Estimating Staffing Needs During a Slowdown

Howie Fenton

As the pandemic stretches on, your in-plant will likely be asked to outline a plan for reducing expenses. One of the largest of these expenses is staffing. In a new blog, Howie Fenton outlines a plan for estimating staffing needs, visualizing reductions, and deciding when to hire as revenue increases.

“It is important to inform administration that reducing staffing may jeopardize on-time deliveries,” writes Fenton. “It seems clear to us but might not be obvious to them.”

He notes that you may need to move people around and cross train them, though without adding additional automation it will likely take longer to implement a cross-training program.

Fenton’s blog includes a spreadsheet that uses the sales per employee ratio to help you estimate necessary staff levels. Read the blog here.