Taking project resource management into account, it is a systematic flow of several steps, starting from planning and scheduling to executing and ensuring successful project delivery. Every step is well-documented, using a sophisticated tool to keep every decision-maker and stakeholder informed of the project’s progress.

A critical step amongst these is the request for resources. While the resource schedules and project plans are well-formulated and recorded, resource requesting is often unstructured at firms.

Now that organizations are matrixed and foster a shared-services model, forming a resource requisition workflow is imperative to avoid internal conflicts and discrepancies.

This article emphasizes the basic concepts and significance of process-driven resource requisition and some tips for implementing it efficiently.

Beginning with the definition,

Definition of resource request

Resource request is a formal procedure that a project manager follows to request and procure resources for an open position. This process typically involves defining the quantity, type, and quality of resources needed for the project.

Before drawing out a project plan, the project manager assesses the resource requirement to execute every project task. To fulfill this project resource demand, the project manager will request resource managers to allocate the right resource to the open position.

This process of placing a formal request to fill the project vacancies before the initiation date is known as resource requesting.

If managers follow the traditional method, they will get stuck in the endless loop of emails and phone calls. The project manager sends an email to the resource manager, who will then go to various departmental heads, team leaders, and so on. By the time they find the right resource, the opportunity is lost.

To ensure that your project demands are fulfilled on time, it is essential that you invest in a reliable resource management tool. It will provide you with a bird’s eye view of the enterprise-wide workforce and their schedules and help you reap the benefits of a systematic project-staffing process. And that’s how to request company resources for a project.

Let us now see how resource requisition benefits the firm,

Benefits of efficient resource request process

Integrating an automated resource requisition and approval workflow in your management system can provide a myriad of benefits. This process covers everything from helping you maintain an audit trail to enhancing transparency and avoiding double booking.

Here is a brief description of each one of these:

Facilitates better resource planning

If a resource request is made well in advance and is rejected due to resources’ unavailability, managers have enough leeway to take appropriate resourcing measures. They can either hire a new employee or upskill a benched resource to take up the job. This enhances the overall efficiency of project resource planning.

Avoids internal conflicts

Often is the case when multiple projects require the same competencies and skills at the same time. When a project manager requests the workforce, the resource manager will assign them based on the project priority and availability. This methodical approach eliminates disapproval and conflicts between the project managers.

Eliminates double-booking

When resource managers equip a multi-dimensional resource scheduler against their siloed spreadsheets, they get real-time updates on every resource’s allocation and utilization. In accordance with this, they go ahead and assign project tasks to available resources or those who have the capacity and approve the request. It eliminates double booking, thereby preventing over-utilization.

Maintains an audit trail

One of the most important advantages of following a resource requesting workflow is that it keeps a log of every detail. All the stakeholders stay informed about when the request was made, if the request is approved, the resource scheduled against the task, and so on.

An audit trail accessible to the concerned authority promotes a culture of transparency in the firm and helps in conflict resolution.

Step-by-step guide to request resources efficiently

The resource requisition workflow encompasses the following steps:

Placing the request

The first step is placing a resource request. The project manager specifies the skillset, primary role, resource cost, and other important attributes to get the right person for the job.

Look for the core competencies

Once the resource manager receives the request, he/she will look for the core competencies across the enterprise. In other words, the manager will analyze the capacity against the resource demand.

Assess the resource schedules

If resources with niche skills are present in the organization, the following step includes studying their schedules and allocation. Resource managers will now forecast their utilization and gauge if they are available for the stipulated time.

Manage the request

The next step is to accept the request and assign the resource if the findings align with the criteria. In case the position remains vacant, the resource manager will take the right resourcing measure to fulfill the request.

Final decision

Finally, after evaluating all the critical metrics, managers will decide to accept or reject the resource request.

This is what a typical resource request workflow looks like. Both project and resource managers are equally responsible for the continuous improvement of resource planning and requisition process.

Here are some steps you can follow to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness:

What are the best methods of resource-requesting?

If the traditional approach of relying on office directories is followed to request resources, project managers get stuck in endless trails of emails. However, with an advanced resource management software solution, resource managers gain enterprise-wide visibility of the workforce and activities pinned to their schedules. Using these tools, you can simplify and fast-track the cumbersome process of resource requests. Here are the ways to do it in a breeze

Forecast the project resource demand

The problem

Organizations that still rely on legacy tools to manage their workforce and projects fail to predict future projects’ resource demand. Project managers then place the request at the eleventh hour, which becomes a challenge for the resource manager.

The solution

As mentioned above, using an advanced resource scheduling tool gives unmatched visibility into pipeline projects and future resource requirements. This provides foresight into the resource demand and project timeline well ahead of the curve. When project managers are forewarned about the requirements and place a request in time, resource managers get enough lead time to fulfill it.

Even if a resource with niche skills is not present, managers can do planned hiring or retrain the available workforce to execute the work efficiently.

Evaluate the project priority and place the resource request

The problem

One of the critical areas of concern is that resource managers work on a ‘first-come, first-served basis.’ This is due to the countless resource requests they receive in a day. In such cases, they sometimes end up scheduling resources to projects that do not add substantial value, and the critical projects stay queued. It can cause further delays and even cost you the project.

The solution

Resource managers must have centralized visibility of all the ongoing and pipeline projects. This helps them categorize the projects based on their criticality and priority. When they have an intuitive solution in place that helps them identify the billable, strategic, and non-billable projects, they are better positioned to deploy resources to the right tasks.

Assess the resource availability well in advance

The problem

As mentioned earlier, many organizations still rely on siloed spreadsheets to schedule resources and plan projects. These spreadsheets do not provide real-time updates, and thus, resource managers cannot foresee resource availability in advance. This can cause project bottlenecks due to a lack of information on leaves, holidays, etc.

The solution

Every project requires a resource for a specific time period. When resource managers are aware of the timeline, they must be able to forecast the future availability of the required resources. Or else, last-minute absenteeism can cause potential bottlenecks and unnecessary delays.

A robust resource management software is equipped with business intelligence that provides intuitive reports on future resource utilization and availability. Using these reports, managers can stay ahead of time and plan better with accuracy.

Automate resource request process and minimize discrepancies

The problem

The majority of firms still rely on manual resource requests. This causes a communication gap between departments, and the cumbersome emails only lead to project delays. It makes project resource management all the more difficult in matrixed organizations.

The solution

Organizations encouraging a shared-services model must automate their resource requesting process. This is only possible when you deploy the right tool for your firm.

A modern resource scheduling tool provides 360-degree visibility across the organization and narrows down the resources using advanced filters.

Leveraging the resource metric reports and dashboards, you can allocate the right resource to the right task at the right time. Moreover, when every stakeholder has an insight into all the nitty-gritty, it automatically bridges the existing communication gap. Ultimately, it helps in the efficient management of resources across the enterprise.

All the steps mentioned above cumulatively help you enhance the efficiency of your resource requisition workflow.

Best practices to follow for efficient resource requesting

To ensure efficient resource requesting, it is helpful to follow some best practices. Consider the following guidelines:

Always plan ahead

Resource managers must anticipate the organizational resource needs and plan for them in advance to avoid last-minute firefighting that may lead to rushed decision-making or delays in resource allocation.

Understand the requirements

Resource managers must clearly understand the specific requirements of the resources project managers are requesting before scheduling the resources. This includes understanding the quantity, quality, specifications, and any dependencies or constraints associated with the resources.

Prioritize the resource requests

It’s important to prioritize the resource requests based on their importance and impact on project or task success. The focus should be on scheduling the critical or niche-skilled resources first, followed by other resources, to ensure the availability of the required staff for project initiation.

Consolidate requests

Whenever possible, resource managers must consolidate multiple resource requests into a single comprehensive request. This helps streamline the evaluation and allocation process, reducing administrative burden and improving efficiency.

Provide justification

Resource managers clearly articulate the rationale and benefits of the requested resources. They must explain how these employees will contribute to achieving project goals. Moreover, if the required resources are not available within internal channels, resource managers should inform the project managers about the same.

Collaborate and consult with stakeholders

To fulfil resource requests efficiently, resource managers must engage relevant stakeholders early on and involve them in the resource-requesting process. Seeking their input, expertise, and feedback ensures that the requests align with organizational objectives and are supported by key decision-makers.

Consider alternatives

It’s essential to explore alternative solutions or options before fulfilling a resource request. Managers must assess whether existing resources can be utilized more effectively or if there are alternative resources available that can achieve similar results. This promotes resource optimization and efficiency.

Leverage the right technology

Utilizing technology tools, such as resource management software, streamlines and automates the resource-requesting process. These tools can help track requests, manage allocations, and provide real-time visibility into resource availability.

Follow-up and track progress

Once the request is placed, managers must regularly follow up on the resource requests to ensure they are being reviewed and processed timely. They should maintain open communication with decision-makers, provide updates on the status of the requests, and address any concerns or questions promptly.

Evaluate and optimize whenever possible

Continuously evaluating the effectiveness of the resource-requesting process improves its efficacy. It helps identify areas for improvement and implement necessary adjustments to streamline future requests.

By following these best practices, you can streamline the resource-requesting process, improve allocation efficiency, and ensure that the right resources are available at the right time to support your organizational goals.

The takeaway

A standardized resource requesting process is at the crux of smart project resource management. If not done correctly, it can have a catastrophic effect on the project’s progress and a decline in profitability. Thus, managers must strive to get it right and enhance its efficiency.

Once done, it will help you deliver the project on time and escalate project resource productivity and engagement. When resources are utilizing their expertise at the right place and adding value to the firm, they will stay with the firm for the long run.

Technology has made these processes a lot more convenient for all business leaders, allowing them to efficiently manage resources and their schedules. So, one must invest in the right tool to maintain their project and resource health index.

How do you manage your resource requirements? What practices do you follow to streamline resource requisition?

The Glossary

SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in providing an Enterprise Resource Capacity Planning solution. With over 20 years of experience leading the market, Saviom is actively used by over 15 highly-esteemed global companies worldwide. The tools within the suite include project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software. Re-engineer operational efficiency with a system shaped around your business!

Resource Allocation is the process of scheduling and booking resources for the appropriate project tasks. For overall efficiency, it needs to be coherent and consistent with the resource capacities.

Every activity in an organization requires resources such as people, time, and tools, and the onus is on the Project managers to allocate them intelligently and efficiently. While scheduling projects, if you over-allocate a resource against their availability, it will lead to employee burnout and potential project failures.

In this article, we shall explore the resource allocation challenges and ways to address them.

What is over allocation of resources?

Overallocation of resources occurs when an organization assigns more work or tasks to a particular resource than their actual capacity within a given timeframe. It can result in increased stress levels leading to burnout, compromised quality of deliverables, and even unplanned attrition.

For example, a shared resource is booked and tasks assigned are for 8 hours on one project and 6 hours on another project in one day. However, they only have 8 hours of bandwidth in a day. In this case, a resource is said to be overallocated.

When resources are overworked with multiple tasks, it leads to burnout, declines in productivity, and deterioration of the deliverable quality.

