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Staff planning is something we (it was really just me) used to be terrible at. As we muddle through Q1 we are finalizing ‘21 growth plans and staff planning.
I thought some of you truck based companies might find this enlightening.
A thread:
I thought some of you truck based companies might find this enlightening.
A thread:
Staff planning is the practice of increasing or reducing your staff levels to meet expected demand.
It’s a big deal because you only get one shot a year to hit the right levels in order to maximize opportunity for peak time or minimize cash loss during slow time.
It’s a big deal because you only get one shot a year to hit the right levels in order to maximize opportunity for peak time or minimize cash loss during slow time.
If you miss your window then good luck next year!
When you are very small (sub 10 FTE) staff planning tends to get ignored because it’s misunderstood or seems complicated. When we were that small we would take on out of scope work like flipping houses/remodels to “keep busy”.
When you are very small (sub 10 FTE) staff planning tends to get ignored because it’s misunderstood or seems complicated. When we were that small we would take on out of scope work like flipping houses/remodels to “keep busy”.
When you break 20 FTE it becomes much more important. If you mistime your staffing you could lose good employees because of low hours, kill your payroll and deplete your cash reserves during slow times or just lose a ton of opportunities during peak.
This took us a few years to figure out and we kept mistiming it, firing too late and hiring too late. Here is how we staff plan:
Understand your cycles. When is slow time, when is peak time.
Understand your cycles. When is slow time, when is peak time.
Slow:
Is there anything you can do to drive leads like marketing more or promotions?
If so, prep them 6 months in advance. Hard to build a parachute mid air. You missed your shot, remember this lesson next year.
If not, reduce payroll and drop your low performers.
Is there anything you can do to drive leads like marketing more or promotions?
If so, prep them 6 months in advance. Hard to build a parachute mid air. You missed your shot, remember this lesson next year.
If not, reduce payroll and drop your low performers.
Peak:
What’s the marketing plan to maximise lead gen but not overflow?
How will your manpower scale to demand?
Prep 6 months in advance to have vehicles, marketing and training ready. Hard to build a parachute mid air. You missed your shot, remember this lesson next year.
What’s the marketing plan to maximise lead gen but not overflow?
How will your manpower scale to demand?
Prep 6 months in advance to have vehicles, marketing and training ready. Hard to build a parachute mid air. You missed your shot, remember this lesson next year.
Our Businesses:
Feb-April: Slow
May-October: Peak
November-January: Busy but not peak
Here is how I would do this (badly):
I would be afraid to hire between Feb-April because we were slow.
Feb-April: Slow
May-October: Peak
November-January: Busy but not peak
Here is how I would do this (badly):
I would be afraid to hire between Feb-April because we were slow.
Then I was chasing my tail for months during peak while trying to onboard so we wouldn’t bring on talent until September or October and we basically missed our entire peak season and spent it understaffed. Lost opportunity and our techs were 5-6 days booked which is NOT ideal.
It’s scary to hire when you have no work on the board but these cycles become extremely reliable.
I used to try to fight it but I learned by leaning in we conserve cash, clean house of low performers and it allows our company to keep growing at a great clip.
I used to try to fight it but I learned by leaning in we conserve cash, clean house of low performers and it allows our company to keep growing at a great clip.
Here is our actual Staff Planning Calendar for this year so you get a feel for how we are doing it. Enjoy. 
