Ever felt like you’re riding the weekly task rollercoaster? One moment, it’s a mad dash against the clock, and the next, you’ve got time to contemplate life’s mysteries. It’s like that for your team too. One member’s drowning in customer requests, while another’s on a quest to find something, anything, to do. 

We all know this seesaw of productivity isn’t ideal. There’s got to be a better way. Well, that’s where Workload Management steps in - a rising star in the world of productivity hacks, and it might just be the answer to our unbalanced workloads. 

How to Manage Workload? 

Workload management is like the master plan of getting stuff done. It refers to the process of forecasting, distributing and monitoring tasks and can be done at an individual, team or organisational level with different measures and methodologies.  

Now, here's the thing – the magic of a stellar workload management strategy lies in understanding your team's capacity and resources. It's not just about squeezing every ounce of performance out of them, it's about ensuring your team works at its absolute best. And in today's fast-paced world, that's not just a nice-to-have; it's essential for staying competitive and achieving your goals. 

Unstructured Processes Cause Harm 

While Unifii was working with our customers on process optimisation, we often heard their frustration with information scattered across spreadsheets and shared mailboxes, causing roadblocks in service delivery.  

That’s precisely how unstructured processes can wreak havoc your team. While workload management might seem like an internal matter within a business unit, its effect ripple far and wide, impacting not only your team members but the wider organisation and even customer experience. 

1. Heightened Employee Stress Level 

Lacking a well-structured process that maintains clear records of your team’s work can make it challenging to grasp the full scope of their capacity. This includes understanding their specific skill sets and the time they currently have available. Managers may inadvertently misjudge how much an employee can reasonably handle, leading to unrealistic expectations.  

Results? Increased stress among team members. While it would be ideal for them to voice their concerns from time to time, so that the team can work together to find solutions, in most cases, they simply buckle down and put in extra hours, seeing it as a non-negotiable demand from their superiors.  

When your employees consistently operate under such pressure, it’s no surprise that burnout becomes a looming threat. As highlighted in a recent study by Microsoft, nearly 50% of employees and 53% of managers reported experiencing burnout at work. With a fatigued workforce, it’s unreasonable to expect peak performance, ultimately leading to a deterioration of efficiency. 

2. Schedule Delays 

Without a comprehensive view of work progress, the repercussions extend beyond your internal operations, potentially endangering your user or customer satisfaction levels. Overpromising based on outdated work schedules can lead to underwhelming service delivery – a situation no business wants to find itself in.  

And what about those unforeseen situations, like a team member’s sudden annual leave or an unexpected illness without a proper handover? In the absence of clear procedures, it becomes a daunting task to track the progress of requests or determine the discussions and activities that have occurred since their initiation. The stand-in, left to navigate the tangled web of uncertainties, may find themselves struggling to discern the request’s current status and the next steps to take. 

Effective workload management provides clarity. It offers an up-to-date snapshot of your team’s ongoing tasks, enabling you to plan with precision. This results in more accurate timelines, which your employees can adhere to. Even during out-of-office situations, with instant access to the entire task resolution history, other team members can seamlessly step in, ensuring a smooth workflow and preventing bottlenecks. 

3. Resource Drain 

Let’s face it, how often do you receive email requests that come complete with all the necessary information needed for immediate action? Our guess is not very often. Chances are that the request will take a bit more back and forth to gather the essential details before any action can even begin.  

But here’s where it gets really costly. In the worst-case scenario, when task assignments lack visibility and the inbox is overflowing, multiple team members might accidentally jump on the same email. This will not only cause inefficiencies but also multiplies the expenditure of precious human resources and time. 

4. Unhappy Customers 

One of the cornerstones of customer satisfaction is the assurance that their requests have been acknowledged and are in progress. But when customers don’t have access to your team’s inbox or spreadsheets, they’re left in the dark about the status of their queries. 

Here’s the kicker: when customers grow impatient due to this lack of visibility, they often resort to reaching out through alternative channels in search of a resource. This not only leaves them frustrated but also doubles your workload.  

