Without proper workload management, productivity suffers. Sounds simple, right? And yet, it’s super-common for employees to feel stressed out, dissatisfied and unproductive thanks to poorly thought-out workloads.

You want to help your team perform at their best under pressure, but keeping track of everyone’s to-do list is not easy. So, how can you keep your small business productive without overwhelming your staff? The answer is workload management (aka strategically distributing tasks among your team, rather than handing out responsibilities to whoever is free at the time). The whole process requires a bit of thought, but here’s why it matters.

IT PREVENTS BURNOUT
Ah, burnout. Most of us are all too familiar with this nasty state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion that comes from prolonged or repeated stress. On top of all that, burnout stops employees from being productive and innovative at work (which can guilt-trip them into feeling like they need to work even harder). It’s a vicious cycle, but workload management can alleviate the effects of burnout by allowing staff to take care of their work–life balance, physical and mental health, so they can perform at their best.

IT GIVES EMPLOYEES THE CHANCE TO SHOW OFF THEIR SKILLS
Everyone has something they’re good at – whether it be juggling many tasks or specialising in a specific task. To let every employee shine, you need to make sure they’re not being buried in irrelevant tasks or constantly having to pick up co-workers’ slack.

IT HELPS PROMOTE A CULTURE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
You can’t have a high-performing team without accountability. When everyone is clear about their assigned tasks, they are able to take more responsibility and be transparent with others in order to get the job done.

IT IMPROVES EMPLOYEE RETENTION
Team members will be way more motivated and emotionally invested in their job if their workload isn’t overwhelming them. Plus, they’ll be more productive and communicative. There’ll be less churn and you’ll see an increase in quality overall. Wins for everyone!

SIX WAYS TO MANAGE YOUR TEAM’S WORKLOAD

1. Analyse their capacity
How much time and effort can your team members realistically commit to the project or task at hand? It can be pretty hard to grasp the actual workload for each person, so make sure you get to know your team. Then, you can set priorities, break the task up into chunks and delegate.

2. Allocate tasks based on requirements
Good workload management means giving out tasks that suit individuals’ capacity, strengths, position and availability. Take the example of a call centre. Customers aren’t just put through at random – a call-routing system connects the caller with the best staff member depending on availability, needs and other criteria.

3. Set SMART goals
Make sure that every task you set your employees is there for a reason. SMART goals – which are specific, measurable, relevant and time-bound – will help employees see how their efforts contribute to the company’s success (making them more motivated in the process).

4. Set realistic deadlines
Everyone works at their own pace. To avoid overloading or underloading any member of the team, the trick is to run ‘task estimation’ – the process of figuring out how long something might take to complete. Once you’ve done that, you can plan the project thoughtfully and set deadlines that everyone can meet (ideally with some buffer room).

5. Automate repetitive tasks
Take advantage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation software. There’s no need to bury your human employees in needlessly dull admin when a machine can do the job faster and more accurately. For example, using an electronic signature tool (which is already built into most computers these days) can speed up the contract-signing process and prevent the need for documents to be posted back and forth. Freeing up time for your staff so they can focus on creativity, innovation and more rewarding tasks will make them happier in their roles and way more productive.

6. Schedule regular check-ins
Making time to check in with your staff can do wonders for communication, accountability and transparency across your biz. Plus, a lot of the tasks they’re working on will probably be interconnected, so some employees might be held up or impacted by others if things aren’t going smoothly. Identifying these dependencies early on allows you to come up with solutions and stay on top of everyone’s progress.

Jenna Bunnell is the senior manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad.

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