When Was the Last Time Your IT Staff Had a Vacation?

For many small to midsize businesses, the need for on-site servers and internal networks means that hiring full-time IT staff makes a lot of sense. IT is known for being a thriving and lucrative profession, and IT managers command a considerable salary. But this comes at a cost: IT workers don’t get a whole lot of time off.

 

What is a Managed Service Provider? Read all about it here.

 

If a server goes down, workstations malfunction, or something goes wrong with a critical software program, productivity grinds to a halt. For every minute, important IT systems are down, your business loses money. For that reason, IT workers are nearly always on call. They may usually work a typical 9 to 5, Monday to Friday shift, they still need to be available in case something goes wrong. It might seem like IT has a lot of downtime, but when things go wrong, it’s their job to frantically put out fires to keep your business running and minimize revenue loss.

When was the last time you gave your IT staff a vacation? Probably not recently. Even if you offer vacation days to your employees, they may not be inclined to use it. After all, you can’t afford a catastrophic server failure with no one around to fix it. And let’s face it: a vacation is hardly a vacation if you’re still tethered to your laptop.

Why Vacation Time Matters

Everyone needs a break now and then. Traditionally, vacations offer just that: an opportunity to “get away from it all” for a week or two, visiting interesting locations and seeing new things. As technology has progressed, it’s led to a new problem: even on vacation, your smartphone, email, laptop, and other devices mean that you technically could still be working. What fun is lounging on the beach if you’re answering work emails and calling into the office to take care of problems?

On the whole, North American workers take less time off work than ever before. Even in white collar occupations, paid time off has become increasingly rare, and workers often can’t afford to simply take time off. 41% of Americans do not even use the time off that their employer provides.

Sometimes it’s a matter of workplace culture. Sure, you could use some of those vacation days to visit your aging aunt. But no one else takes time off, and it would look lazy, or it wouldn’t feel fair to your coworkers. Whatever type of business you are, you don’t want to be that kind of workplace. It’s a recipe for burned-out workers, lowered productivity, and high turnover.

IT Vacation Support: Give Your Staff the Rest They Need

At Ingenio Technologies, we provide outsourced IT support in [local_1] for small to midsize businesses. One of the services we offer is IT vacation support. Our team of experienced IT consultants can provide you with 24/7 remote and on-site IT support, giving your in-house staff a much needed break. Your IT staff will come back refreshed, rejuvenated, and more productive than ever before. We all need some time off once and a while, and with our help, your IT staff can enjoy a real vacation.

 

5 Ways IT Support Companies Grow Your Business