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Story URL: http://management.silicon.com/itdirector/0,39024673,39169155,00.htm

Branch staff not feeling the IT love
HQ staff get all the tech breaks...

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Wednesday 14 November 2007

Two-thirds of branch office employees feel they do not receive the same IT resources and support as staff based in headquarters.

And 64 per cent of branch staff feel IT departments prioritise the needs of head office employees over their own, research reveals.

Some of the main bugbears of branch office staff include 56 per cent of respondents complaining about slow applications, 42 per cent grumbling about the time taken for the IT department to fix system problems and 30 per cent claiming apps fail to work, according to a survey of 400 UK workers.

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And it seems these complaints are pretty valid. The research, commissioned by Citrix, reveals branch office staff don't get the same level of attention as HQ workers as only a third of branch employees have local tech support personnel, compared to 70 per cent at headquarters.

Three-fifths of HQ workers can also work remotely, with only 42 per cent of branch office employees able to access corporate applications from home or while on the road.

The largest divide between HQ and branch office sites is access to senior management - cited as an available asset to 84 per cent of HQ staff, compared to just 36 per cent of branch office workers.

Richard Jackson, area vice-president of UK, Ireland and South Africa at Citrix, said companies are failing to evaluate exactly what a branch office needs and without a tailored strategy branch-office performance will inevitably suffer.

But branch office staff did report a better office environment compared with their HQ counterparts: 60 per cent said the office surroundings are pleasant, as apposed to 48 per cent of head office staff.