Enhancing customer satisfaction starts with providing transparency and streamlining communication. Effective workload management can bridge the gap, ensuring your customers stay in the loop and your team’s workload remains manageable.    

Getting Smart About Workload Management 

In our conversations with customers, a recurring theme we’ve encountered is the challenges faced by managers and team leads in distributing tasks effectively and working with messy procedures. When the situation gets tangled, it’s difficult to monitor progress and assess performance accurately.

1. Learn Your Capacity 

When it comes to optimising workload management at the team level, the very first step is understanding your team’s actual capacity.  

An honest assessment is the linchpin, allowing you to align tasks with the reality of your team’s working conditions. Imagine expecting someone to dedicate 20 hours to a task when, in reality, they only have 5 hours left in the week – that's a recipe for failure. 

To get the real picture, begin by asking questions like, “What ad-hoc tasks are you working on?” and “What meetings do you have scheduled?” These inquiries unveil your team’s genuine bandwidth, helping you gauge how much time you’ll need to fulfil a customer’s request accurately. This will help prevent overburdening your staff and ensures practical completion dates, sparing customers from disappointment.  

2. Plotting Your Project Course 

Once you’ve got a handle on your team’s capacity, it’s time to map out upcoming tasks and projects. But here’s the key – do it collaboratively. Gather your team and estimate the time each task will devour. The teamwork approach enables employees to voice their opinions before commitments are set in stone. 

Now, onto prioritisation. Rank those queries according to their relevance, and make sure that the entire team is on the loop. This not only avoids miscommunications but also ensures the everyone’s on the same page, working towards the same goal.  

If you find it predicting time costs and prioritising a bit like navigating a labyrinth, consider breaking big tasks into small to-dos. It’s like zooming in for a closer look, giving you a crystal-clear picture of the time required for each step.  

3. Task Assignment 

Now that you’ve got the landscape all mapped out, the next move is to assign tasks to individual team members. Here’s the playbook: consider their capacity, availability and skills. And remember, your compass for this step is an updated capacity assessment. 

Try keeping the lines of communication open with your employees. Check in on their work status, and be ready to curveballs like unexpected sick days or sudden ad hoc tasks. When surprises strike, reallocate tasks within the team and, if needed, tap into external help. It’s all about maintaining that delicate balance in your workload. 

4. Keep a Watchful Eye on Progress and Performance 

Once the tasks are in motion, it’s time to become the detective. Keep a close watch on the progress and, when they reach the finish line, conduct a deep-dive review. It’s your chance to uncover what didn’t quite go as planned and pinpoint any performance gaps that need fixing. 

Here’s the bonus – should any hiccups occur during the journey, a meticulous track record will be your ticket to tracing back to where things veered off course. This is particularly handy if your team has auditing considerations in the mix. So, in short, keep those detective hats on, and your projects will thank you. 

Unifii’s Workload Management App: Your Complete Solution 

Unifii’s Workload Management App is a pre-built tool available on ServiceNow’s App Store, designed to put these best practices for workload management into action.  

Picture this: tickets flow in, work progresses seamlessly, and it’s all neatly stored in this centralised platform. With everything at your fingertips, you enjoy a full 100% visibility into your team’s capacity, without the need for constant, manual check-ins. Thanks to organised task details, planning becomes a breeze. With each ticket’s background information right there in front of you, measuring time cost will be easy as pie. 

Tasks are automatically routed to the right agent, leveraging the data you’ve fed into the system. That means your team can spend less time shuffling tasks and more time tackling the real issues. Plus, with every activity meticulously recorded in this integrated application, you’ve got actionable data ready in the dashboard, turbocharging your process optimisation. 

If this sounds like a game-changer for your organisation, contact us for a free consulting session where we will delve deeper into how the tool can be tailored to suit your organisation’s unique needs. Get in touch with us today and take the first step towards a smarter, more efficient workload management approach.