A project manager (PM) is responsible for ensuring their team has adequate resources to complete their work. A good PM knows the most precious commodity in any project is time.
Without enough time, team members feel overburdened, cutting corners to complete their tasks according to schedule. Not only does the quality of work suffer, but so does employee work-life balance. Workers may experience diminished job satisfaction and mental health.
Knowing how to balance workloads ensures on-time project delivery, boosts productivity, and ensures consistent outcomes. Employees are happier and, therefore, more creative and effective.
Here’s what you need to know to manage workloads effectively so employees feel challenged, not overwhelmed.
What is a balanced workload?
Managers balance team members’ workloads by distributing tasks and responsibilities, ensuring everyone shoulders a fair share. This strategic process considers each employee’s ability to complete tasks based on strengths and capacity, producing an environment of collaboration.
When successful, the team’s performance is optimized, increasing productivity while fostering cohesion among colleagues. Understanding how to balance workloads results in a healthy work environment where employees can go home unburdened and stress-free at the end of the day.
Benefits of creating a balanced workload with Portfolio Manager
Prioritizing balanced workloads using Tempo’s Portfolio Manager doesn’t only benefit team members. It has positive implications for the entire organization.
1. Active management
Portfolio Manager offers project managers a high-level, streamlined view of tasks across multiple projects. PMs gain live insights into team member activities, allowing them to prioritize tasks based on hard data. As a result, they can optimize bandwidth, deliver quality results, and meet deadlines, no matter how tight the schedule.
2. Gain a clear view of workloads
In addition to prioritization, Portfolio Manager helps PMs visualize resource utilization within a project or across the portfolio. The application outlines each worker’s scheduled tasks and availability within a selected timeframe so the PM can level uneven resources in real time and proactively manage schedule risks.
3. Avoid overloading resources
Portfolio Manager includes an automatic resource leveling feature to distribute tasks based on availability and capacity. Automated work distribution minimizes downtime and builds realistic completion estimates while protecting team members from becoming overwhelmed due to work imbalances.
4. Enhance productivity
Balancing a team’s workload requires leveraging each member’s proficiencies to optimize output. By matching tasks to workers’ skills and strengths, PMs help them execute assigned work more efficiently, reduce bottlenecks, and produce higher-quality deliverables. Task completion is prompt, ensuring smoother team operations and improved productivity.
5. Prevent employee burnout
Equitable task distribution allows employees to work at a sustainable pace. A more manageable workload ensures fewer time crunches, less stress, and improved work-life balance. Team members enjoy improved mental health, morale, and job satisfaction.
6. Manage time and focus
Time management becomes easier when employees have a well-balanced workload. Instead of juggling multiple assignments, they can focus, hone in on details, and work autonomously. Fewer mistakes require reworking, improving the team’s efficiency and productivity.
7. Improved well-being
Chronic work stress undermines the body’s immune system, eventually leading to illness. Employees must take unscheduled time away from projects to recover. Sick leave can negatively impact a project’s delivery time and quality as the group struggles to compensate for lost talent.
8. Attract and retain top-tier talent
Recent studies show that 62% of job seekers rate work-life balance as an important consideration when moving to a new organization. For a business to remain competitive in a tight job market, it must prioritize a balanced workload as part of its value proposition.
How to create a balanced workload
Distributing tasks across your team using Portfolio Manager’s automated resource leveling feature lets you actively manage workloads, improve resource utilization, and resolve bottlenecks before they impact timelines. Here’s how:
Log into the platform.
From the home screen, select “Open Project View.”
From the “All Tasks” dropdown, click on “Schedule Risk.” Here, you can identify tasks facing potential delays.
Once you’ve decided which tasks require attention, switch to “Workload View” on the top navigation bar.
Decide whether to assign these tasks to someone with more availability, prioritize the tasks for completion, or adjust the scope and time-to-completion estimates.
Use the “Workload” view to evaluate assignment distribution among team members. Expand each person’s task list to view their assignments and availability.
To redistribute responsibilities from an overburdened worker to one with availability, click on a task in an overburdened team member’s queue and select the new assignee from the dropdown menu under “Assigned.”
To adjust task prioritization, click “ASAP” on the top navigation bar, then select your preferred priority level.
