Skeleton Staff Or Streamlined Super Team?
When Bare Bones Is Just What’s Needed
How do you balance over- and under staffing in a post-Covid-19 world?
The harsh reality of the Covid-19 pandemic was that many businesses had to drastically downsize their workforces.
The pandemic caused an estimated 2 million job losses in two years, and the impact of that can’t simply be ignored.
Nor can the fact that many businesses are coping well with their slimmed-down workforce at the moment.
Now for the tricky part: How do you find a balance between being over and understaffed?
Under staffing
Understaffed is defined as being shorthanded. This is when tasks that should be completed are left unfinished, not due to any fault on the side of the employees, but simply because there aren’t enough hands to do the work.
The Drawbacks Of Under staffing Include:
Increased workplace stress due to work remaining unfinished
Employee burnout and negativity
Low productivity
No capacity for growth and expansion
Higher employee turnover due to burnout
On the other hand, being overstaffed can be just as bad for business.
Over staffing
Overstaffed is defined as when you have redundancy of staff that does not lead to an increase in productivity.
The Drawbacks Of Over staffing Include:
High overhead costs
Lower levels of productivity as employees who have too much time on their hands can feel underutilized and become bored or disengaged
Having to lay off employees, causing a drop in employee morale
How Do I Find The Goldilocks Zone Of Staffing?
Have an open-door policy and communicate regularly with your existing employees, specifically look out for employee burnout or disengagement
Set out clear job descriptions and stipulate workplace responsibilities and performance expectations
Be conscientious about the hiring of new employees. Do not hire someone on impulse, out of guilt or simply because you think they can be a short-term solution to a deeper, underlying problem
Employ smart solutions to efficiently manage workloads, time off, and task distribution, in a transparent manner
Before you just re-hire all your previous employees, take a long hard look at your current workforce, and even have a discussion with them, asking if they feel overwhelmed. Chances are, you can drastically cut your overheads by maintaining a more streamlined team and working on smart ways to improve efficiency and productivity.
