Technicians in the IT department at Hewitt Associates LLC, in Lincolnshire, Ill., often heard grumbling about sluggish network response times. But when they checked the monthly averages, they couldn't see what the griping was about.
Agents for the human resources management firm typically were able to pull up the records they needed in just a few seconds.
However, when the firm began cross-training its employees and IT workers looked over the shoulders of users in the benefits administration department, they realized that a single day of slowed network response time was a significant impediment, even if it didn't skew the monthly average.
'We realized that even though the average for the month might have been stellar, they lost a whole day of productivity,' says Dan Rubin, group IT manager. 'Cross-training makes you a much better, more attentive network manager.'
Hewitt is one of a growing number of companies that routinely moves technical employees from one division into another for a few days or weeks. On any given day at firms where cross-training occurs, sales staff might be managing the help desk and network managers might be sitting in with end users.
Administrators say the benefits include improved network management, stronger employee relationships and more effective problem solving. There also is a significant boost in morale that comes from giving employees a respite from their narrowly focused roles.
Though it's not always the goal of the programs, managers also cite a greater ability to move employees among different departments as work ebbs and flows.
For example, employees in Progress Software Corp.'s corporate engineering support division, a sales arm of the Bedford, Mass.-based firm, need to know enough about the company's relational database products and development tools to be able to explain them to prospective customers. But unlike their colleagues in many rival firms, they also need to answer more complex questions from existing customers. That's because the employees are expected to work in the technical support center at Progress for up to several weeks per year as a way of gaining a broader perspective on the company and their roles within it.
'Companywide this is a good thing,' says Jennifer Stiller, HR manager for Progress. 'It makes for employees with a better appreciation for one another and the stresses and strains of what their peers are going through. And it certainly provides them with a greater breadth of technical knowledge.'
At Progress, technical support workers who dip into corporate engineering support gain an appreciation for what customers want from the vendor's products. Meanwhile, trainers are given the opportunity to go on the road several weeks per year, switching places with Progress' team of consultants.
At Hewitt, IT employees routinely sit in with workers in the Total Benefits Administration unit, the division that handles the administration of fringe benefits such as health care and 401K plans for thousands of companies throughout the world.
When John Kristoff, a technician in Hewitt's network group, dipped into the benefits unit recently, he was able to give a new workgroup administrator a personal seminar on LAN technology, PC hardware, PC software and support techniques. The woman's responsibilities included maintaining identifications and user attributes on a LAN that supported up to 80 people. He gave her tips on defining access rights and deleting lists of queued print jobs, and helped her gain a basic understanding of how a
network functions.
'Instead of muddling through solutions based on trial and error and wasting precious time, she felt comfortable coming to someone nearby that could answer most any question she had,' Kristoff says.Rubin points to another benefit of the program for his staffers. 'Getting a chance to see how putting in that router improves throughput and seeing for themselves when our people are able to get to information more quickly gives them a real sense of pride. They can really see how they are helping move the organization ahead,' he says.
Cross-training has been a staple of life at HealthShare Technology, Inc., in Acton, Mass., says Eric Meyers, HealthShare's vice president of marketing. HealthShare builds software and related databases designed to help hospitals and health care organizations make rational economic decisions.
However, managers at firms where cross-training is used extensively say the practice has a few potential pitfalls. 'When you are working outside your function, there can be some things you need the expert for,' Meyers says. 'You have to make sure you are recruiting people who are smart enough to know when they are in over their heads.'
Stiller agrees that cross-training needs to be used judiciously, but says it is worth the effort.
'What you gain far exceeds what you might lose.
I believe better-trained, happier, less-stressed employees certainly affect the bottom line,' she says.
Duffy is a freelance writer in Somerville, Mass. He can be reached at tduffy62@compuserve.com.
