Insights
Is Your Company’s Workforce as Efficient as it Should Be (and How Do You Measure Employee Efficiency)?
Posted May 16, 2022 in Articles
Does your company have enough employees? Does it have too many employees? If the answer to either of these questions is, “Yes,” your company’s workforce is not as efficient as it should be. Many companies struggle with workforce inefficiency, and finding ways to get the most out of a company’s employees is a complex—and often evolving—process.
Key Considerations for Addressing Workforce Inefficiencies
Before a company can focus on addressing workforce inefficiencies, it first needs to determine where its inefficiencies lie. Obviously, having too few or too many employees are two very different problems. Additionally, in some cases, the issue is not with workforce size, but rather how the company’s human resources are being deployed. When dealing with personnel matters, morale and retention are important considerations as well, and companies must be careful not to rush into “fixes” that ultimately do more harm than good.
Measuring Workforce Efficiency
With these considerations in mind, there are three primary steps involved in measuring workforce efficiency:
1. Defining Efficiency
Efficiency inherently means different things to different companies. So, before a company can start measuring, it first needs to define and document its goals. Does efficiency mean having as few employees involved in a project as possible so that the company can deploy its human resources as widely as possible? Does it mean ensuring that workers achieve certain metrics on a daily basis? Are your company’s personnel more effective (and thus more efficient) when they work collaboratively as a team? Unless and until you know what you are trying to achieve, you will not be able to make meaningful improvements.
2. Collecting Data
Collecting data is critical for measuring workforce efficiency. All forms of efficiency are measurable, and gathering meaningful data is a matter of going about it the right way. Identifying appropriate data sources (i.e., time logs or employee interviews) is the first step, then the focus shifts to measuring and interpreting the data in such a way that it is possible to identify actionable next steps.
3. Measuring and Interpreting the Data
With relevant data in hand, it is time to examine the data and make informed decisions. Which employees, personnel groups or operational departments are most efficient? Which are least efficient? What factors account for the current disparities? Based on the answers to these questions, what human resources decisions need to be made? At the end of the process of measuring workforce efficiency, company leaders should have a clear picture of the issues at hand—and this should give them the insights they need to determine appropriate next steps.
Speak with a Data Analytics and Human Resources Consultant at Mithras Investment
At Mithras Investments, we help companies of all sizes measure workforce efficiency and address inefficiencies in their workplaces. If you would like to know more, we encourage you to get in touch. To speak with a senior data analytics and human resources consultant in confidence, please call 305-517-7911 or tell us how you would like to be contacted online today.