Here is a detailed description of the consequences of over allocation of resources in project management:

What happens when resources are over allocated?

The consequences of overallocation can be detrimental to your projects as well as your organization. Let us look at some of the ill effects of resource overallocation:

Unplanned attrition

Frequently overloading resources with work elevates their stress levels and causes fatigue. If it continues for long, it will lead to burnout, declining their mental and physical health. This will eventually reduce their productivity and lower their morale.

When employees’ well-being is not taken care of, they will feel demotivated and distressed and look for a job change. All these factors lead to unplanned attrition. Such events can halt the project’s progress, causing potential losses to the firm. Unexpected attrition also makes the companies incur extra costs to hire a similar skilled resource without enough lead time.

Employee disengagement and low morale

When the employees are asked to work beyond their capacities and overachieve, without a proper analysis of their schedule, it can lead to distress. It eventually leads to disengagement and decreased morale. The typical signs and signals of dented employee morale include:

• More prone to mistakes- Mistakes happen mainly due to a lack of focus on the quality of work and the fear factor of not meeting the deadline.
• Lack of enthusiasm and ownership- An overworked employee feels disengaged and avoids participation in regular day-to-day activities
• Missing deadlines- The productivity of an overburdened employee decreases. Consequently, they fail to adhere to deadlines,
• Lack of collaboration and engagement- Overallocation causes ineffectiveness and lethargy in the staff leading to disengagement and disconnect.

These factors don’t just affect a single employee’s performance but have a ripple effect on the entire team’s output.

Employee burnout

An employee working for long periods of unending work leads to burnout.

A Gallup study revealed that “63% of employees who experience burnout call in sick more often, and 2.6 times as likely to look out for a job change.”

Some of the signs of employee burnout are: -:

• Overlapping priorities – Employee is indecisive on which task to prioritize
• Decreased productivity – due to lower morale, engagement, and higher levels of stress
• Work-related stress- Higher levels of stress due to additional responsibilities that do not align with the schedule
• Inflexibility- Employees becoming rigid or willing to grow and adapt can indicate burnout.

Increased absenteeism is also one such frequent occurrence of unplanned leaves manifesting from mental and physical stress.

Inability to meet project deliverables

Project deliverables must be well planned and properly executed and clearly defined in the project schedule with the due dates. Due to some critical ad-hoc tasks that require immediate attention, project managers end up setting challenging goals or unrealistic deadlines that may be difficult for employees to achieve.

Here is what happens when employees are unable to meet the project deadlines:

• The inability to meet project deadlines can lead to discouragement and frustration.
• The wrongful execution of critical project tasks will have a cascading effect on the entire project, eventually bringing it to a grinding halt.
• Mobilizing and altering schedules for one project (that has failed) will compromise and affect the pipeline projects.

Such shortcomings make employees struggle to meet project demands and hamper timely delivery leading to budget overruns.

Lack of proper work-life balance

After working extra hours, employees carry home a foul mood and the feeling of a bad day at work. These may seem like temporary problems, but persistent negative attitudes are a serious red flag. When your workforce does not get time to unplug from work, it leads to frustration and creates resentment towards the workplace.

Such attitude harms the entire team and its productivity in ways like:

• Lack of coherence within the team
• Reduced or No ownership of tasks
• Ineffective communication with the team-members
• Internal conflicts
• Lack of productivity can deteriorate the quality of interdependent tasks.

Overall, the work-life disproportion leads to a disruptive workflow and creates an unhealthy work environment.

Loss of business opportunities

An overloaded workforce can significantly erode the brand value of a company. When deliverables are not met on time and task lists are not satisfied, and the project’s quality does not align with the client’s expectations, it instills a loss of trust in the client’s mind.

When your firm fails to enhance client satisfaction, your client will look for other organizations that can do it for them. Such a loss of clientele leads to a decline in overall sales and revenue.

Given the consequences of resource overallocation, the following section explains the effective tips to identify instances of overallocation.

How to identify resource overallocation in an organization?

Resource overallocation often goes unnoticed, especially in a large organization where a multi-project environment is prevalent. However, managers can adopt several effective practices to track and minimize instances of overallocation to avoid their consequences.

Here are a few effective strategies for the same.

Workload analysis

The manager should thoroughly analyze the workload assigned to allocated resources across various projects. They can then compare the allocated tasks with their available working hours and capacity. It will help identify the instances where the work allocation exceeds the available capacity and act proactively to address them.

Time tracking

The manager must implement various time tracking tools or systems that allow employees to log their actual working hours on specific projects and tasks. It can then compare the logged time with the estimated hours to determine the variances and leverage several optimization measures to minimize them.

Conduct regular resource allocation assessments

The manager must create a monthly or quarterly schedule to review resource allocation per the organization’s specific needs and dynamics. Regular resource allocation evaluation helps identify resource-intensive projects that can impact the overall workload, project schedules, and deadlines. It can also help determine if the current resource allocation is realistic and provides sufficient time to complete tasks.

Feedback and observation

The resource managers must collaborate with project managers to understand their perspective on resource allocation, workload distribution, resourcing constraints, and risks. They can encourage team members to provide feedback on their availability, workload, and potential resource conflicts. Considering individual skills and preferences when assessing resource allocation in project management is also crucial.

Now that the ways to identify resource overallocation are understood, let’s learn the effective strategies to prevent it.

6 ways to avoid resource overallocation

Managers need to avoid resource overallocation and distribute work uniformly to enable optimum utilization. Here are some effective techniques to eliminate overallocation.

Forecast resource availability and utilization

Efficient resource scheduling allows managers to assign the right resources to the suited projects based on their skills, availability, cost, among other criteria.

Implementing an advanced resource management tool will give you a birds-eye view of resources, their skills, and schedules. Moreover, the advanced features allow you to foresee the resource demand and utilization ahead of the curve. Based on this data, you can distribute the workload evenly across the organization without overloading a particular resource.

Resource leveling

Resource leveling is a technique where the start and finish dates of a project are adjusted based on resourcing constraints to match the available resource capacity. To ensure that the employee is not over-utilized, managers have the leeway to modify the project timeline according to that critical employee’s availability. critical employee’s availability.

This practice facilitates the employee’s schedule and allows them to focus on other projects or tasks without hampering the quality of work and keeping up the deadline. Implementing this technique will smooth out the workload and will keep you from over-burdening your staff.

Recheck priorities

In the current volatile market, one aspect every project manager needs to be adept at is setting the right priorities. Prioritizing is setting tasks in a particular order so that you and your team can deliver the projects that add more value before the ones that don’t.

It also allows your resources to give their undivided attention to the critical tasks first and not work on all the projects simultaneously. Managers can get an intuitive resource management tool to get unmatched visibility into the current and pipeline projects and further categorize them based on their priority.

Assign additional staff

Resource Overallocation leads to exhaustion and hinders productivity. Even the extra-milers, who are often given the badge of going beyond, struggle to meet deadlines. Resource managers can pull in additional resources with the right competencies to ensure project completion and thereby avoid employee fatigue and burnout.

While doing so, managers must assess and evaluate the resource costs and form the right band mix with the cost-effective local or global resources. It will keep the project costs in check when maintaining the resource’s well-being at the same time.

Diversify employee skills and responsibilities

Studies suggest that upskilling and engaging employees show 21% greater profitability. Allowing employees to build skills through job rotation helps the team to diversify its skillset. helps the team to diversify its skillset.

Overworking on the same tasks adds to the mundaneness and can often lead to disinterest and disengagement. Thus, giving employees different opportunities helps them hone their skills while maintaining their motivational levels.

Diversifying skills also help in succession planning, especially for critical roles in the smooth running of projects. Succession planning helps create a skilled workforce capable of critical roles as the business changes, grows, or develops.

Understand project scope

The project scope includes the project’s goals and objectives, deliverables, financials, tasks, and deadlines. If there is a sudden change in the business requirements and the project manager is still expected to deliver using the same resources, it can lead to resource overallocation.

Defining a proper change control process during the project initiation phase is necessary. Any substantial change in the project scope must be pushed back to the next release. If that is not possible, approval is sought to change the delivery timeline or increase the budget.

Build an on-demand contingent workforce

On-demand workforce refers to the contractors or freelancers who step in while your full-time employees are knee-deep in their existing assignments. Demand capacity planning helps you identify the excess resources needed to fulfill project requirements in advance. Accordingly, a backup team consisting of freelancers, contractual workers, etc., can be a blessing when your employees face an overload and save them from eventual burnout.

Depending on the duration and nature of the project plan, decisions to hire full-time employees or a contingent workforce can be made. For projects with a shorter period, a contingent workforce shall be an ideal fit. There is no lead time involved in hiring them and no permanent overhead costs involved to retain them.

Key takeaways

Resource allocation is vital to efficient project resource management and must be systematically executed. The tips mentioned above will help you achieve optimum resource allocation and enhance employee productivity.

In addition to the tips, implementing a multidimensional resource scheduler could help avoid double-booking and improper allocation with data-driven insights.

Managers must strive to keep their resource’s health in check, as they are the success drivers of your firm.

What steps do you follow to avoid over-allocation of resources?

The Glossary: glossary pillar article

SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in offering the most powerful and configurable solution for managing your enterprise resources effectively and efficiently. With over 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has created its global presence across 50 countries and helped more than 100 customers achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has highly customizable products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software based on business requirements.

Having the right resources for suitable projects at every stage is crucial for the overall efficiency and success of the company.

There is a constant struggle to find the best solution that will align with each project goal and balance resources between the projects. Often managers have to run from pillar to post for competent resources to deliver their projects on budget and within time.

With a strategic resource management approach, managers can improve each project’s outcomes, productivity, and profitability.

In this article, we have discussed some of the best practices that can help in resource planning across multiple projects seamlessly.

Importance of resource planning across projects

Formulating an intelligent project plan requires accurate information on every resource attribute, from skills and core competencies to their utilization and availability. These insights allow managers to develop high-level resource planning within the allocated project budget.

It will also help them enhance productivity and ensure the project’s success by facilitating the appropriate allocation of the right resource to the right project in the right capacities.

Timely project delivery

Proactive resource planning in project management allows managers to assess the capacity vs. demand gap in advance and bridge it with appropriate resourcing measures. Furthermore, the effective distribution of competent resources in project management ensures that no under or over-skilled resources are allocated to projects.

Over-skilled resources can spike project costs, and under-skilled ones can cause severe delays. Therefore, proper resource allocation helps to maintain the project quality and consistent delivery of services on time and within budget. project quality and consistent delivery of services on time and within budget.

Increased profitability

Resource demand forecasting facilitates planned hiring, which helps to reduce last-minute hiring/firing costs. Managers can implement suitable resourcing measures to identify and allocate competent and cost-effective global resources across matrix boundaries. It will enhance profitability by reducing project resource costs significantly.

Improve client satisfaction

The satisfaction of clients depends on how effectively the organization meets their expectations. It is considered a success when projects are delivered with quality services, on time, and within budget. on time, and within budget, it is considered a success.

