What is being short-staffed?

Being short-staffed at work means you don’t have enough employees on hand to do all your normal business activities. It can be temporary due to things like sickness or vacation time, or it can be long-term where you consistently don’t have enough staff members to cover the shifts adequately.

Causes of being short-staffed at work

Staffing issues can happen for a variety of reasons. Common causes of being understaffed include:

• General employee shortage: If you have unfilled positions, you’re likely to be short-staffed until you find the right hires. Hiring in a competitive market can make this worse, limiting the number of qualified candidates you get.
• Seasonal fluctuations: Some businesses experience fluctuations based on the season or even from week to week. When you experience a sudden uptick in business, your current staff might struggle to keep up.
• High turnover : If your company loses a lot of employees frequently, it can leave you short-staffed regularly.
• Absent employees: Employee absenteeism often leaves you short-staffed if your employees are already stretched thin and you don’t have backups to fill in when people are gone. This includes sicknesses, vacations and employees who are out of the office for training.

Impact on your business

When you’re short-staffed at work, it can affect your business in multiple ways. Potential effects of not having enough staff include:

• Safety issues: In some settings, not having enough people presents a safety risk. Health care facilities without enough nurses can’t give patients proper care, for example.
• Missed business opportunities: Not having enough staff means you might have to turn clients away or miss phone calls from prospective customers. This causes you to lose sales.
• Employee morale: Consistent short staffing can cause low employee morale. Employees might look for new employment if you don’t resolve the staffing issues quickly.
• Poor customer service: Not having enough employees can trickle down to the customer experience. You’re more likely to miss deadlines for client projects. Customers might not get the care and attention they expect, which can damage your company’s reputation.

Dealing with being short-staffed

While being short-staffed can be stressful for everyone who shows up to work, knowing how to handle it can make the day go as smoothly as possible. The following tips can help you manage the workplace effectively when you don’t have enough employees to handle the workload.

Communicate with the team

Acknowledge the staffing issues openly with your staff. Being transparent helps get the remaining staff on board to help out where needed. It also reduces frustration because your employees know what to expect.

For example, if someone quits suddenly and leaves you short-staffed, knowing that you’re already searching for a replacement reassures your employees that the situation is temporary. Ensure everyone is on the same page with how you’re handling the short staffing to improve teamwork and keep everything running smoothly.

Establish a culture of teamwork

Having a company culture that emphasizes teamwork comes in handy on busy, understaffed days. Employees who are willing to help out beyond their job descriptions keep the workplace running.

One way to create that sense of teamwork is by jumping in yourself. When employees see the management team pitching in when needed, they’re more likely to do the same.

Cross-train employees

Cross-training your employees prepares them to step in for their colleagues when you’re short-staffed. You’ll still likely need to prioritize and scale back your to-do list for the day, but having employees who know how to do different jobs is useful when someone with specialized skills is gone.

Prioritize tasks

You likely can’t tackle your normal workload when you’re short on staff. When you know you’re going to be short-staffed at work, create a plan before the shift starts. Prioritize tasks, identifying the urgent, must-do tasks that definitely need staffing. Work your way down to less pressing issues that can wait if your staff can’t get to them.

Outsource when possible

If you have ongoing short staffing issues, outsourcing some of the workload can help you get things done. Instead of having your administrative assistant also run payroll and handle HR duties, outsource those tasks to an agency. If you’re marketing staff is stretched thin, hire a freelance writer to handle that portion of the work.

Automate tasks

Automation with software and technology is another way to streamline your processes and relieve the stress when you’re short-staffed. Many software programs automatically handle tasks for you to decrease the workload of manual tasks for your employees.

For example, integrated point-of-sale and accounting software systems automatically enter sales data into your accounting system as you make sales, so you don’t have to enter the data manually.

Don’t overwork your staff

You and your staff might be tempted to work through breaks when you don’t have enough help. However, this adds to the stress and can cause employee burnout quickly. Sticking to regular break schedules gives your employees the rest they need to make it through a busy, stressful shift. It can help them stay focused and feel refreshed when they return to the job, which can increase productivity and safety.

FAQs about being short-staffed at work

How do you keep morale up when you’re short-staffed?

Ongoing staffing issues can chip away at employee morale. Staying positive and thanking employees for their extra contributions can help. Provide as much support as possible, including helping out with the priority tasks, to make their extra work a little easier. Rewards for doing extra work to cover while you’re short-staffed can also boost morale. You might offer employees extra PTO once things calm down, or give them a cash bonus to compensate them for their extra efforts.

How can you improve being short-staffed in the long term?

Dig into the root cause of your staffing issues to create long-term solutions. If you have high staff turnover, improving your workplace to retain employees is a good next step. If you’re struggling with recruiting qualified candidates, focus on improving your organization to make it an attractive place to work or making yourself stand out as a unique and employee-centered workplace.

Where can you find temporary help?

If your short staffing is ongoing, finding temporary help can fill in the gaps until you secure full-time staffing. Temp agencies can provide workers quickly to support your business. Look for a temp agency that specializes in your industry. Calling on past employees can also help. You might ask a former employee to come back temporarily. If your company has multiple locations and only one is short-staffed, you might be able to borrow employees from another location temporarily.