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Helen describes the job as having many periods of inactivity and often watches movies on the job. Whenever a guest arrives she looks their name up on a computer system to see if the guest is welcomed into the dorm. Helen pointed out that often times people forget to update their guest list which requires the guest to call the person he/she is visiting. Whenever she logs packages she simply uses a scanner and the data is entered into a system. The system details the carrier, recipient, desk worker who logged the package, and the closet it is placed in. Whenever a resident comes to check out a key, movie, or equipment she simply finds their name in an online system and marks the item as checked out.
As she discussed her daily duties I identified a few challenges with the system. I asked her how many shifts she works and when she works them and she told me that the desk captain asks for three data points: how many yours hours you want to work, when you want to work, and the maximum hours you are willing to work. When the desk captain schedules the shifts she manually schedules the slots and also takes into consideration seniority and people who are willing to work desk in the middle of the day. Helen is a good friend of the desk worker captain and told me she believes it takes significant time and effort to schedule shifts at the beginning of each semester and could be significantly improved.
Helen often has unexpected circumstances that requires require her to skip a shift and she is unhappy with the system. The current system requires her to e-mail out to all desk captains to request someone to take her shift. She states that many times people are more than willing to take over her shift because shifts are paid. However, she believes that the system can be improved. As I was interviewing, I noticed a sticky note on the computer telling the desk captain that many people were confusing the name of a current resident with that of a previous resident. Helen informed me that the sticky notes are the main method of passing on details from one worker to the next.
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