Effective resource scheduling allows you to maintain the quality of deliverables and increase the company’s image.

Now that you’ve understood the essential benefits of planning resources effectively let’s learn about the various types of projects and resources:

How are projects and resources classified?

Resources and projects are regularly reviewed to maximize productivity, and the right type of workforce is deployed for every project.

The below section describes a classification of the different types of workforce deployed on projects:

Types of human resources:

Depending on the project requirements, the manager hires different types of resources, such as permanent employees, contractors, or freelancers.

• Permanent employees (full-time & part-time)

Permanent employees can be full-time and part-time resources and are often perceived as a cost-effective solution for any business. In addition, their productivity and contribution to meeting business objectives are higher due to their participation in any or all of the internal and strategic works.

• Contractual or contingent workforce

On-demand or contingent workforce is beneficial for businesses facing workload volatility due to changes in market conditions. In addition, a contingent or contractual workforce is considered helpful for short-term assignments as they have fewer overhead costs than full-time resources. Often the project managers utilize contractual resources at a higher price but have no liability to maintain them once the task is accomplished.

• Freelancers

Freelancers are hired for a specific work period with more work schedule flexibility. They are often employed for particular expertise or niche skills on a project at hourly or daily rates. Hiring freelancers is a cost-cutting strategy many businesses use as they cost less to the company in terms of training and other overhead costs.

Workforce in a matrix organization:

In a matrix organizational structure, employees have more than one line of reporting managers. This structure offers flexibility to businesses where resources with expertise can work across various departments and projects within the organization. Below is the resource classification in matrix organizations:

• Local resources

A local resource is limited to a specific location within the local infrastructure of the project. Local resources have the advantage of being in the proximity of the business, and they can build a better relationship with the key personnel of the client organization.A local resource is limited to a certain location within the local infrastructure of the project. Local resources have the advantage of being in the proximity of the business and they can build a better relationship with the key personnel of the client organization.

• Global resources

A global resource is known to exceed the system of the project location as it can be accessed from multiple locations through a global resource management model. It aims to have a centralized repository of a worldwide resource pool having diverse skill sets. As a result, companies can utilize skilled resources from cost-effective locations.

Project managers use the Nearshore and Offshore outsourcing model to program the expertise needed for any project.

• Nearshore model:

This outsourcing model refers to the resources in neighboring countries with similar time zones. As an example, the nearshore location for the US would be Mexico.

• Offshore model:

The offshoring model refers to outsourcing to resources located far away with considerable time zone differences. An example of an offshore location for the US would be India.

Different types of project:

Understanding the various types of projects is essential for planning and scheduling the resources for the right task. The project type is determined by parameters such as cost, duration, resource requirements, complexity of the projects, etc. Here are the two different project types:

• Small scale project

A small-scale project is characterized by factors such as short duration, a small team, and the budget size of the project. A single project manager can handle one or more such projects simultaneously. Here resources are assigned for multiple tasks and aim to deliver outputs over shorter time scales.

• Large scale project

Large-scale projects, on the other end, are characterized by the complex nature of the project, such as longer duration, larger teams, and a bigger budget. As a result, multiple project managers are seen managing large-scale projects headed by the Delivery Project Executive (DPE). The DPE demonstrates a complete understanding of client requirements and supports various project teams to meet their expectations.

Knowing the classification of project resources, let’s understand the roadblocks of resource planning across multiple projects.

Challenges of resource planning across multiple projects

Below we take you through the challenges that add complexity to managing the resource pool across multiple projects.

Poor visibility due to siloed data

The use of legacy tools and silos of spreadsheets across enterprises results in poor visibility and a lack of real-time updates. In this case, managers often allocate resources without complete knowledge of their competencies and existing bookings. This improper resource allocation leads to double bookings and over-utilization of resources.

A traditional resource requisition protocol

The traditional resource-requesting method brings in a lot of complexity and challenges in the form of double booking, internal conflicts, discrepancies, etc. In addition, the manual resource requisition process involves physically sorting out resources and taking calls/email requests from multiple project managers, which is time-consuming and cumbersome. method brings in a lot of complexity and challenges in the form of double booking, internal conflicts, discrepancies, etc. The manual resource requisition process involves manually sorting out resources and taking call/email requests from multiple project managers, which is time-consuming and cumbersome

Shortage of resources within a multi-project environment

It is particularly challenging if there is a demand for a niche skill set between different projects. The organization may only have limited resources to satisfy all the requirements. Allocating all available critical resources to a single high-priority project can create a resource crunch, adversely affecting other projects.

Rise of internal conflicts between multiple projects

Often multiple projects require the same competencies at the same time. This gives rise to resource competition, creating disagreement between project managers that may lead to conflicts. Some other causes of internal conflicts are differences in needs, resource schedules, project priorities, etc.

Unable to forecast demand vs. capacity

Inappropriate resource allocation and improper use of bench employees lead to unplanned hiring of high-cost resources in place of low-cost, similarly skilled ones. The lack of foresight into the capacity vs. demand gap elevates unplanned hiring at the eleventh hour, and as a result, expensive local resources get recruited. It escalates the project budget and impacts project profitability.

Lack of productive utilization

Planning and scheduling competent resources into non-billable activities reduces productivity. In addition, without the right resource planning tools, project managers fail to track real-time utilization resulting in suboptimal utilization of resources. This can further cause revenue loss, project delays, and a decline in employee satisfaction.

These are some of the challenges that lead to ineffective resource planning. Now let’s look into some of the best ways to manage resources across multiple projects efficiently.

Strategies for effective resource planning across multiple projects

Now the question arises- What is the best way to manage multiple projects?

In a multi-project environment, resource planning is non-negotiable as it enables managers to monitor and track resources across multiple projects and activities.

Here are some 7 strategies that will help to keep everything on track without disappointing any stakeholder within your business.

Gain 360-degree visibility of all resource profiles

A Multidimensional resource scheduler facilitates identifying and allocating appropriate resources to the right project at the right time. With a unified Gantt chart view of the enterprise, it offers 360-degree visibility of all resource profiles and schedules that can help deploy them to the project based on their skills and availability. In addition, the comprehensive view of all resources allows managers to optimize utilization levels and increase revenue and employee satisfaction.

Prioritize projects

Resource management in a shared-services model becomes complex when supervised by two or more managers. Therefore, it is appropriate to categorize projects based on priorities and keep an updated list of tasks that needs to be done by shared resources. This will also help shared resources to be more effective and get involved with more billable and strategic initiatives.

Distribute key resources uniformly across projects

An efficient resource allocation will ensure that no resource is under or over-utilized against their available capacity. In this case, the resource managers can create a revised resource schedule to distribute them uniformly across projects. Resource Leveling and Resource Smoothing are the two strategic techniques that can be used to maintain uniformity.

Enable out rotation and backfill strategy

Strategic resource planning helps managers to out rotate an internal niche skilled resource from an existing project to kick-start a new critical project. To ensure that the previous project’s quality is not compromised, they can imply a backfill strategy, i.e., fill a resource with similar skills. A resource is short-listed for out rotation if the concerned person is not involved with any important activities.

Encourage multi skill building

Implementing skill-building programs that promote sharing and application of one’s knowledge is critical to the success of any organization. Managers should therefore invest in training and development activities to encourage multi-skill building among resources. Furthermore, when a resource’s primary skills are not matching any suitable vacancy, they can be made billable using their secondary skill sets, thereby improving billability.

In addition, Individual Development Plans or IDPs help employees learn new skills and enhance their work performance per their interests. It enables managers to align employee training with the goals and objectives of an organization.

Leverage cost-effective global resources

Developing a proper resource planning strategy that brings in cost-effective global resources and facilitates global resource management helps to control the project budgets. For example, managers can use a multi-location policy to identify and allocate cost-effective global resources from low-cost locations and control project costs.

Determine proper guidelines for matrix organizations

Given the complexity of a matrix organizational structure, where every single resource has dual or multiple reporting and accountability, the onus is on the managers to ensure resources are utilized optimally against their capacity. The shared-service model of highly skilled resources between functional units and projects lets managers check one pool of resources to fill the project’s demand.

A proper resource management tool provides data-driven insights into resource availability, utilization, and capacity, letting managers forecast the demand in advance.

These are some of the best practices to create a well-defined project resource plan.

Conclusion

Managing resources and projects are the two sides of the same coin. Some call it an art, and some categorize it as science to plan resources effectively across multiple projects! One needs to consider the project scope, financials, and every other essential aspect before creating a project resource plan.

But to effectively plan resources and maintain business profitability, it helps to use a powerful resource management tool customized to one’s requirements.

It provides a unified view among resources and ensures everyone has a broad view of different projects. It also significantly helps managers make informed decisions that enhance all business operations and boost resource utilization and productivity.

How do you manage multiple projects and deadlines in your organization? Are you leveraging appropriate project resource management solutions to resolve resourcing bottlenecks?

The Glossary

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in providing the most potent and configurable solutions for . Having more than 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence in over 50 countries. It is also popular with more than 100 customers and helping them to achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software which can be easily customized as per business requirements. , professional service automation, and workforce planning software which can be easily customized as per business requirements.

The same applies to an organization’s workforce. Keeping them busy doesn’t necessarily imply that they are productive. Employees should add value, contribute to organizational growth, and help meet strategic goals.

However, it’s not as easy as it sounds. There are several productivity killers at the workplace that can negatively influence employees’ performance. Some of them are intrinsic, including a lack of motivation, personal issues, etc. The extrinsic factors are poor ergonomics, inconducive work environment, unclear roles and responsibilities, biased treatment, etc.

Therefore, organizations must identify these productivity killers and take measures to combat them effectively. It will help maintain a high-performance culture and enhance employee engagement.

This article enlists these productivity killers and proven ways to beat them. But before that, let’s first understand:

Why does employee productivity matter?

Highly productive employees are more actively involved in organizational activities and engage with their coworkers on a regular basis. Moreover, when the workforce is productive, they give 100% effort to the task assigned, which enhances the quality of products/services and enriches the customer experience.

Increased productivity ensures timely project delivery, preventing unnecessary overhead costs incurred due to schedule overruns, sub-optimal efficiency, etc. All these reasons are why employee productivity takes center stage for every enterprise.

The following section discusses some major productivity killers that affect the workplace.

8 major productivity killers at the workplace and how to overcome them

As discussed above, various factors can affect productivity at the workplace. They can range from work stress and unfair treatment to workplace distractions and micromanagement.

Let’s understand each of them in detail and how to tackle it effectively.

Unclear roles and responsibilities

A lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities makes it challenging for employees to figure out what exactly they are supposed to do. With this ambiguity, they fail to understand how they contribute to the enterprise’s success, which eventually lowers their engagement. Moreover, it may lead to conflicts arising out of the loss of every individual’s accountability or ownership. All this can cumulatively hamper the team’s productivity.

So how do you combat this issue?

