“I need more staff,” says the manager, with a look of panic and exhaustion in his eyes. What happens next varies from leader to leader, but usually winds up in the same place: “No.” This experience is demotivating for the manager, aggravating for the overworked team, and is no picnic for those up the management chain either.

In this article, I will unpack this dynamic a bit. A lot is going on here. I’ll even offer a few suggestions for making it better. Let’s go.

If I were to survey all managers on the planet and ask the simple question, “Are you understaffed?” the answer would probably be “yes,” for a lot of them, perhaps most. It’s a very, very common feeling. So why doesn’t upper management just rectify the problem and allow managers to hire more staff to meet workload demands? Are they stingy? Are they uncaring? What’s the deal?

Being understaffed

This situation is stressful. Your team members are working around the clock and have a hard time taking time off. Even such, your customers aren’t satisfied with how quickly you are getting things done. Your team members are showing signs of burnout, and so are you.

Being adequately staffed

For a lot of you, being adequately staffed sounds like a dream come true. You are more than “one deep” in subject matter expertise. People can take their PTO. If someone leaves, it’s not an existential crisis. You can meet customer demands without working nights and weekends.

Being overstaffed

Many of you have never experienced it, but a few of you have. What if there’s not enough work to go around? What if business slowed down and you are caught up? What if all of the work you planned on doing, all of a sudden got put on hold? Well, that’s not good. Some of you have experienced this and know what’s coming next: staff reductions.

Those managers who have gone through the horrifying pain of being overstaffed will trade that pain for the discomfort of being a little understaffed, every time. I’m certain of it.

For the managers who haven’t gone through it, chances are good that someone up your management chain has and will do whatever they can to keep you from that pain.

I’ll argue that being understaffed is better than being overstaffed, but that doesn’t mean that being understaffed isn’t bad. It is. Let’s discuss how to address it.

Staffing justifications

I’ve been denied so many staffing requests that I’ve begun to figure out what doesn’t work, and why. I’ve also figured out how to mitigate those denials and increase my chances of getting something approved. First, let’s go through some of the staffing justifications that rarely work:

1. “We need more staff because we are busy.” This is too vague and isn’t a strong enough justification. For all I know, you are terrible at saying no, and terrible at prioritizing work. Busy isn’t a justification.
2. “Our current ratio of systems to personnel is much higher than it used to be. It’s unreasonable to expect our staff to manage this much stuff.” Couldn’t that mean that we just got more efficient? Shouldn’t we seek to get more efficient and automated over time? Isn’t that a good thing? There aren’t any industry standards for ideal ratios, so this is a weak argument.
3. “Security came by and dumped a huge amount of unplanned work on our plate.” That sounds like a high priority. What is not getting done to make room for this high-priority work?

I’m describing these scenarios because they all signal to me that the manager hasn’t done quite enough homework yet. Incremental staff additions are hard. They are supposed to be hard. As we’ve established, the consequences of overstaffing are severe and well worth avoiding.

Now, let’s discuss a few tactics that I’ve seen work effectively. No guarantees, but these are better than the options above.

1. New business demand. There’s a business case or cost justification for it. I’ll account for it in our budget cycle. If it is approved, I staff up and do the work. If not, I don’t do the work. The staffing and dollars are clearly tied to a business driver.
2. New risk mitigation. Audit, Compliance, or Information Security found a gap and analyzed the risk. I need to fund and staff the remediation plan. I either fund and staff the remediation, or I accept the risk.
3. Strategic alignment. I pay attention to the initiatives at the top. I listen to what gets discussed at the town halls. I imagine what part my team should play, then I position my staffing request as a way to accelerate the strategic initiative.

Those three approaches are better than the first three, but they still aren’t foolproof. I’d like to point something else out: Did you notice the different emotional tone from the first group to the second group? There’s a tad bit of victim mentality in the first set. I’ve been guilty of that. The second set is more dispassionate. It empowers higher levels of management with relevant information, so they can make the best decision possible. Then you can let the chips fall where they may.

Okay, let’s discuss the worst-case scenario. You tried all six approaches, and they all failed. You get no relief and are still woefully understaffed. What do you do next?

Workload management

You are responsible for managing the workload of your team, with or without adequate staffing. So, if you can’t get more staff, you need to reduce the flow of work into your team to an appropriate level. That means saying “no” to things, or at least “not now.” This very well could force escalations, which is okay. Your boss knows she denied your staffing requests, so she shouldn’t be surprised when you say no to a demand that you cannot fulfill.

Your job is to make sure your team isn’t in perpetual crunch time. That means people can take their PTO and work a reasonable amount of hours. Yes, crunch time happens, but you cannot live there. After a big push, make sure you return to a sustainable workload.

Other options to create capacity:

1. Apply Lean thinking to eliminate waste.
2. Automate repeatable tasks. This has a short-term hit to do the automation but pays back once implemented.
3. Staff augmentation. This still costs money but carries less risk. If you haven’t been able to justify a permanent addition to staff, hire temporary help to get you through your backlog, or a special project.
4. Get an intern or rotational assignment. Creating a development opportunity for others is always a good idea. In this case, digging out from your extra work might be a great learning opportunity for someone who needs the experience. If you can set this up, it’s a win for everyone.

If you do these 4 steps well, not only will you create capacity, but you’ll also create credibility for the next time you make a staffing request.

Phone a friend

Many of you assume that staffing requests are accepted or denied by the management hierarchy alone, but that’s not the case. I’ve found it particularly helpful to build a coalition of support for staffing requests. Find some peers or other business stakeholders who want your team to do more work and have them co-sponsor your staffing request. This, combined with my other advice above, will probably get you to the outcome you seek.

That’s my advice. Many leaders out there feel the stress of being understaffed. Many have dealt with the frustrations of having their staffing requests denied. I’ve provided some clear steps to consider when you are in this situation. Have any suggestions of your own? What’s worked for you? Please drop a note in the comments.

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