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It's great when HR has IT's back

· 4 min read

In a corporate world where the IT department is the unseen hero behind every printer jam and Wi‑Fi outage, a small but mighty problem surfaced: staff were literally barging into IT’s personal space. Picture this: an employee, mid‑report, decides your IT team is the best friend you’ll ever have and walks up to them in the break room, shouting, “Help! My computer’s acting up!” Meanwhile, the IT squad is knee‑deep in a critical update. Classic “human‑in‑the‑loop” chaos.

The Problem (aka “Why IT feels like a hostage situation”)​

  • Direct contact: Staff used Teams, email, or just plain “hand‑to‑hand” conversations to flag incidents.
  • Ticket‑training gap: When asked to log a ticket, the response was usually “How do I do that?” followed by a 10‑minute tutorial on what a ticket even is.
  • Skill mismatch: Half the time it was a classic “I’m not good with computers” case; the other half was a “I’ve never used this software” case, where IT had to improvise and occasionally just do the work for them.

In short, the IT desk was turning into a “human‑resources” service center.

The Solution (HR to the rescue!)​

Enter the HR department, the unsung saviors of workplace compliance. They partnered with IT to create a mandatory online course titled “Contacting IT”—think of it as the corporate version of a safety drill, only the safety equipment is a help desk ticket.

Key features:

  • All new hires must finish it before they can even touch a keyboard.
  • Existing employees get a six‑week grace period.
  • A test at the end ensures no one can claim ignorance of ticket‑logging.

Result? When an employee says, “I don’t know how to log a ticket,” the IT rep can politely reply, “You probably missed the training module—ask your manager to schedule a refresher.” HR’s compliance training becomes the ultimate IT support tool.

User Comments (because we love the chaos)​

“I hate those users. All day long they use some very specific software and then they create a ticket saying they can't print, and when you call them back for more information and ask them to show you exactly what they did, they suddenly don't know how their software works anymore. It's as if the telephone sucks their brains out and they suddenly become super stupid.”

“The number of times I've had someone ask me to troubleshoot software I don't even use that they're personally trained on but have forgotten their training for only to have them look at me like I have two heads when I have to experiment to figure out the solution.”

“Hi! The server is down. Can you fix it?
Me: the server, the server? Which server? File server? AD server? Mail server? VoIP server? Web server? Is it even our server, or is it something out of our control and on the Internet?!”

“Nah you know when they say server they mean the grey box (computer tower) attached to their computer (monitor)”

“90% of the time it means the internet is down…
5% of the time it means their email isn't working
The rest of the time who knows”

These snippets illustrate the human side of IT: the confusion, the miscommunication, and the occasional “Did you really just walk into my desk?” moment. Even with HR’s training, the chaos never entirely disappears—just becomes a bit more predictable.

TL;DR​

Corporate IT had staff barging into their personal space. HR stepped in with a mandatory “Contacting IT” course, making ticket‑logging a training requirement. The result? Fewer random “Hey, IT!” interruptions and more structured support, though the occasional server‑or‑internet confusion still persists.