Solution – Clearly define key responsibilities to avoid role ambiguities

No matter how competent your resources are, they can only give their best when they have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. This gives them a sense of purpose, making them better positioned to align their efforts with the organization’s end goals. Once they understand the expectations, they are more inclined to contribute and put their best foot forward, which elevates their work rate.

For example, if you are managing a marketing team, and the strategic goal is to increase website traffic and generate leads, you should convey this and then explain the key responsibility areas (KRAs). It will help every individual contributor understand how their work will help attain the end goal.

Frequent and unnecessary meetings or emails

Frequent meetings or calls, particularly those without any pre-decided agenda and discussion points, consume a significant amount of time from employees’ daily schedules. Moreover, when each member is invited to attend a meeting that does not require their input or contributions, it blocks the time they could have spent on critical work. Furthermore, constantly being distracted by email or other app notifications can also become a roadblock for productivity.

So, how to tackle this issue?

Solution – Set a standard protocol and agenda for every communication

Managers should ensure that meetings are held only on pressing matters and as deemed necessary. Moreover, they should set the agenda beforehand, circulate previous minutes of the meeting, and only invite those directly involved with the topic of discussion. Further, the management should check everyone’s availability beforehand and schedule the meeting accordingly.

Similarly, while sending emails, the senders must refrain from adding people who are not required. It will help employees keep their focus intact and improve productivity. Moreover, a standard protocol must be developed to ensure the right use of asynchronous and synchronous modes of communication to minimize unnecessary meetings and other threads.

Non-uniform workload distribution

Non-uniform workload distribution is one of the most significant productivity killers at work. If a resource is overutilized, it will cause fatigue and burnout, whereas if they are underutilized, it will lead to disengagement. Moreover, when an under-skilled resource is working on a critical task, they may feel clueless. On the contrary, an experienced resource allocated to an admin task will not be able to utilize their expertise the right way. All these scenarios can lower an employee’s work rate.

So, what is the solution?

Solution – Ensure uniform workload distribution

The managers should consider resources’ availability and utilization rates before scheduling them for project tasks. It will ascertain that every resource is working according to their available capacity.

A resource management tool warns managers in real-time if they overbook a resource in real-time, thus preventing burnout.

In case an employee is overutilized, managers can also optimize their schedules using appropriate resource optimization techniques and retain their productivity.

Furthermore, managers must ensure competent resource allocation to prevent a skills mismatch. They can implement the tool and gain enterprise-wide visibility of the resource pool and their skillsets. Using the advanced filters, they can ascertain that the right person is working on the right task.

Favoritism and non-conducive work environment

Favoritism at the workplace can be counterproductive. First, sometimes the favored employees, intentionally or unintentionally, can neglect their duties, disturb healthy team dynamics, and lower overall productivity. Second, bias may make the remaining people feel undervalued and disconnected from the team, which will negatively impact their productivity.

Additionally, poor ergonomics and physiological conditions such as ventilation and illumination, etc., can also hamper employees’ physical and mental well-being, reflecting in poor work rate and performance.

How can you mitigate this issue?

Solution – Build an inclusive and conducive work culture

The key to overcoming this productivity challenge is fostering a diverse, inclusive, and positive work culture. Therefore, managers should treat their team members equally irrespective of various backgrounds, ethnicities, races, etc., and conduct dedicated training sessions to inculcate diversity intelligence. It will facilitate mutual understanding and respect among team members, and foster a positive work culture, thus resulting in better productivity.

Besides, organizations must provide proper ergonomics and a physically and mentally conducive workspace. For instance, exposing employees to more natural light or LEDs that produce similar lighting effects can keep them energized and highly productive.

Micromanagement and lack of trust in employees

Research reveals- 79% of respondents said that the micromanagement they experienced interfered with job performance.

Often, managers tend to be skeptical of their subordinates and their capabilities, making them resort to micromanagement instead of supervision and guidance. Micromanagement makes the workforce feel less valued and trusted. It also deprives employees of their freedom to be creative and innovative. This reduces their morale and lowers productivity.

So, how do you beat this productivity challenge?

Solution – Delegate responsibilities and promote autonomy

Entrusting resources with the right roles and responsibilities fosters a culture of autonomy and individual accountability. When the onus is on resources to complete the work all by themselves, they are sure to do it with increased focus and dedication.

In addition, providing regular constructive feedback without penalizing employees for every small mistake motivates them to learn and grow without the fear of retribution. All of it helps them perform to their full potential, increases their productivity, and contributes to the company’s growth and sustainability.

Ineffective employee rewards and recognition policy

A survey reveals that 66% of employees say they would likely leave their job if they didn’t feel appreciated.

Employees put in a lot of hard work and effort to prove their mettle and accomplish every task with utmost diligence. However, if it is not acknowledged and suitably rewarded, it will lower their interest, disengage them, consequently, reducing their productivity.

Solution – Appreciate employees’ effort and good work regularly

Appreciation and acknowledgement of good work are imperative to overcome this productivity killer. Rewarding high-performers makes them happy and motivated to keep doing better in the long run. It also encourages others to perform at their best, set new benchmarks, and receive recognition.

The management can reward employees with salary increments, bonuses, extra paid leaves, free gym memberships, etc., as appropriate. For exceptional performances, both promotions and increments can also be given on a case-to-case basis.

Lack of initiative in employees’ professional development

Every resource has personal aspirations regarding their career and professional growth. However, the absence of an Individual Development Program to cater to them may generate dissatisfaction and insecurity. Moreover, monotonous work responsibilities without any new areas to explore and learn about can disengage them. All these factors cumulatively lower productivity in the long haul.

What is the ideal solution to deal with this?

Solution – Implement suitable upskilling/training programs

Companies should understand every individual’s career goals and create a feasible roadmap to help achieve them. They can also assess the employees’ performance and find areas where they need learning. Accordingly, they can initiate upskilling/training programs at all hierarchical levels.

These programs help resources acquire new skills and competencies and expand their portfolios. It will also give them opportunities to participate in multi-faceted projects. Additionally, the fact that the organization respects employees’ career goals while keeping theirs in mind reinforces a sense of belonging and purpose. As a result, employees will be more productive and dedicated to work.

Absence of the right tool inventory

The advent of the digital era has introduced different software that can help ease employees’ workload and let them focus on strategic activities. However, suppose an organization fails to implement these tools and technologies. In that case, it will lead to employees spending their time on admin and BAU activities, shifting their focus from human-critical work. Thus, a lack of the right tool inventory becomes a significant hurdle for workforce productivity.

Solution – Equip employees with the right software and tools

The management can look into each department’s technology and/or infrastructure requirements and fulfill them effectively. For instance, graphic designers may need two desktops and premium graphic designing tools. So, organizations can invest in the necessary tools and tech to help designers do their job more efficiently.

Furthermore, managers should also stay abreast of technological advancements and adopt them. So, they should constantly evaluate the health of the current tool inventory and replace the old software or tools with the latest ones to help employees stay productive.

Pairing the ways mentioned above with resource management software will help boost productivity to the next level.

Let’s see how.

How can resource management software help boost productivity?

Resource management software and its advanced features enhance productivity in different ways, as follows.

• It provides enterprise-wide visibility of the resource pool, their profiles, competencies, skills, etc. The advanced filter helps select and allocate the best-fit resource for each job, thus ensuring productivity.
• Managers can view the utilization levels on a comprehensive color-coded heatmap to understand if anyone is over or underutilized and take corrective measures.
• Additionally, the forecast-vs-actual time or utilization reports also help understand the actual time taken against the planned estimates. In case there is a deviation, managers can connect with the respective team members, understand the reasons, and offer appropriate guidance to course-correct. Lastly, the managers can also consider the employees’ interests in addition to skill requirements and assign the work accordingly. It will help foster higher engagement and commitment and enhance productivity.

Additional productivity hacks

In the words of Paul J. Meyer, an American writer and the pioneer of the self-improvement industry, “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”

Therefore, the onus is on the managers to take the lead in maximizing workforce productivity. In addition, employees can also follow a few productivity hacks to excel at the workplace. They are as follows:

• Declutter the desk before starting the daily work for a clear and structured mindset.
• Minimize the use of social media or non-work-related web surfing during work hours.
• Prepare a to-do list, prioritize tasks, and work accordingly.
• Group similar tasks together, assign time limits, and adhere to them.
• Use the Pomodoro technique to break your work into small chunks, complete them, and take small breaks after finishing each.

So, what are the productivity killers that you face at the workplace?

The Glossary

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in offering the most powerful and configurable solutions for managing enterprise resources efficiently and effectively. Having more than 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence in over 50 countries. It is also popular with more than 100 customers and helps them achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software which can be easily customized as per business requirements.

How did social media support organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The power of social media came to light during the COVID-19 pandemic when organizations faced an unprecedented shift. It came in the form of mandated work from home, which took a toll on employee productivity and mental well-being, as everyone was isolated. During this time, social media sites became a platform to stay connected with peers and updated on the latest news and information. Nearly all social media sites amped up their features to incorporate the new business model. Moreover, the ongoing pandemic accelerated the use of online forum discussions to facilitate professionals to share industry-related insights and ways to transition to the new normal. Most organizations enhanced their presence on LinkedIn, where they promoted employees to share stories of professional and personal growth, challenges, etc. This helped everyone feel they were not alone in this. Moreover, social media has also become a preferred platform for global hiring. Additionally, many companies encouraged their employees to post their work from home pictures and videos on social media to foster a positive environment. Overall, social media has become a powerful way to promote employee well-being and connect with co-workers. Now let’s take a look at the benefits of using social media for business.

Why is social media important for your business?

Social media is an effective platform for businesses to enhance their customer reach, sales, and profit margins. It offers a myriad of benefits. Here’s a list of compelling reasons to build your brand’s social media presence right away.

Positions the organization on a global platform

There are 3.96 billion social media users as of 2022, and the number is projected to grow to 4.41 billion by 2025. Given the exponential user growth rate, no organization can ignore this as an effective tool to make a mark in the marketplace. When organizations create their social media profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, they inadvertently open their doors to a global audience. And as a result, they can target a larger clientele. Brands like GoPro, Nike, Spotify, Wayfair, and Starbucks are some examples that stand out in positioning their brand on the global map. Using different social media sites, one can engage with their customers, respond to their needs better, and even collaborate with the influencers to target the right audience.

Streamlines communication in a hybrid setup

The after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have split the workforce into three groups, in-office, hybrid, and remote, making collaboration a tedious process. Social media works as a bridge in these challenging situations by enabling employees to communicate effortlessly. It is faster than most traditional communication tools like email and other messaging software that have their own limitations. Furthermore, the informal nature of social media allows the Gen Zs and the millennial-led workforce to communicate seamlessly.

Leads to organic traffic and boosts sales

Social media is instrumental in getting organic traffic that eventually generates leads for businesses. Using social media analytics, businesses can target their customers by tracking their activity and also pay for sponsored ads to increase top-of-the-mind recall value. Thus, when customers plan to buy a product or service in that niche, the brand becomes their first choice. For example, people refer to Xerox when they want a photocopy and Coca-cola when they want a soft drink. In addition, brands today run attractive contests in collaboration with social media influencers and build a community that they can leverage to drive sales.

