What IT pros (secretly) think of your helpdesk requests 

Let’s be real: IT pros have seen it all. From forgotten passwords to full-blown existential crises hidden in support tickets, there’s no limit to the creative chaos landing in their queue. 

In Atera’s latest Census-wide survey, we asked 1,000 consumers and 1,000 IT professionals what really happens behind the helpdesk curtain—and the results are as eye-opening as they are hilarious. Spoiler alert: 63% admitted to judging your IT tickets as embarrassing, and 57% of those say they’ve shared the worst ones with coworkers for laughs. Yes, your “Why won’t my monitor turn on?” ticket might have made it to the group chat. 

But it’s not just comedy, it’s chaos. Nearly 60% of IT pros say more than a third of the tickets they receive are annoying and unnecessary. And 85% believe a four-day workweek would be possible… if we could just stop resetting our own passwords. 

On the flip side, 74% of enterprise employees say they do submit tickets, though a surprising 45% of those who don’t are using AI tools like ChatGPT to work around IT entirely. 

So, what’s the takeaway? Maybe it’s time we meet in the middle—smarter automation, fewer tickets, and a little more empathy all around. 

A cultural divide: IT vs. everyone else

What we’re seeing isn’t just a pileup of quirky tickets—it’s a cultural clash between how employees think IT works, and what IT pros are actually dealing with day to day. While IT is over here battling security protocols, compliance requirements, and system upgrades, users are busy asking if their laptop “can catch a virus from Instagram.” (No. Still no.)

And when nearly 60% of IT pros say sales and marketing teams are the worst offenders for questionable tickets, you start to understand why “Did you try turning it off and on again?” is both a solution and a lifestyle.

The AI workaround era has arrived

Perhaps most telling is the quiet rise of the AI workaround. Nearly half of the employees who don’t contact IT are turning to tools like ChatGPT instead. Whether it’s generating a script to troubleshoot an issue or asking how to reset a router, these tech-savvy users are sidestepping IT altogether.

For IT teams, this is a double-edged sword. On one hand, fewer tickets might sound like a dream. On the other? Shadow IT creates security risks and further distances users from standardized solutions.

Trust, control, and AI agents

Even when employees do engage with IT, trust issues can linger. One in four workers still isn’t comfortable with remote access to their laptop, with many citing personal content or time constraints as the main concerns. That hesitancy speaks to a larger trust gap between departments, and one that AI might help bridge.

In fact, over half of employees said they’d be more likely to submit a ticket if they could work with an AI agent instead of a technician! Good thing we have those…

Check out the full breakdown of the results and get ready to rethink your next helpdesk ping. (Yes, even the one about your mouse “acting weird.”) 

Quick stats from the survey: 

IT Professionals survey 

• 99% of IT professionals agree that the IT industry keeps pace with current trends  
• 63% admitted they’ve judged an IT ticket from another employee as embarrassing; 42% admitted to doing so more than once 
• Among those who have judged tickets as embarrassing, 57% admitted they forwarded dumb or embarrassing tickets to their team for laughs in the past year 
• 57% became aware of an HR violation because of an IT ticket in the past year 
• 59% of IT professionals say that 35% or more of the IT tickets they receive can be categorized as annoying and unnecessary 
• 85% believe a four-day workweek for IT professionals would be possible without Tier 1 tickets (e.g., password resets and computer reboots) 
• When asked to select up to three departments, IT professionals ranked social media (42%), sales (38%), and marketing (36%) as the worst offenders for dumb ticket requests 
• 45% of IT professionals would rather spend 30 minutes watching paint dry than be on the phone with a coworker about a password reset 

Enterprise worker survey 

• 74% said they submitted IT tickets in the past year; 26% said they did not 
• Of those who did not submit tickets, 34% cited having their own, more efficient workaround; 24% said they lacked the time and needed the problem solved sooner than IT could respond; and 17% cited a lack of trust in IT to solve the challenge 
• Among those with their own workaround, 45% said it involves using a third-party AI platform (like ChatGPT) 
• 75% said they feel comfortable having IT remotely take over their laptop; 25% said they do not or were unsure 
• Of those not comfortable with remote access, 53% cited concerns about IT seeing non-work-related content, and 30% cited concerns over the time required 
• 59% described their IT departments as efficient, 51% as organized, and 37% as kind 
• 51% said that being able to work with an AI agent instead of an IT technician would make them more likely to submit a ticket 
• 40% said their IT department lacks availability, 32% said it lacks efficiency, 29% said it lacks knowledge, and 20% said it lacks empathy