Revenue Mix and Staff Utilization: Do You Know the Relationship?

In many cases companies (managers) believe that because revenue has not changed significantly or the overall production levels are comparable from period to period that the staffing requirements are the same.  When, in fact, the time required to produce or support one type of revenue can be radically different from that required for another.  It is the mix of these underlying activities that determines the staffing needs of the organization.  If you are only looking at the combined values you could be seriously mismanaging what is arguably the largest controllable expense you have.  Given the expense profile in many companies, this would mean that even if you are focused on managing EVERY other aspect perfectly, your management approach could very well be doing more harm than good.