Networking with the right audience and tracking competitors

Social media helps businesses tremendously when connecting and networking with the right people. Further, it serves as an online marketplace where vendors meet their potential customers. The actionable insights provided by social media apps help brands understand their target audience, purchase history, and their buying behavior. Leveraging this data, they can approach them at the right time in their buying journey. Furthermore, businesses can run an extensive competitor analysis to determine the strengths, content type, audience engagement, gaps, and threats. They can use these insights to make data-driven decisions and amplify their social media marketing game. Along with this, even employees get a chance to connect with the professionals in their domain and gain industry knowledge.

Facilitates training and personal development for employees

The advent of remote work and online education has propelled social media apps to add a new feature to their existing suite. Popular platforms like LinkedIn learning, edWeb, Edmodo, ISTE community, and Ted-Ed have become the first preference for professional learning and career development. Employees can use their free time to access and learn more about their industry from training modules and articles shared on these platforms. Organizations also sponsor these courses for their workforce to gain a competitive advantage.

Improves employee acknowledgement and retention

Since employees are working remotely, organizations can avail social media to acknowledge their hard work. They can add their employees’ pictures with captions talking about the tangible benefits their commitment brought to the company. This fosters a sense of accomplishment amongst the employees, and they can share these posts on their profiles to enhance credibility. It also helps increase the employee retention rate because they feel valued and recognized.

Helps recruit the right talent across geographies

According to Glassdoor, 72% of people look up their jobs on social media. Using social media as a hiring medium is an ongoing trend for most organizations. Businesses can recruit from a global talent pool by leveraging their social media presence. Moreover, job seekers are more likely to apply to a company with a strong brand presence online, reflecting their work culture. One of the prime examples is the well-known food chain McDonald’s. They used Snapchat in Canada to hire employees by taking an innovative approach. They tweaked the term applications to “snaplications” to attract the Genz and millennials as they were the prime targets. Aspirants could upload a thirty-second video sharing why they want to work at the burger franchise. Organizations can implement social media to elevate employee productivity, not just business benefits. Here are some ways to get started.

Tips on using social media to enhance employee productivity

When organizations use social media wisely and strategically, it can be beneficial in improving employee productivity in the long run. Here’s how;

Formulate a personalized social media calendar

Organizations heavily invest in building their social media presence and creating content around their brand on different platforms. However, the best practice is to create a content calendar that will help employees plan their schedules ahead of time. Further, it will prevent any clash on priority and enable employees to prepare the necessary content on time. For example, if the social media team prepares three posts a week, including videos, reels, and infographics, they can schedule the posts a week prior. This will ensure better time management and productivity, helping organizations consistently keep their audience engaged.

Encourage employees to take mental breaks for a healthy work-life balance

Due to various reasons like high workload, tight deadlines, etc., employees could miss out on taking breaks. However, constant work or long working hours can lead to burnout, lowering productivity. When employees consume social media content for entertainment, it releases dopamine, which activates the brain’s pleasure and reward center. Therefore, employees are rejuvenated and return with increased enthusiasm and vigor to continue work. They can also read some inspirational stories for a productivity boost if they feel disengaged.

Create an online community for employees

Organizations can create an online community or forum on social media to help employees connect and communicate with like-minded people from their domain. They can raise questions and doubts, discuss trends, seek expert advice, and understand conceptual topics. These forums can work as a means of getting a third-party perspective on processes from professionals outside the organization. Employees can also utilize these online communities to collaborate on innovative ideas. It can expedite problem-solving, elevating productivity.

Use social media platforms for rewards and recognition

As discussed earlier, organizations can leverage social media to recognize their employees. One way is to post their story on LinkedIn, which helps boost employee morale or create a shout-out on stories and reels crediting an employee’s hard work. Sharing employee’s contribution gives them a sense of purpose as they will be able to see the conspicuous results of their efforts. It will also encourage them to work harder to attain further goals, helping them be more productive. Additionally, an enhanced feeling of joy and inclusivity will enhance employee retention.

Set clear goals and tasks for social media

Social media can increase sales and reach a target audience, but doing it unorganized can do more harm than good. Therefore, social media managers can set clear goals and objectives every month. When employees get clear information in advance, they can divide the work accordingly. Moreover, organizations can first state the objective of using social media. For example, some may use it to hire global talent, while others seek to generate leads and increase sales. Clarifying the objective before executing the social media strategy will help employees put their efforts in the right direction, thus enhancing productivity.

Conclusion

As mentioned in this blog, leveraging social platforms in the workplace the right way can contribute to employee productivity. Therefore, it’s high time organizations encouraged their employees to use social media constructively and not perceive it as a source of distraction. Coupled with best practices, the strategies mentioned above can help you put social media to the best use.

The Glossary

The Saviom Solution:

SAVIOM is the market leader in offering the most powerful and configurable solutions for managing enterprise resources efficiently and effectively. Having more than 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence in over 50 countries. It is also popular with more than 100 customers and helps them achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software which can be easily customized as per business requirements.

Productive companies have 30-50% higher operating margins than their counterparts.

So, it is evident that every organization must aim for maximum productivity. It increases profitability and promotes organizational growth.

However, organizations can only expect a productive workforce when they cater to their professional needs, expectations, and engagement. When employees are satisfied and feel valued, they will exhibit 100% commitment towards business success.

Now the pertinent question is, how can one enhance and maintain productivity?

One of the primary techniques employers can deploy is empowering their workforce. Empowerment follows the principle of granting autonomy and decision-making power to the workforce.

It gives employees more freedom over their work and ensures accountability. In addition, when employees have control over their work process, it also enhances their engagement and productivity.

This article will explain in detail how employee empowerment contributes to enhanced productivity.

First, let’s define.

What is employee empowerment?

Employee empowerment is a management strategy where the workforce is given the necessary tools and resources to manage tasks and make decisions without constant supervision. It is the opposite of micromanagement, where managers closely monitor and control employees’ every activity.

Through empowerment, employees gain a certain degree of autonomy and responsibility regarding their specific projects and tasks. As a result, the workforce can function with less oversight from the management. However, practicing empowerment demands a high degree of trust between employers and employees.

Now that the basics are covered, let’s look at why employee empowerment is essential for an organization.

Why is employee empowerment important?

Employee empowerment plays a significant role in creating a positive work environment that promotes individual and organizational growth. It makes employees feel valued and respected as they are delegated critical tasks.

It also encourages employees to choose their areas of interest across functions based on their skills. This way, they put extra effort and commitment into the projects at hand. When employees give in more than 100%, it naturally improves the overall quality of the work.

Once employees are highly motivated and engaged in their work, they will act as brand ambassadors and recommend the organization to potential employees.

Empowering work culture will also help attract top talent and increase the company’s retention rates.

As discussed earlier, employee empowerment evokes a sense of ownership and accountability. Furthermore, when employees feel entrusted, it will boost their satisfaction and loyalty, which plays an instrumental role in enhancing productivity.

The following section discusses the various ways in which empowerment improves the productivity of an organization.

How does employee empowerment enhance productivity?

As mentioned above, employee empowerment is crucial for both individual development and organizational profitability. The section below discusses some ways in which empowerment can help you form a productive workforce,

Fosters accountability and a sense of responsibility

Delegating significant tasks and projects to capable employees makes them realize that their managers trust their skills and capabilities to complete the project efficiently. For example, suppose you are managing a software development project. In that case, you can ask the software developer to form a blueprint based on the client’s expectations instead of providing the design yourself. It will help the developer be more proactive while unleashing their creativity and increase a sense of commitment.

Since managers entrust employees with responsibilities, they will be more accountable at work to keep their trust intact. Therefore, they will work harder and avoid errors as they feel responsible for the results. Moreover, having accountability will ensure active participation and involvement, thereby improving their performance and productivity.

Boosts employee engagement and motivation

Empowering your employees is synonymous with giving them leeway to explore ways to accomplish tasks within a stipulated time. Thus, it makes them feel trusted and valued and boosts their confidence. Autonomy also enables the workforce to present their innovative ideas and offer diverse perspectives that can help resolve a challenge faster.

Moreover, when employees understand how their efforts boost the company’s overall growth, they will go the extra mile and work harder to support organizational goals. All these cumulatively elevates the sense of belonging, responsibility, and engagement, which leads to a better work rate.

Provides a fair platform for innovation

Empowerment fosters creativity and innovation through task ownership. When employees are encouraged to go beyond their horizons and innovate, they will bring a fresh perspective to the table.

Thus, empowerment promotes innovation by providing employees a platform to share and deliver their unique ideas and opinions and, if feasible, translate them into reality. When these individuals come from different backgrounds with different skillsets, they open the doors for more out-of-the-box and novel ideas. If their ideas turn into reality, they will feel a sense of achievement, and if they don’t materialize for a specific reason, they still feel encouraged to express their thoughts. Either way, both circumstances increase their commitment to work harder and put in their best efforts.

Promotes continuous improvement through regular feedback

Constructive feedback is an integral part of employee empowerment. It will help managers review employees’ performance and identify the areas of improvement. Accordingly, employees can understand the performance gaps and work on filling them. It will also help them learn, upskill and grow professionally.

Feedback offers employees a path of self-improvement and a sense of direction through various suggestions and inputs from the managers. As a result, they identify their true potential and push their limits to go beyond their comfort zone and deliver exemplary results. In addition, feedback reflects the active participation of the employer in the employee’s development. Thus, it motivates them to work harder and be more productive.

Eliminates micromanagement and garners a positive work environment

Micromanagement is the opposite of employee empowerment, wherein managers exercise excessive control over every minor detail of an employee’s work. Consequently, it lowers the productivity and performance of the workforce as they are under excessive supervision, which hampers their trust and belongingness. Furthermore, since managers are highly involved in projects, employees do not have any autonomy over their work. Therefore, it affects their creativity and leads to disengagement.

A survey on micromanagement states,

71% of respondents said being micromanaged interfered with their job performance, while 85% said their morale was negatively impacted

The whole idea of employee empowerment is to eliminate this practice. When employees are entrusted with their work, it negates the feeling of resentment and allows them to build a positive relationship with their managers. This, in turn, will lead to a positive work environment, which is a significant contributor to better productivity.

Provides diverse opportunities for professional growth

Managers use methods like skill-building and coaching to empower their workforce. They provide upskilling programs and shadowing to train talented employees for new roles. Instead of the traditional hierarchical structure, many organizations allow lateral movements across functions. This allows cross-functional collaboration and helps employees diversify their work portfolio by participating in multi-faceted projects.

In addition, attaining new skills and competencies will make employees more efficient and productive, increasing the quality of deliverables.

The strategies mentioned above will help managers enhance workforce productivity through empowerment. Pairing these with robust resource management software will provide you with an extra edge.

Let’s take a look,

How does resource management software empower employees?

In an employee-centric organization, it is imperative to empower your workforce and tap into their maximum potential. Enterprise-grade resource management software helps you achieve that and more. It helps create vacancies and publish the requirements across the enterprise so that every relevant resource matching the qualifying criteria can show interest.

