Alternative for "manning" a station

"tend"; "tend to"; "tending"; “tending to”; "attend"; "attending to" ... the station/desk/store/shop/bar, etc.

tend verb:

1. Care for or look after; give one’s attention to: [with object] “Viola tended plants on the roof”; [no object] “for two or three months he tended to business”

1.1. US Direct or manage; work in. “I’ve been tending bar at the airport lounge”

1.2. archaic Wait on as an attendant or servant.

Oxford Dictionaries

tend v.tr.: 1. To have the care of; watch over; look after: tend a child. 2. To manage the activities and transactions of; run: tend bar; tend a store in the owner's absence.

Synonyms: tend (2), attend, mind, minister, watch: These verbs mean to have the care or supervision of something: tended her plants; attends the sick; minded the neighbor's children; ministered to flood victims; watched the house while the owners were away.

The Free Dictionary

tend to v.: To apply one's attention to something; attend to something: I must tend to my chores before I can go outside.

The Free Dictionary

tend (v.1) "to incline, to move in a certain direction," early 14c., from Old French tendre "stretch out, hold forth, hand over, offer" (11c.), from Latin tendere "to stretch, extend, make tense; aim, direct; direct oneself, hold a course" (see tenet).

tend (v.2) "attend to," c. 1200, a shortening of Middle English atenden (see attend).

etymonline

attend v.intr.

1. To be present, as at a scheduled event. 2. To take care; give attention: We'll attend to that problem later. 3. To apply or direct oneself; take action: attended to their business. 4. To pay attention: attended disinterestedly to the debate. 5. To remain ready to serve; wait.

The Free Dictionary

attend (v.) c. 1300, "to direct one's mind or energies," from Old French atendre (12c., Modern French attendre) "to expect, wait for, pay attention," and directly from Latin attendere "give heed to," literally "to stretch toward," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + tendere "stretch" (see tenet). The notion is of "stretching" one's mind toward something. Sense of "take care of, wait upon" is from early 14c. Meaning "to pay attention" is early 15c.; that of "to be in attendance" is mid-15c. Related: Attended; attending.

etymonline

man (v.) Old English mannian "to furnish (a fort, ship, etc.) with a company of men," from man (n.). Meaning "to take up a designated position on a ship" is first recorded 1690s. Meaning "behave like a man, act with courage" is from c. 1400. To man (something) out is from 1660s. Related: Manned; manning.

etymonline

The search for a non-gendered terminology is a worthy quest. Where suitable, gender neutral terms are available but under-employed, using them enhances their currency and furthers that quest. Like any other human endeavor, neutering gendered terms can be taken to extremes and become rather counter-productive (manhole=personhole; man-eater=person-eater), but that is not the case here.

"staffing" is pretty close to what you are asking.

Is anyone staffing the desk?

A note on the neutrality of "manning":

"Manning" is (or at least has been) gender-neutral. Only in recent history has "man" taken on a gendered connotation. Before, "wer" was a prefix that meant male (as used in "werewolf"), and "wif" meant female (which eventually led to the word "woman" from "wifman"). The use of "man" as gender-neutral appears today in the words "mankind," "human," and of course "manning." Therefore, "manning" is a suitable gender-neutral term.

However, if you still want an alternative, "tending" or even "working" would work. For example, "manning the help desk" vs. "tending the help desk" (though it sounds strange) or "manning the register" vs. "working the register."

Consider re-working the sentence to include the phrase on duty. For example:

Is there anyone on duty at the IT help desk today?

"Covering" is often used by my wife (a registered nurse) in exactly the way of "manning the help desk" in that it denotes responsibility without implying specific activity.

One issue this question raises is that of being more precise in thinking about who is doing what. "Manning the help desk" for instance often refers to a rotating role where a group of people share a responsibility in turn. This is somewhat different than what would have been meant by "manning the USS Enterprise". In that context "covering", "working", "attending" may all have an appropriate use.