is a contract issue. This part of the issue needs to be resolved before anything else.

Presumably you are on contract to provide a certain level of effort, or a certain number of hours per week. How specific IS your contract? What are the terms? What is the scope of the work required? Does it just state that you will provide IT support for a certain price with no specifics as to the type of work to be accomplished or the level of effort involved? How supportive is your present employer of you providing support to others on his dime? It sounds as if you your contract has never been updated to take into account the level of effort required. Have you tried to re-negotiate the contract based on increased scope of work?

Are you suggesting they hire someone to replace you, or only take some of the load off you while you still provide a reasonable level of effort?

If this is more of an informal contract, have you brought up the issue that their needs have grown beyond what you can reasonably handle?

by mostlyharmless42

I do have a VERY informal contract. I had been providing support on a volunteer basis for about three years when I finally got burned out. (I am a member of this church, so I was doing it just to help out.)

It was about a year ago when I stepped down and they hired a guy on a contract basis to provide support. Unfortunately, they got what they paid for: poor service, minimal tech skills; a bad attitude and no people skills. The staff begged to get me back and I reached an agreement involving monetary compensation. (75% of what I would normally charge for my time.)

As far as scope goes, I do all things "technical". I do all of the infrastructure, server and desktop support and maintenance; all adds/moves/changes; help desk functions; repair equipment; etc.

The end result is that I would like to educate them as to the value of the support that I am giving them, as well as the level of effort required, so that they will understand the need that exists for a full time position. I also see many areas beyond what I am currently doing that would keep this person more than busy for 40 plus hours a week.

Once they have an understanding of this, I would like to go back to having just one job instead of two. If they are willing to pay enough, I would be more than happy to fill the new position. If not, I will be content to keep my "day job". Either way, I lose the extra income, but at least I can get to know my family again.

by qcprincess

My company is in a similar situation. We NEED a full time computer person and our owners refuse. I am trying to put together a justification and am finding it difficult as well. Please let us know what you come up with! :)

We have a part-time person who will be moving along soon if we do not bring him up to full time. He ends up being "on call" during his off hours when questions come up that I (with my limited IT knowledge) cannot answer.

I feel like we are using him, just because he has been letting us.

by mostlyharmless42

It doesn't look like I will have much for you. I submitted a document that was made up of a cover letter (which discussed the current needs and the history of the computer systems), a description of the requirements for the position and a break down of roles/responsibilities that this position should have.

I ran this past one person who is highly involved with the church, and also had one of the staff member's assistants look it over before she passed it on to the appropriate staff member (her boss). Basically, it appears that all of the people who do the actual work at the church (staff and volunteer) strongly agree with the need, but the resource committee (the ones who control the money) already think that we spend too much on IT support.

It looks like things will just stay the same until I burn out (again) and quit helping them. The last time that happened I had been working for free (for three years) and couldn?t take it any more. That?s when they hired the guy who messed things up? Maybe that is what it will take for them to understand the true need they have.

PS: I fully understand the issue of being used because you can't say "no". Even though I have allowed myself to be used, it stills builds up after while and you just break.

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