Setting your labor pool target size

Our business development team is happy to calculate the ideal size of your labor pool for you, if you can give them some key data points. You can always reference this information and track your progress in the “Performance” tab of your business portal. 

If you want to know a bit more about how this is calculated, the first step is to understand your demand profile. We know demand is extremely volatile and unpredictable, so the good news is that we just need to understand two main data points to calculate how big your labor pool should be:

• Minimum Headcount Needed
• Maximum Headcount Needed

With these two inputs, we’ll be able to calculate the ideal size of your labor pool using the equation below:

(Max headcount needed - Min headcount needed) * 3 = Labor Pool Target

As you can see in the equation, we’ve added a multiple of 3 which is what we call the “Labor Pool Multiple.”

We advise businesses to triple the workers they typically need to meet demand variation. There are multiple reasons why we advise that you do this:

Your favorite Operators aren't always available 

Having a bigger labor pool ensures enough operators are available to work the days you need them. Not every operator is going to be able to work at your company every time you need them. This is what makes on-demand labor different from other solutions: workers choose when and where they work.

Demand increases can be met with a bigger labor pool

Demand is unpredictable. Even though it’s good practice to map out your demand, your maximum demand can always increase. When demand goes beyond even your highest of projections, your labor pool won’t be holding you back. 

Your labor pool can fill gaps created by turnover

A bigger labor pool can mitigate the effects of turnover. In the previous examples, we were assuming that your full-time headcount is always constant. We know that’s not how the real world works. When turnover spikes, you can utilize the extra capacity in your labor pool to ensure you have enough workers until you can backfill your turnover.