Then the resource managers can consider employee’s interests along with the required skills, experience, capacity, availability, etc. Accordingly, managers can allocate tasks to best-fit resources based on their interests and ability. This automatically engages the resources and will propel them to perform better and stay productive.

Conclusion

It is now evident that empowering employees can enhance productivity and increase profitability.

Below are some additional tips managers can use to empower their workforce:

• Grant autonomy and authority overwork.
• Promote a culture of trust and respect
• Delegate responsibilities and tasks
• Provide employees with tools and resources to enhance work efficiency
• Communicate roles and responsibilities
• Encourage employees to take calculated risk and learn from it
• Be open to mistakes and help them course-correct it
• Provide regular constructive feedback
• Promote an open-door policy
• Invest in training and upskilling programs
• Reward and recognize employees’ hard work and achievements

The Glossary

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in offering the most powerful and configurable solutions for managing enterprise resources efficiently and effectively. Having more than 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence in over 50 countries. It is also popular with more than 100 customers and helps them achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software which can be easily customized as per business requirements

However, there may be situations where even your most experienced and skilled resources fail to produce desired outcomes. This low productivity and performance can be attributed to multiple factors such as low motivation, excessive workload, etc.

As a manager, you will implement various measures to ensure that resources work to their full potential so that the project is on track. These strategies can be conducting feedback meetings, holding motivational or stress management sessions, and so on.

However, in addition to these, another effective and more practical tactic one can deploy is workforce optimization which ensures that the employees spend most of their time in billable or strategic activities.

This blog shall cover the essentials of optimizing employees’ schedules and enhancing their productivity.

But first, let’s understand what the term means.

What is workforce optimization?

Workforce optimization can be considered as a business strategy or a management practice used to enhance the productivity, efficiency, and performance of the employees. The ultimate goal of workforce optimization is to leverage the employees’ potential to the maximum extent and improve business profitability.

In the project and resource management landscape, it comprises planning, forecasting, allocating, scheduling, and optimizing utilization of the organizational resources. It is done in two different stages, which are:

• The resource manager’s level and
• The project manager’s level.

To better understand the nitty-gritty of this concept, let’s consider there are two projects in the pipeline. One is an external billable software development project, and the other is an internal non-billable but strategic product-upgradation project.

The first question is – which project will be given precedence? Next, where will the resources be allocated first? These questions are addressed after meticulous strategic thinking at the resource manager’s level.

The following section explains how the project is selected and how resource managers allocate the resources.

Workforce optimization at resource manager’s level

Here is a rundown of the steps that the resource manager follows for optimizing the workforce:

Prioritizing projects before allocating resources

Continuing with the previous example, after getting the resource requests for both projects, the resource manager will first analyze them. As the software development project is billable, it will generate revenue and enhance profitability. On the other hand, because the product-upgradation project is strategic, it can be taken up gradually, keeping the long-term goal in mind. However, the billable one will require immediate attention since the client’s expectations are riding with it, and it will also have a specific deadline. If delivered successfully, it would enhance profitability, customer satisfaction, and brand reputation.

Given the end result and returns, the resource manager prioritizes the software development project. Following this, he/she starts with the resource deployment process.

Out-rotating resources from less profitable projects to strategic or profitable ones

Following the selection of the project and understanding its requirements, the resource manager will analyze the existing resource pool and identify the competencies. Then they can look at the availability and utilization of the shortlisted candidates. Managers can implement a resource management tool to get these insights on a centralized platform.

However, if the resource manager finds that the available capacity for the project is less than the demand, they can analyze the schedules of those resources currently working on other projects. For example, suppose a few critical resources with matching skill sets are working on a low-priority project. Then, the resource manager can negotiate with the project managers, out-rotate them from ongoing activities and allocate them to the new project. Moreover, they can backfill the positions with similar skilled resources to keep the projects going.

Implementing resourcing measures to bridge the shortage/excess of resources

Soon after mobilizing critical resources to the high-priority project, the resource manager will analyze the remaining resource demand to understand and assess the gap. If there is a shortage of resources, then the resource manager can undertake specific resourcing treatments such as hiring new resources, training and upskilling benched resources, etc.

Otherwise, if there is an excess of resources, the resource manager may communicate with the project manager and the key stakeholders and bring forward some projects. These measures can help the resource manager ensure that there is no gap in demand and capacity and every resource is utilized to a maximum extent.

Allocating competent resources to the suitable projects at the right time

After bridging the demand gap, the resource manager can propose the short-listed resources to the project manager. If the project manager approves the resources, then he/she can book them for the software development project.

On the contrary, if the project manager does not accept some of the proposed resources, then the resource manager can continue the search until the project manager is content with the suggested resource pool. Following this, he/she can allocate the resources to the project.

At the same time, the resources denied by the project manager can be allocated to other strategic projects or training/development programs depending on the requirements, to ensure their utilization. Following these steps, a resource manager ascertains that every resource is productive and utilized up to its potential.

These steps consolidate the workforce optimization process from the resource manager’s end. After this, the onus lies on project managers to optimize their team’s schedules and maximize productivity.

The following section will cover the same information,

Workforce optimization at the project manager’s level

Workforce optimization is a continuous process, and every position has to take appropriate measures to achieve it. The previous section highlighted the role of a resource manager in this regard.

Similarly, the project manager also follows similar methods as described below:

Ensuring the uniform distribution of workload

In the first step, the project manager will schedule the allocated resources for the specific project tasks. While doing so, they must ensure that none of the resources are under/overloaded with the work against their capacity. For instance, if the project manager finds that certain resources have a high workload, then he/she can implement resource leveling/smoothing techniques.

If the timeline is flexible, the project manager may adopt leveling methods and adjust the project’s duration as per the resources’ schedules, to prevent overutilization. Otherwise, if the timeline is rigid, they can go for the smoothing technique and adjust their schedule by re-prioritizing and keeping the float or slack tasks for later. And if that is not possible, they can bring in more resources to support the task execution.

One critical factor that leads to over or underwork is biases from the project manager’s end. For instance, they may overload the experienced resources or whom they have worked with previously and give minimal work to others. As a result, it leads to burnout in some team members while others spend idle time due to insufficient work. That shouldn’t be the case; the project manager must ensure every team member is given fair opportunity and tapped into their maximum potential.

Improving the billable utilization of every resource

Once the scheduling is over and the project kick starts, the project manager is responsible for tracking the progress regularly. From the workforce standpoint, they will monitor the billable utilization. For this purpose, they can use a resource management solution to compare the forecasted billable utilization against the actuals. That way, the manager can measure the variance and take corrective actions as necessary.

For example, let’s consider that you are managing a project, and you forecasted 10 hours of billable work for a particular resource. But that resource ends up spending 20 hours on the task. Thus, there will be a significant variance between the two. Based on this, you can communicate with the resources and find ways to mitigate the situation. You can resolve if there are any gaps in the resource’s understanding of the task or provide additional help if required. At the same time, you can assess if the resource estimation was faulty and whether you want to procure an extra resource.

Upskilling the resource as per project’s standards

Often resources are not 100% compatible with the allocated project task. Therefore, they might require some training or upskilling to do justice and ensure the quality of the deliverable. Hence, the project manager can conduct upskilling programs for some resources before the project starts. For instance, let’s consider that the software development project requires a resource with core java skills. The resource manager allocated a resource having similar competencies but as a secondary skillset. The project manager can now conduct necessary training or upskilling programs to hone that resource’s skills and bring him/her up to the mark.

Secondly, let’s take another situation where a junior resource was allocated to the project due to the unavailability of senior resources. After some time, the project manager finds that this resource feels frustrated and finds it difficult to keep up due to the lack of required expertise. At this moment, they can negotiate with the project managers of the other projects and pull in an experienced resource who is about to get released from a project. Thus, he can allow shadowing opportunities for the under-skilled resource. These measures will help the project manager ensure that the work is completed as required and within the timeline.

Release extra resources if they are not required

There may be situations where the project manager estimated more resources than required, creating a buffer. Naturally, the resource manager also identified extra resources during fulfillment. But soon after the execution, the project manager realizes that some resources are not needed and can be released. Therefore, they can be assigned to other projects or put into training programs.

Taking the same software development project example, let’s consider that the project manager estimated ten testers. But during the testing and QA tasks, he/she realizes that only seven of them can pull off the task. Consequently, the project manager can coordinate with the concerned resource manager to release the additional members and make them available for other projects.

In conclusion, workforce optimization goes beyond managing resource schedules. It is a culmination of multiple processes that enhance resources’ productivity and performance. Additionally, it requires collective efforts from both resource and project manager’s ends.

The following section elaborates on how a resource management solution can help in workforce optimization.

How resource management software helps in workforce optimization

From the previous sections, it is evident that workforce optimization is a significant part of your job description if you are a project or a resource manager. And to assist you with that, a resource management software can be very beneficial.

We have already mentioned how an effective resource management solution can make your job easy. It can help allocate competent resources to projects, forward plan pipeline opportunities, monitor and maximize profitable utilization, reduce resourcing costs, improve resource health index, etc. In addition, using simulation and modeling techniques, the tool helps managers arrive at the best possible outcome and accordingly juggle resources across projects. Moreover, it also provides real-time business intelligence reports with actionable insights that will strengthen your decision-making process. In a nutshell, resource management software can be a game-changer in optimizing the workforce.

The final section will describe how you can optimize the workforce and improve productivity.

Tips on how to optimize your workforce

Here’s how you can optimize the workforce and improve productivity:

• Competent allocation allows resources to work on the right projects that align with their competencies and availability. Hence, they can put in their best efforts, thereby improving their productivity.
• Maximizing productive utilization enables resources to work on profitable projects. Thus, it also improves their billability and productivity since they generate revenue.
• Appropriate upskilling allows resources to hone their skills. As a result, they can improve their performance and produce better results in projects.
• Automation of mundane tasks allows resources to focus on what is essential. Consequently, it boosts efficiency.
• Considering the interests of the resource before assigning work can keep them engaged and increase productivity.
• Lastly, uniform workload distribution prevents over/underutilization and, thus, eliminates burnout. Optimal utilization improves resources’ morale, therefore, uplifting their productivity.

Conclusion

In this employee-centric era, workforce optimization plays a significant role. Apart from improving productivity, it increases accountability and sense of responsibility, reduces compliance risks, and maintains the overall resource health index.

Not just for employees, when implemented right, it also benefits the company. Successful project delivery, improved customer satisfaction, etc., are some of the benefits that the organization can avail. Besides, when your company gets known as one that values its employees, it helps boost its reputation. Thus, it also strengthens employee retention and talent attraction.

So, with all being said, what workforce optimization techniques are you following?

The Glossary

SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM has over 20 years of experience helping multinational clients manage their resources efficiently and effectively. With over 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence across 50 countries and has helped 100+ clients meet their specific business goals. Saviom also provides tools for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software. So, SAVIOM can help your business to establish an efficient system geared towards your specific business challenges

Is it a group of similar-aged individuals or a collective group of different generations working together? If it’s the latter, then you are unknowingly embracing a multigenerational workforce.

