Right-sizing Staffing Levels

Optimize Your Staffing Patterns to Meet Workload Volumes

Aligning staffing patterns to workload is often a difficult process as it requires very precise balancing of forecasted workload and available staff. Often the department managers opt to staff up to avoid having to deal with very tight staffing in the instances of call-offs or sudden workload surges.

In our experience, when staff are not working at full capacity, staff may be routinely flexed or sent home, which impacts staff morale because they lack guaranteed hours. This ultimately results in increased call-offs, as staff begin to feel less loyalty to their fellow employees in their department, as well as increased staff turnover as they seek employment with guaranteed hours. On the other hand, tighter staffing models solicit a more loyal staff to one another with regards to call-offs and commitment to remain with the department.

Some examples of Soyring Consulting, a Press Ganey Solution, processes to assist with aligning staffing pattern to volume include the following:

• Aligning perioperative services staff hours to procedure scheduled start time and post-procedure patient flow
• Staggering shifts in the inpatient departments to allow for work intensity increase during peak discharge and admission times
• Aligning ancillary department staff on/off shift based on workload type and volume requirements