By Claus Thorsgaard
In this economic climate, no consulting firm's human resources team wants to suffer the time and expense of identifying, recruiting, and on-boarding replacement talent. When great talent is producing equally great work, isn't it more cost-effective to keep them happy and engaged? One of the top ways to enjoy high retention rates is to make sure your resource planning appropriately balances bench time (time in between projects) and active time on a project.
From my time working in the consulting industry, I know bench time can be beneficial when planned appropriately. The most successful firms make bench time as productive as possible. When the consultants are not occupied by projects, participation in learning or development programs arm them with the new skills and deeper knowledge. These training and enrichment opportunities develop the management skill set and functional expertise crucial for professional development and career advancement.
For these reasons, many staff members enjoy bench time when it is well-planned. Of course, it's important for resource planning tools to identify the specific purpose of the bench time so you can easily see the enrichment each resource has received and ensure those opportunities are provided equitably across the team. It's even better if you can do this all in one place, without having to look across multiple tools.
However, unplanned, unexpected or unproductive bench time can sink employee morale. Imagine the frustrated, even despondent, consultant wondering why he's not being utilized, or questioning if it is performance-based. Even if it isn't, he might quickly become unmotivated and disengaged. Consider the retention risk your firm might face if it can't easily identify employees engaged in productive bench time, versus those simply unutilized who are filling their time with non-billable administrative tasks.
In fact, according to a recent IDC study, one in three firms do not know how many hours per week their billable resources spend on administrative tasks. Keep channels of communication open by tracking productive bench time against non-billable time, and then make data accessible to employees, so they're assured their bench time is equally productive among their peers.
On the flip side, using the same members of staff for every project and over utilizing them can lead to burn-out and a workload that is impossible to handle. It's human nature to want to put the highest performing team members on the project you are staffing; who wouldn't want to keep using your best resources as often as possible? But I've seen unintended consequences of this, when over-worked resources can't focus, make mistakes, or cut corners—all of which can lead to dissatisfied clients. Why put your best resource in such a hard place—at risk of disappointing you or the client?
Can you avoid capacity overload? The best way is to keep a current, accurate status of each consultant's workload, with easy access—so all stakeholders can understand availability for future work. But "workload" can't stop at current work—avoiding the overload comes when you can see the likelihood of upcoming new work. With this kind of visibility, managers can soft book consultants' time based on the likelihood of expected new project wins and then make a firmer commitment of that time when the business comes in. Of course, an approach like this means you need a little connectivity—the resource plan, current workload, and upcoming work all need to be connected. That way, capacity can be constantly updated as new work is proposed, progress is made on existing engagements, and resources are assigned to projects.
Additionally, attributes other than simple capacity should be tracked in an effort to keep employee retention rates high. Make notes of the types of projects your consultants best thrive on— Jack may enjoy financial planning; Jill may want to build her skills in go-to-market strategy. Imagine the rewarding culture you could foster not just by knowing this—but being able to categorize these as goals and subsequently use them in the staff selection.
Not only does this foster better performance, but it also demonstrates that staff development is important to your firm. When you have a solid understanding of employees' special talents, areas of expertise, areas for development and past projects, you can make the most educated decisions when allocating resources and putting teams together.
In essence, engaging employees without risking loss to perceived greener pastures leads your firm to continued growth. By ensuring consultants are appropriately utilized—not stuck with too much bench time yet not overextended on too many projects—you can avoid issues of unfairness, disengagement or poor quality of work. Additionally, nurturing consultant growth by including preferences and capabilities in staff selection is another way to boost retention, engage employees and produce even better results for clients.
Claus Thorsgaard is Executive Vice President and General Manager, Professional Services of Deltek .
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