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Costs - Under vs. Over-staffing
Recruiting & Staffing
Costs - Under vs. Over-staffing
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How can I quantify and compare the costs of under- vs. over-staffing? I work in a high-turnover, low-wage industry. We provide no benefits (for example, PTO, medical, etc.) for hourly-wage employees.
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Forums » Topic Forums » Recruiting & Staffing » Costs - Under vs. Over-staffing
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Costs - Under vs. Over-staffing
posted at 8/10/2010 10:08 AM EDT
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Posts: 57
First: 5/9/2000 Last: 3/15/2011 |
How can I quantify and compare the costs of under- vs. over-staffing? I work in a high-turnover, low-wage industry. We provide no benefits (for example, PTO, medical, etc.) for hourly-wage employees. With the emphasis on controlling labor costs, managers tend to understaff their departments (which in-turn inflates their "performance"). But at what cost? And would it be actually less expensive to slightly over-staff? Knowing that customer service would certainly be impacted, how would I measure that? I don't recall seeing this over- vs. under-satffing topic addressed. |
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Costs - Under vs. Over-staffing
posted at 8/10/2010 11:50 AM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
Understaffing conditions are known to lead to burnout and the research on burnout suggests all kinds of costly outcomes like stress-related illnesses, increased on the job accidents and high turn-over rates. Less common, but more extreme outcomes are higher rates of employee theft and workplace incivility. Research on customer service shows a decline in customer satisfaction when employees are burned out. |
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Costs - Under vs. Over-staffing
posted at 9/9/2010 6:20 AM EDT
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Posts: 1
First: 9/9/2010 Last: 9/9/2010 |
Using a staffing firm allows you to maximize your productivity by having the right size workforce as your business goes through its ups and downs. If your staff knows that you hire and fire during your peaks and valleys of your workload then they have a tendency to slow down when they feel that the workload is starting to drop off. Using a staffing firm helps you keep the right balance of workers without having to hire and fire. |
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Costs - Under vs. Over-staffing
posted at 9/9/2010 7:14 AM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
I would avoid using the term "over-staffing" since it implies waste. Call it something like optimal staffing or "staffing to need."
And highlight the benefits along with the costs. Avoiding under-staffing conditions allows employees to be proactive, they have more time to learn and teach each other new things, they develop stronger relationships that improve teamwork, they can formulate and pilot innovative ways to solve problems, ect. All these things contribute to the bottom line, and especially visible if you are in a service industry. |
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Costs - Under vs. Over-staffing
posted at 9/9/2010 11:53 AM EDT
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Posts: 1
First: 9/9/2010 Last: 9/9/2010 |
I empathize! Do you have quantifiable business results that you can correlate to staffing levels? Optimal results often come with optimal staffing. Also the time-to-fill when staffed so skinny can produce negative results and its worth quantifying the bottom-line impact as part of the total cost of turnover. |
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Costs - Under vs. Over-staffing
posted at 9/9/2010 1:19 PM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
I agree, it is a hard relationship to prove since the causes and effects are indirectly related to staffing levels. I would start by looking at high cost outcomes like absenteeism, accidents, customer complaints, product defects, and turnover and compare those trends to teh corresponding staffing levels. It would be good if you could cite a few "critical incidents" to illustrate how understaffing was a root cause. |
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