Short-Staffed

exhibitor q&a

Ask Dan

Some valuable team members left the company during the pandemic, and it doesn't look like they'll be replaced with new hires. How can I convince management that we're too short-staffed to do our jobs effectively?

While it may be necessary at companies where revenues have been affected by the pandemic to scale back on costs, doing so without being able to sustain the value you provide to your customers can result in a dangerous tailspin.

As a leader in your department, you also serve as a voice for your people. The question, then, is how to use that voice to persuade upper management that the team can't perform quality work with such a skeletal staff. First off, study the team's current output and determine the necessary staffing level to maintain a balance between productivity and quality without burning workers out. Then identify and recommend the cuts that must be made in your production so as to keep delivering the best-quality products and services you can to customers within the current payroll restrictions. Make it clear that staff attrition is occurring due to being unable to attract and keep workers to take their place. You might suggest a kind of compromise by asking management for one or two staffers and then, after a while, report on the subsequent improvement in work output and customer satisfaction. That could give you solid proof to show to your superiors that in this case, at least, less is not more. E

Dan Lumpkin, organizational psychologist, is the president of management-consulting company Lumpkin & Associates in Fairhope, AL. Need answers? Email your career-related questions to askdan@exhibitorgroup.com.