A big breakthrough in managing an agency is when the business looks at what comes out from its timesheet system. (Obviously there needs to be a timesheet system first!)
To judge how well the business is doing, there needs to be an understanding of the targets and what is therefore being measured.
Looking at the diagram above, as far as an individual is concerned there are 260 days in the year, Monday to Friday. Once bank holidays, annual leave and other out of the office days are taken into account you are left with approximately 220 days.
These two numbers are not controllable, unless the agency reduces the number of days holiday to an absolute minimum which is unlikely to be enticing to new staff.
Controllable:
Assuming your member of staff is in the office for 220 days you need to maximise the recoverable time that is worked.
It is vital to distinguish between chargeable and recoverable.
Chargeable time can be defined as any open job that has the potential to be charged to the client. There are constant examples within agencies of people working on jobs that don't have the budget and where the client won't be able to pay. This provides the illusion of success but leaves the business scratching its head as to why the overall numbers don't look good.
Focus on maximising recoverability rather than leaving the analysis when you see what is chargeable.
Ownership:
It is vital therefore that the project budget holder is held accountable for the agreed budgeted number of hours on their jobs. If there is no-one looking after the job then people will happily put time onto the job to make sure they look busy.
The individual should know what the expectation is for their chargeable vs non-chargeable time and they should be held accountable for their performance.
Only with a close eye on projects and individuals can timesheet data be relied upon.
There should be an equal pressure between the individuals and the project budget holders to make sure that the true picture is being captured.
Further thoughts:
The number of hours per day and therefore the target number of chargeable hours is another related topic and will be discussed soon.
Please get in touch if you would like to look at how your time reporting can be improved.