You have to keep in mind that not all helpdesk people know the root password on the machines they maintain. For example, where I work, a lot of what we do is done through sudo and we don't even need to know the root password on the machines... however if sudo is not enabled for changing a users password, you will need to know teh root password on that machine, and if it s not yours, tehre is time involved with contacting the owner of that machine and having them change the password.
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You have to keep in mind that not all helpdesk people know the root password on the machines they maintain. For example, where I work, a lot of what we do is done through sudo and we don't even need to know the root password on the machines... however if sudo is not enabled for changing a users password, you will need to know teh root password on that machine, and if it s not yours, tehre is time involved with contacting the owner of that machine and having them change the password.