Four Simpactful Strategies to Address the Real Costs of Understaffing and Volatility

The long-term costs of understaffing and continued staffing volatility are real. Employers are trying to balance the bottom line to combat rising costs, while also finding it challenging to find sufficient qualified candidates. As a result, companies have expanded the scope of employee roles and are often asking resources to “double hat” (cover two roles at the same time).  It is not surprising then that a Deloitte study found that 75% of professionals are facing burnout at their current jobs, which can result in employee disengagement, turnover, and impacts on physical and mental health.

So what tangible steps can you take to avoid these costs?

• Keep Track of Time: One of the most critical steps leaders can take is to develop a hypothesis around how employees should be using their time, understand where resources are actually investing their time, and then determine what to prioritize. “One of the most effective things I learned from my years at Amazon.com is the power of time tracking studies to inject not only intentionality, but objectivity into the prioritization process. These simple organizational exercises and the resulting data uncovered unexpected inefficiencies and were used regularly to guide management teams to simplify, eliminate or restructure work to get the most out of the resources at hand,” reflects Simpactful Senior Partner, Heather Burgess.

• Go Fractional: To navigate temporary staffing gaps or volatility without long-term headcount commitment, consider hiring skilled fractional resources on a temporary or less-than-full-time basis. Simpactful President and Managing Partner, David Friedler notes, “At Simpactful, we have seen a sharp increase in the number of highly skilled professionals available on a temporary or part-time basis. These are practitioners who have spent their careers in the trenches, are subject matter experts, have handled tough business situations, and successfully led sizeable P&L’s. They are still looking to contribute but many also seek the flexibility of non-permanent employment. The key is to identify the gap in your organization (an open role, work process requiring leadership, etc) and define the scope of work, so we can match the right person to the right timing.”

• Implement a High-Performance Org Design: “Making do” can feel like the path of least resistance, but it is often not the most efficient, effective or enjoyable for managers, employees, agencies, or outside stakeholders. Leaders need to redesign their organizations for speed, to accelerate productivity improvements, reshape their portfolio, innovative new business models, and reallocate constrained resources. This is especially true in a world where the requirements to execute with excellence are becoming more complex. Simpactful experts are often hired to identify resourcing gaps, streamline workflows, implement automation, deduplicate decision-making, and create the optimal environments for collaboration. Simpactful Senior Partner, Marcy Selva, reflects, “I have now worked on a dozen of these projects. As a third party, it is easier for me to provide a non-emotional, benchmarked lens on how work is flowing today, opportunities for efficiency vs BIC workflows/processes, and to outline the implications of these changes. Simpactful can provide added capacity to outline and implement new decision-making processes, which is a step many organizations forget to address. For clients, this organizational redesign work is like doing a major home improvement. Once we have it up and running, they always tell me they wish they’d done it sooner!”

• Invest in Capability-Building to Do More with Less: When organizations are stretched, it is hard to carve time to invest in building better capability. However, an inadequate understanding of today’s evolving marketplace requirements can be a significant source of inefficiency, rework, and employee frustration, and can undermine trust with business partners (retailers, agencies). For example, in Sales and Retailer management, leaders and their teams must be able to plan and execute effectively for today’s market realities in which buyers are raising the bar with automated supply chain requirements, omnichannel go-to-market plans, and evolving retail execution needs. Terms negotiations are becoming more sophisticated as Retailers continually implement new “required investments.” Simultaneously, the line is blurring between Channel and Brand marketing. All touchpoints are becoming commerce opportunities as Retailer Media, Social Commerce, and Performance Marketing help to drive sales across the channel. Simpactful’s Leadership & Development team is staffed with practitioners who are equipped with an understanding of the evolving Retailer requirements and the associated capabilities needed to support those requirements. Simpactful Consultant and L&D Leader, Becky Merrill, shares her perspective: “Organizations can’t afford to NOT invest in the development of their people. The stakes are higher than ever due to the rapid evolution of the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to succeed in today’s retail climate. The winners are leaning in on Human Capital to not only protect its value, but to see strong returns against business goals, culture, retention, company brand equity, relationships with customers, and more. There’s never been a more critical time to invest in your organization’s capability development.”

The heightened focus on resource efficiency and staffing volatility is here to stay. You can minimize the cost to your plans and personnel by supplementing your team with temporary resources, ensuring your organization is designed to perform at its peak, and by investing in capability. Simpactful can help! To learn more about how we can help you, contact our team today at contact@simpactful.com or 925-234-6394.