Knowing how to manage your company’s resources is crucial. A significant part of managing resources is managing workloads for each team member.
Hire too many people and you’ll go over budget, don’t hire enough, and your employee engagement will burn out from being overworked. Dissatisfied employees lead to high turnover (yes, even in this economy, dissatisfied employees are quitting their jobs) and decreased productivity.
Capacity planning helps you properly staff your projects and efficiently manage your resources so that you aren’t overworking your employees but also aren’t under-utilizing them. Here are three ways to start:
KPI tracking is a valuable tool that allows companies to measure the productivity of their resources and identify areas for improvement. To truly understand what resources you have, you should look into how employee hours are being spent.
Metrics you could be tracking include:
How many employee hours are spent on tasks that could be automated? How much is turnover costing you? Hiring has a significant cost to it, so you want to make sure it’s necessary.
“Burnout” may not be an official medical diagnosis, but it affects an estimated 89% of employees. With that statistic you can assume it’s present in your organization as well.
The symptoms of burnout include fatigue, insomnia, and a lack of motivation. It affects an employee’s overall well-being and it affects your company. Burnout leads to decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, and a higher turnover rate.
What are some causes of employee burnout?
Knowing that these are the things that cause burnout, you should increase communication and prioritize capacity planning so that you can prevent burnout before it occurs—instead of trying to fix it after it’s too late.
One of the best ways to prevent burnout is to ensure that employees are engaged and motivated. Getting to know your team doesn’t just mean company parties or retreats. It’s knowing each team member's:
To get to know your team better, you should:
If you are already doing all those things, try changing your approach. Every team member is an individual. Some may be motivated by career advancements and challenging tasks while others might be looking for more work-life balance.
Why does it matter?
Happy employees mean less turnover and more productivity. Effective resource management is essential for businesses that want to remain competitive in today’s fast-paced economy. By tracking KPIs, prioritizing health and wellness, and fostering engagement, companies can prevent burnout and create a more productive work environment.
Forecast resource management tools help balance workloads, anticipate future demand, and optimize company resources. Companies that implement Forecast see a decrease in the amount of time employees spend on menial and repetitive tasks and onboarding. Plus, it looks at data from your projects to help you create customized plans based on the resources you have. Businesses that prioritize resource management will set themselves, and their employees, up for success and satisfaction.