As of 2021, workers from four generations are active in the workplace: baby boomers, millennials, Generation X and Generation Z.

You must have leveraged the benefits of being a part of a cross-generational talent pool. But, at the same time, the mindset shifts that surface when extreme generations work in one team might have caught up with you too.

From work preferences to cultural perspectives, each generation has different skills and psychological attributes in an organization. So how can employees from different generations blend their talents and experiences seamlessly to work effectively in the workplace? Or are the productivity issues stemming from generational differences inevitable?

Well, the optimal solution here is to leverage the strengths of each generation while also facilitating communication so that everyone is being heard and respected. That way, business owners will be able to manage a highly diverse workforce, foster diversity, and inclusion, and eventually boost productivity to meet changing business demands.

Here are just a few strategies that will help you to enhance the productivity of the multigenerational workplace.

But first, let’s get our basics right.

What is a multigenerational workforce?

An active workforce that comprises employees from different generations such as baby boomers, generation X, generation Y, and generation Z is known as the multigenerational workforce. During formative decades, major world events influenced these varied generations. These groups are defined as:

Baby Boomers (1946-1964)

Baby boomers are the oldest generation currently in the workforce. They range in age from 55 and 74. Many boomers have retired or will soon retire, with the youngest boomers turning 65 (the average retirement age) by 2029.

Gen X (1965-1980)

Generation X, sometimes known as “the middle child,” is the generation between the baby boomers and the millennials. Individuals of Gen X range in age from 40 to 55.

Millennials/Gen Y (1981-1996)

Drastic socioeconomic changes have influenced millennials. As of 2021, millennials range in age from 24 to 40 and make up most of the current workforce.

Gen Z (1997-present)

The newest workforce members, Gen Z, are between the ages of 23 and infancy as of 2021. They are the first true tech natives, having never known a world without the internet as it exists today.

Now, let’s understand the significance of the multigenerational workforce in an organization here;

What are the benefits of a multigenerational workforce?

According to a study by Randstad that surveyed 400 employees, 83% claimed that working in an age-diverse team allows them to develop more innovative ideas and solutions.

For instance, in a project, you need a diversity of mindsets, skills, and experience to meet your objectives. You need speed, agility, technical prowess, and diligence, but you also need thought leadership and wisdom from experience.

Employees of different ages bring myriad experiences, ideas, and thoughts to the table. Thus, combining multiple generations is a great way to resolve issues and deduce the best possible solution for project-centric challenges.

Digitalization and innovation are more familiar to younger individuals who grew up during the Digital Revolution. As a result, they are more willing to embrace new technologies and agile working methods. Gen X and baby boomers, on the other hand, may pass on their specialized expertise and industrial experience to the younger generation. They can assist them to achieve practical business objectives.

By encouraging such open collaboration, teams are empowered to co-create initiatives that combine past learnings with innovation for greater efficiency. Additionally, an internal talent pool also helps employers reduce hiring costs and build a future-ready workforce.

Apart from enhancing productivity, workplace diversity has a number of additional benefits, including improved profitability, team engagement and greater employer branding.

According to the EEOC research, there is a clear correlation between age and employee engagement, saying “workers aged 50 and older have the highest levels of workplace engagement”.

This stat explains the importance of integrating the baby boomers along with millennials and gen-zs at your workplace. The better their engagement, the better will be the productivity, which will eventually lead to timely project execution.

Now that, the significance of having a multi-gen workforce is evident. Let’s dive deeper to know the strategies to enhance productivity.

Some essential productivity tips for the multigenerational workplace

Despite the complexities of a multi-gen workforce, there are plenty of solutions you can do to ensure a positive and productive multigenerational workplace.

Here are some tips to help you:

Develop flexible work schedules for employees of all ages

Providing your multigenerational workforce with flexibility helps to accommodate various working styles. This essentially means offering variable work hours and providing safe space to the workforce to strike the ultimate work-life balance. In addition, employers can consider the age factors and find effective ways to support each one of the generations.

For instance, flexible work is one way to help employees of all ages. Gen X needs the flexibility to design their own workday around caretaking. Gen Y & Z may prefer working from home to allow them to finish an educational degree. Baby boomers may have mobility issues, preferring to work from home rather than commute. Thus, creating a culture of flexibility helps employees balance personal and professional lives, eventually enhancing productivity.

Promote professional development practices via reverse mentoring

Each age group possesses a lot of information, talent, abilities, and experience. It is in the best interests of the organization to establish channels via which this expertise may be shared. Consider a mentorship program that pairs baby boomers with millennials or Gen Z. The younger generations can take guidance and enhance their professional development for career advancement opportunities.

In addition, ‘reverse mentoring,’ in which younger resources mentor senior resources on technology and current trends, is becoming more popular. The extra benefit is that everyone in the office will be up to date on the latest technology and tools. It will help in the seamless adoption of advanced software and solutions. Furthermore, this technique can help to strengthen team bonds, allow members to learn from one another, and increase employee engagement.

Build a culture of inclusion to break generational barriers

There are several instances when people from different generations may disagree on their fair share of things. Thus, having a multi-gen team that can understand and respect these differences to work cohesively like an inclusive workforce will deliver better results, stay well connected, etc.

Employers are undoubtedly working hard to establish workplaces that are inclusive to everyone, but age diversity may be the most overlooked concept. When developing a diversity and inclusion policy, organizations must consider ageism and generation disparities. They should also take into account the interests of their employees, regardless of their age, and provide them with fair opportunities. This will make employees feel respected and valued and they will be able to openly express their thoughts on the project- or process-related concerns.

Provide right role to the right person regardless of the generation

As discussed earlier, each employee brings a unique set of skills and talent to the table. Therefore, assessing each resources’ skills, work experience, personnel, etc., can help managers determine the best role for them regardless of their age. Ideally, it is believed that someone from a baby boomer or Gen X gen lacks tech knowledge, or Individuals from Gen Y or Gen Z lacks leadership capability and shouldn’t be given a seniority role. But it might not be necessarily true.

Therefore, having a generation-biased pre-conceived notion is an unfair practice. Instead, work should be given based on an individual’s acumen, capability & skills. This will help them work together to achieve a common goal and contribute their strengths to their work assignments being more productive.

Encourage intergenerational collaboration events

In a recent report, 56% of millennials felt they made better decisions when collaborating.

There is an average of 10,000 baby boomers retiring per day without showing any signs of slowing down. With critical talent retiring, companies are risking what is known as “brain drain” while simultaneously facing the need to train, motivate, and retain millennials and Gen-Zs.

So, how do you effectively build a multi-skilled, optimized workforce? With effective collaboration!

Firms must organize various collaboration events that provide a platform for resources to interact with each other. This will help them understand and learn from each other’s insights, perspectives, and ideas. In addition, these intergeneration events foster an engaging environment where the experience of senior employees and the enthusiasm and knowledge of junior employees can be better equipped to enhance productivity in the workplace. It also helps to gain a competitive advantage and support your organization’s long-term mission.

Reevaluate rewards & recognition system to thrive generational diversity

When building the rewards and recognition programs, it is vital to look holistically at acknowledging the workforce. But in a workplace with multigenerational employees, how can organizations design targeted recognition & reward programs?

Understanding the generational differences and determining your workplace’s key motivators and preferences is integral to designing an effective reward system. Employers can create multiple incentive strategies that will accommodate both old and young generations. For example, leaders can implement simple yet effective gestures like an appreciation email, gym memberships, reward points, yoga programs, off-site outings, or team lunches. Extended rewards can also be given to the exceptionally high performers who exceed every month. All of these practices will make employees feel valued and thereby maximize productivity in the workplace.

Reexamine workplace policies to embrace multigenerational workforce

Check whether your company’s policies cater to your multigenerational workforce. If they aren’t, it’s time to update them. For example, Baby Boomers may look for firms that provide paid parental leave, caretaker support, medical check-ups, professional training, allows phased retirement programs, and other financial support.

On the other hand, Millennials are more likely to appreciate student loan repayment support, home loan assistance, healthcare, and flexible work options. Thus, an optimal blend of policies that cater to every generation within a company will positively impact the workplace culture and productivity, with the added benefit of avoiding issues like workplace discrimination.

Facilitate open-door dialogue to understand generational differences

Lack of interaction creates silos, lowers productivity, and creates a disengaged work environment. Therefore, having an open-door policy for questions and suggestions from a diverse workforce will help managers understand the generation gaps and take necessary measures to bridge them efficiently. This includes annual reviews, weekly group or 1:1 meetings, team or departmental sessions, or other creative methods where employees can share their views.

This allows employees to share their views about workplace issues, regardless of their place in the organization. It encourages them to take part more frequently, resulting in a higher sense of belonging and productivity. Moreover, when managers take corrective measures to gauge the generational gap, it will help them build a strong talent pool with a higher work rate.

Use tools to track & evaluate the real-time performance of each employee

Employers also should consider generational preferences when developing performance management approaches. Regardless of their age, all employees want to be appreciated for a job well done. With half the globe still working remotely, using the right technology can help track and evaluate each employee’s real-time performance.

For instance, equipping a tool that gives insights into resource metrics helps improve the employee’s productivity and engagement. Let’s say a veteran is underperforming; managers can hold a virtual or in-person 1:1 session to understand the hindrance. If health issues are causing a dip in productivity, employers can support them to look after their health first and provide flexible working options. Similarly, different remedial approaches can be taken to resolve the performance issues.

In a nutshell, companies that can leverage generational differences will bring out the best in their people, build a healthy talent pipeline and ensure sustainable business growth.

How resource management software can effectively integrate the workforce from different generations?

Today’s corporate environment may be the first where five different generations collaborate to accomplish company’s goals and objectives. However, for business executives and managers, managing multiple generations in the workplace may not be as easy as it sounds.

Nevertheless, adopting resource management software that provides 360-degree visibility of the whole resource pool is an ideal solution. It allows employers to stay inclusive and harness the respective strengths of their workforce to better compete in the marketplace.

With the tool, managers can ensure unbiased work allocation purely based on merit. That way, fair opportunities are given to all resources based on skillset and not according to the age demographics or other generational attributes.

Additionally, the tool offers data-driven and accurate insights into resource performance metrics. For example, if managers see a fall in resource productivity from Gen X, Gen Y, or Gen Z, they can conduct a feedback session to understand the cause. It will allow them to take remedial action in time.

Moreover, the resource management tool empowers all resources irrespective of generation differences to select projects of interest, increasing task ownership and productivity. It ensures transparency as all the resources with relevant skills get notified. This practice promotes inclusion where every employee has the leeway to pursue their lines of interest.

The tool also helps in efficient bench management. For instance, if a senior resource is on the bench for a very long time, he can be assigned to some strategic work. This way, it enables optimum utilization of all resources. Moreover, even junior resources can be given shadowing opportunities to cope up with future demands.

All these features collectively ensure that the multigenerational workforce is integrated effectively and drives optimal productivity.

