Balancing People and Work
Photo by James Jordan
I learned a very tough lesson about resource management pretty early in my career.
Coming from retail, I was used to the seasonal hiring and seasonal lay offs. While it was very difficult, people we hired knew the jobs were temporary and that they rarely resulted in full time employment. At my first dotcom startup, lots of hiring was done without much thought or planning. The company was growing tremendously by headcount but not by revenue. The more experienced people around me didn’t seem to worry too much, so I just went with it. Reality hit less than 6 months later and we had to lay off over 1/3 of the employee base. This huge management failing impacted me profoundly.
Too many employees can result in high fixed costs and the potential dilution of responsibilities, while too few can result in burnout and resentment. In a perfect world, human resources should align with projects and revenue growth. Adding and subtracting headcount is a very complicated issue. New products and projects can take a larger investment in people initially, but should eventually align with sales and revenue growth. When the growth does not follow, layoffs and reorganizations usually occur.
Some things to think about:
- Know your team well enough so you can tell when they are bored or overwhelmed. If you have the right relationship, this topic should be openly discussed. Lack of challenge or burnout can result in low engagement and low productivity.
- Be transparent about how resources are allocated in the company. The ‘req’ approval process is usually a big mystery within companies. This often makes employees think getting headcount is all about relationships and politics. Make sure employees understand the process. Educate employees on budgeting and other planning processes. This will illustrate transparency as well as serve as a way to develop employees.
- Role your sleeves up and help. Don’t be reluctant to pitch in and help with the day to day when the workload gets too much. No line manager I know (no matter what their level) has the luxury of only doing strategic work. Ask early and often what you can do to support the team and do it.
- Do not think a “butt in a seat” is ever the right answer. Even when you need to add resources quickly, do not rush hiring. Taking the time to find the right fit, especially cultural fit, will save you on the backside (no pun intended). Think about how you can use temporary resources or consultants to fill an urgent need and hire the best person for the permanent role. Always keep a backlog of candidates, even when you are not hiring. Building your network appropriately, can really help you when you need to ramp up.
- Do the appropriate planning for people to resources. This is rarely a perfect process, but it can build discipline and create a structure for adding resources. Bring your team in to this process as much as possible. There is no way a few VPs can sit in a room and get this right. You need to ask first line managers, individual contributors and other people involved in doing the “real work”.
