After my recent post on utilisation, someone left a comment that stuck with me. Keeping people at their utilisation target all year is hard when the work is seasonal, because the workload never arrives evenly.
They're right. Most agencies I've worked with have a month they dread and a month they'd happily swap it for. In the busy months the studio is flat out, people are working late and the resource manager is on the phone looking for help. A couple of months later there are gaps in people's schedules and the resource manager is hunting for work to fill them.
The obvious answer is freelancers. Use them when you need them and don't carry the cost when you don't. It makes sense, and in a lot of agencies it's part of the answer. But the comment raised the catch I want to look at here. What guarantee do you have that a freelancer will be available when you need one?
The seasonal problem
A utilisation target is normally a single figure for the year. Work doesn't arrive as a single figure. It comes in waves, shaped by client budgets, launch dates, the time of year and the odd big project that lands from nowhere.
If you rely on full-timers alone, that leaves two options. Size the team for the busiest months and you'll pay for people with too little to do the rest of the year. Size it for the slower months and you'll either turn work away or push the team too hard when the peak arrives. Neither is great for margin or morale.
What guarantee do you have?
Honestly, none, unless you create one. A freelancer doesn't owe you anything between jobs and is free to say yes to someone else. Busy periods are often busy for lots of agencies at the same time, so the freelancers you'd most like to use can get booked first. If your plan is to ring round when the work lands, sometimes you'll get lucky and sometimes you'll get nobody.
The way round it is to build a bench before you need it, and to keep adding to it.
Build a bench
A bench is a group of freelancers who already know you and how you work.
The aim is to have enough people you can rely on that a no from one of them doesn't leave you stuck. When you're deciding who goes on it, I'd think about a few things.
- Where you've been caught short - ask your resource manager which skills you struggled to find cover for over the last year or two. Those are the disciplines to start with.
- People who've delivered for you before - a bench built on recommendations alone is a gamble. Try new people on a smaller job before you need them in a rush.
- A mix of levels - a senior who can run a job with little supervision, and others who can take on the volume.
- A couple per discipline where you can - so one no doesn't leave you stuck.
- People who fit how you work - a talented freelancer who doesn't suit your process or your clients can cost you more time than they save.
Keep adding to it
A bench is never finished. People get booked solid, move away, go full-time somewhere else or simply move on. If you only look for new people when you're desperate, you'll be choosing from whoever is left.
So keep meeting potential talent all the time, not just when there's a job waiting. Have a coffee with someone whose work you like. Ask your team who they'd recommend. Look at portfolios when things are slow. Give new people a small job so you know what they're like before the pressure is on.
Ask the people already on your bench too. Good freelancers know other good freelancers, and they'll only put forward someone they'd be happy to work alongside. A recommendation from someone you trust is a much better starting point than a cold search.
Keeping your bench available
Building the bench is the first step. Keeping it there when you need it takes some forward planning.
- Make staying in touch someone's job - in most agencies that should be resource management. A regular catch-up with each person on the bench, when they're free and what they're working on, means you're never a stranger when you need a favour.
- Keep the relationship warm in the slow months - a small internal project, a short job or even just a catch-up means they don't only hear from you when you're desperate. It's much easier to ask for a favour from someone you've spoken to recently.
- Tip them off early - if you know something is coming, tell them. A heads up that a big project is likely in a few weeks lets them hold time for you, and giving your bench first dibs before you go anywhere else is one of the best ways to make sure they say yes.
- Share your forecast - even a rough "we'll probably need you for ten days in October" helps both sides plan.
- Agree a hold or a retainer - some freelancers will give you first call on a set number of days a month, or a provisional hold, in return for a fair rate or a firm commitment. It may cost a little more, but it gives you something to rely on.
- Have a plan B beyond the bench - a partner agency or a part-time option for the same skill, for the weeks when everyone is booked.
Treat your bench well
When freelancers are busy they choose between clients, and they choose the ones they enjoy working with. That comes down to how you treat them.
- Pay on time - every time. Nothing makes a freelancer think twice about taking your next job like chasing an invoice.
- Make them part of the team - include them in the kick-off, the Slack channels and the Thursday drinks. Make sure they know who to go to and what's going on with the client.
- Give them a how we work guide - one page is enough. Who's who, the tools you use, where templates and files live. It cuts the time they take to get up to speed, and it means they start producing good work sooner.
- Brief them properly - a clear brief respects their time and gets you better work.
- Give them feedback and credit - tell them what went well, and tell the client who did the work.
Treat them as part of the team in spirit, and take advice if you're unsure where the line sits on employment status.
What to keep in house
I'd keep the work that holds the client relationship, the strategic thinking and the knowledge of how your agency operates with the permanent team. Freelancers tend to work best on well-defined work with a clear brief and a clear end date.
Think about how you'll introduce them to the client too. If they feel like part of your team, the client is far less likely to notice the join.
Where I'd start
Look at the last two years of workload, month by month. Work out the base level of work that's always there, even in the slowest months. Build the permanent team around that base as a starting point, then use your bench and the other options for anything above it.
Put someone in charge of the bench, keep adding to it and check the forecast each quarter, so you're not finding out about a peak when it's already arrived.
Utilisation over a full year is much easier to hit when you plan for the seasons, and a bench of people you can call on is a big part of that.