The bottom line

While bridging generational differences in the workplace may seem difficult, doing so will increase a company’s productivity, foster innovation, and responsiveness to market requirements. It also contributes to the development of an inclusive culture that captures the benefits of age diversity and provides a competitive edge.

Therefore, companies can prepare their workforce during this post-covid work transition period by discarding stereotypes and following the aforementioned strategies and tips. This will make employees of all ages work well together and gain business profitability.

Did you face the challenge to unite a workforce with a patchwork of different skill sets, experiences, and preferences?

The Glossary

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in offering the most powerful and configurable solutions for managing enterprise resources efficiently and effectively. Having more than 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence in over 50 countries. It is also popular with more than 100 customers and helps them achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software which can be easily customized as per business requirements.

Well, all of the above!

Often project managers are trained in the technical aspects of project management such as setting objectives, critical path analysis, work breakdown structures, resource scheduling, and risk management. However, the success of a project also rests on the understanding of related people and management issues.

Particularly in this employee-centric era, project managers with only domain expertise aren’t enough. Managers must possess the right people’s skills to build team morale, enhance employee engagement, manage conflicts and steer them through the project’s success.

At the same time, a project manager has to deal with clients and other stakeholders constantly. This is why increasing importance is being placed on project managers’ people’s skills, otherwise known as soft skills.

This blog post will explain how implementing the right people’s skills will help managers combat multiple challenges with real-life examples.

But first, let’s start with the basics;

What are people skills?

People skills are related to behavior patterns or behavioral interactions, which help you communicate effectively with others. Strong people skills facilitate individuals to influence others positively, socialize easily, and overcome public anxiety.

They are essential social skills that are transferable and allow you to work well with other individuals. It typically falls into three categories: personal skills, interaction skills, and intercession skills.

All these categories contribute to the same larger goal: making your professional relationships with other people mutually rewarding, pleasant, and productive.

In business, people skill is a connection among individuals at a humane level to achieve productivity.

Types of People Skills:

• Personal skills: The ability to confidently communicate your strengths and present yourself to others constitute personal skills. It includes traits like confidence, honesty, and assertiveness. In addition, you need to be able to understand your own limits and make intelligent decisions guided by reason rather than emotion.

• Interaction skills: Can you decode people’s behavior? Interaction skills are critical for understanding the other person’s behavior and thoughts while maintaining boundaries and building relationships. For example, to positively interact with coworkers and clients, a project manager should possess social etiquettes that require empathy, listening skills to know that you have heard them and respect their boundaries and needs.

• Intercession skills: They are similar to interaction skills, but they specifically apply to situations where the people involved have interests or perspectives that are at odds with each other. Resolving these differences requires empathy, patience, and negotiating a solution that others can accept.

Following is a compiled list of other people skills examples:

• Active listening & Effective communication
• Leadership & Motivation skills
• Collaboration & Conflict resolution
• Persuasion & influencing skills
• Management skills
• Networking
• Team-building skills
• Open-mindedness & diplomacy
• Social skills
• Reliability & tolerance
• Respectfulness

Significance of people skills in project success

Contrary to the common perception, people skills are not just some fluff buzzwords on a resume. These competencies really do matter, especially in a project manager’s role, which is explicitly people-facing.

Let’s take the example of a survey for a better understanding. Google analyzed some data on hiring, firing, and promotion between 1998 to 2020 and found that its high-performing project managers exhibited people’s skills such as effective communication, empathy, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. This study emphasizes the necessity of people’s skills.

According to Dr. Ralph Nichols. “The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood.”

Project management is not only about delivering the project but how you carry your team along and support them makes a difference. Leading others and guiding them through the entire project lifecycle comes with a level of responsibility and demands specific skills.

For example, a project manager with leadership skills provides positive feedback and constructive criticism to the team. They also adapt to unforeseen changes and hurdles and efficiently deal with the stakeholder’s volatile requests with cognitive flexibility.

In addition, an efficient project manager must also possess problem-solving skills, find potential solutions, and minimize bottlenecks, to avoid schedule and budget overruns. Moreover, as the nature of work is rapidly transforming, companies embrace a diverse workforce. Thus, people skills are imperative to embrace diversity and inclusivity.

In short, human interaction and communication are at the core of effective project management. When strong people skills are integrated into the workplace, teams are well connected, and there is a seamless exchange of relevant information. As a result, conflicts are reduced, the work environment becomes positive, eventually leading to enhanced engagement and productivity. It also helps managers deal with several projects and resource-related challenges, thus, facilitating its smooth delivery.

Given the benefits of people skills in the modern business realm, effectively investing in improving them will bring significant advantages.

Case study: Implementation of people’s skill

As discussed earlier, people’s skills will empower project managers to deal with real-life project scenarios efficiently. For instance, if there is a discrepancy in the team, implementing these skills can help resolve those issues by redefining the team strength, synergy, etc.

The following is a series of diverse scenarios and how implementing the right people’s skills can help managers combat these issues.

Scenario I: Changing project requirements leading to scope creep

Scope creep is one of the most common projects management issues, and it happens when changes are made to the project scope without any control procedure like change requests. The constant changes in project requirements also affect the project schedule, budget, costs, resource allocation and might compromise the completion of milestones and goals.

So, how will you tackle and manage the scope creep to protect the project’s fate?

Implement analytical & negotiation skills

Managing project scope falls under your umbrella of major responsibilities. So, what is the first thing that you should do? Analyze the impact of scope creep on different project constraints viz., budget, timeline, etc.

The analytical skill will help you understand changing project needs and categorize the viable changes and the ones causing the scope creep. Now you can equip negotiation skills to explicitly mention to clients that only specific changes can be incorporated and find a common ground. The right blend of analytical and negotiation prowess will allow you to reason with all the stakeholders involved in the project.

Scenario II: Lack of alignment within teams

Team alignment is incumbent for seamless and effective project execution. Without synergy, there will be a lack of understanding of interdependent tasks, and eventually, each team member will work independently with individual goals and data sets. As a result, the specific business goal takes a backseat- we call this a siloed organization.

In this situation, we frequently see contrasting efforts taking place since there is little to no communication within the teams. This can lead to delays, deviation in project output, client dissatisfaction, etc.

So, how do you resolve this issue?

Implement communication and conflict resolution skills

First things first, project managers need to be crystal clear of the project’s goals and objectives with the team. The next step is to bring the team together on one platform and explain the project tasks and their interdependencies. For this, they need effective communication skills. It will allow them to deliver the message with precision.

Now to synergize the team, managers can equip conflict resolution skills and resolve issues between the team members as they arise. For example, if two team members have different viewpoints, a project manager can intervene, reason with the conflicting parties, and reach a middle ground to facilitate cohesive teamwork within that environment.

Scenario III: Low project team engagement & productivity

Erratic work expectations, favoritism, micromanagement, lack of appreciation, employee burnout, etc., are some of the common reasons that lead to lowered team engagement and productivity. In addition, feelings of loneliness or isolation due to the remote working environment also make employees feel disengaged. This disengagement reflects in the productivity slump.

So, if you spot signs of disengagement within your team, what are the steps you can take to combat the issues?

Implement listening and motivational skills

One must note that a leader is the anchor of the team. Employees look up to their leaders for support and motivation. So, when they are disengaged, instead of an assertive response, they probably need a supporting hand. You can lend this desired support by listening to their ordeals and then motivating them to overcome the challenges.

Thus, listening to each team member’s challenges and issues through 1:1 feedback will make them feel valued and help them confide in you. In addition, showing empathy & motivating them when they are not at their best will let you boost team morale and enhance employee performance and team engagement.

Scenario IV: Disparities between cross-functional and diverse teams

Most project-led businesses follow a matrixed structure, and thus the teams formed are cross-functional and diverse. That’s because employees are not spread across departments but also geographical boundaries. The collaboration challenges between such teams may intensify when employees are not ready or well-equipped to work with individuals of different mindsets.

This may give rise to internal conflicts, distrust, and a discrepancy between individuals. All this will ultimately derail the projects.

So, what is the possible solution?

Implement emotional & diversity intelligence skill

Given today’s diverse culture, a lot of importance is given to emotional and diversity intelligence. It allows individuals to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and understand their perspective. To ensure this, you can lead by example. Which means you can first equip these two essential skills yourself and practice diversity and inclusion yourself.

Now you can ensure that your team is trained to do the same. This will help you mentor your team about how they should accept differences in opinions and respect the team members. This will ultimately make room for a smooth functioning team and eliminate disparities. Moreover, as a manager, you must also provide fair opportunities to everyone to eliminate any chance of conflicts.

Scenario V: Ad hoc changes in agile project management

Agile is the way to go in the project management landscape. However, in agile project management, a project sponsor may ask for many ad-hoc changes and expects them to be integrated into the project at no extra cost. But we all know that, although agile welcomes change to requirements in each iteration, constant amendments can severely affect the agreed-upon project plan, leading to budget and schedule overruns.

What skills can help you here?

Implement agility & cognitive flexibility (CF) skill

Cognitive flexibility is essentially referred to as task switching. Project managers with C.F skills are more likely to accommodate agile changes faster. As a result, they can efficiently enhance a team’s performance and deal with stakeholders’ volatile requests and ad hoc changes. In addition, if the initial plans alter or any obstacles arise, they are also better at fixing problems.

Thus, if you are looking to up your game as a project manager, you can learn and add cognitive flexibility to your portfolio.

Scenario VI: Budget & schedule overruns

Certainly, every project manager has come across this challenge. Budget overruns and schedule delays are usually caused due to changes in scope/estimates and delays in completing tasks due to incompetent resource allocation, resource shortages, risks/conflicts, etc. In addition, inaccuracy in planning budget, resource constraints, and lack of effective communication between teams also result in project schedule delays, which spike project costs.

Let’s look at the action plan now,

Implement critical thinking & organization skills

Even for the best development teams, cost overruns and missed deadlines are inevitable. However, skills like critical thinking and task organization can help you overcome these vital issues and not hinder project progress.

So, what you can do is critically think about the changes, understand the loopholes, and form a course corrective plan. Moreover, you can take the help of data-driven reports like forecast vs. Actuals to understand the variance between the planned and current values. Finally, if you see an error in planning, you can deploy organizational skills to better plan and prioritize tasks accordingly. As a result, you can make some table-turning decisions by revising the initial plan and bringing the project back on track.

Conclusion

Effective project management is no easy task, but having people skills can help you run projects efficiently with more strategy and less stress. In addition, it allows you to build a team that can take on the biggest challenges, be more effective and resilient during challenging times.

However, the people skills alone will not keep a project team motivated and engaged. Instead, equipping yourself with the right technical skills and intelligent tools like project resource management software can improve the workflow and significantly contribute to the project’s success.

What are the other must-have skills for project managers, according to you?

The Glossary

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in offering the most powerful and configurable solutions for managing enterprise resources efficiently and effectively. Having more than 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence in over 50 countries. It is also popular with more than 100 customers and helps them achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software which can be easily customized as per business requirements.