To adjust time estimates, click the dropdown under “Estimates,” then update the “Remaining Estimate” to reflect the adjusted timeline.
Once you’ve addressed workload imbalances in the platform, communicate the changes to all team members.
Managing workload effectively with Portfolio Manager
Tempo’s Portfolio Manager comes with various features that help project managers evenly distribute tasks and monitor progress within projects and across portfolios.
Visualize workload across teams
Real-time project visibility, workload predictions, and task prioritization help project managers address complex work processes and dependencies. To ensure individuals and teams collaborate productively, Portfolio Manager also integrates with communication tools like Slack, facilitating the flow of information among stakeholders.
Automatic resource-leveling
Portfolio Manager automatically levels the team’s workload across multiple projects, allowing project managers to proactively address resource bottlenecks and roadblocks to keep work flowing smoothly.
Optimize work distribution
Tempo’s Portfolio Manager allows PMs to view task distribution across 30-, 60-, 90-, and 180-day increments, permitting task delegation and resource allocation management over the long term. If plans or scope change, the application will dynamically redistribute resources and adjust priorities to match.
9 strategies for maintaining a balanced workload
Portfolio Manager automates and streamlines many workload balancing tasks, but there are still numerous optimization tactics no program can replace. Here’s how PMs can ensure work is evenly and fairly distributed:
1. Regular check-ins
Hold regular stand-up meetings to discuss workload and progress. If anyone’s to-do list is unbalanced or they’re experiencing increased stress levels, the group can brainstorm ideas to help, or the PM can step in to re-balance work distribution.
2. Encourage open communication
The work environment should be open to discussions about workload allocations. Whenever team members feel overwhelmed or overworked, they should feel free to discuss and problem-solve with their PM and coworkers without fear of repercussions.
3. Leverage data
Time tracking software is invaluable for establishing realistic goals and deadlines. It lets the project manager make informed decisions when anticipating workloads and allocating tasks. With this crucial info, PMs can prevent burnout and avoid overburdening team members.
4. Prioritize important tasks and projects
Proactively prioritize tasks according to importance and visibility. Addressing high-value work first ensures the team has enough flexibility within the schedule to address any bottlenecks or roadblocks without impacting the project’s deadline.
5. Establish a resource plan
Create a human resource plan at the project’s outset to examine workload versus team member capacity. The plan should consider individual skill sets and strengths when allocating responsibilities to maximize productivity without overwhelming employees. The PM can also use the resource plan to inform hiring decisions and balance work distribution.
6. Strive for equilibrium
Conduct periodic workload reviews and distribute assignments equitably to maintain balance, foster collaboration, and improve morale.
7. Anticipate capacity and demand
To ensure realistic capacity estimates and project deadlines, project managers must account for the impact of vacation time, planned and unplanned leave, and unexpected absences. Accounting for time off ensures accurate resourcing, prevents burnout, and maintains productivity.
8. Don’t overload employees
A heavy workload can damage performance and lead to employee burnout. If team members show signs of overwork, the PM should step in to reduce stress levels. Along with balancing the workload, they should promote a healthy work-life balance and encourage breaks so team members come to work feeling refreshed with boosted productivity and efficiency.
9. Use a work management tool
Leveraging a work management tool like Portfolio Manager allows project managers to visualize the team’s workflow. If an employee falls behind schedule, the PM can review the individual’s workload for imbalances while minimizing delays.
Balanced workload examples
There are countless ways to balance tasks and assignments while improving the quality of work and maximizing productivity. Here are a few examples:
Preventing burnout in high-stress projects
Job rotation allows team members to take breaks from demanding tasks, provided everyone has the expertise to execute the job. These flexible work arrangements distribute responsibility across the group, reducing stress levels and decreasing the likelihood of burnout.
Enhancing quality by avoiding rushed tasks
Project managers can establish realistic schedules and deadlines by examining the duration of similar tasks in past projects. Using this data, they can effectively plan and resource their endeavor, ensuring team members have sufficient time to complete their work without rushing or missing crucial details.
Improving cross-department collaboration
Collaboration promotes knowledge sharing and skill development among employees. These interactions can improve work productivity and performance, leading to higher-quality work.
Collaboration can also facilitate resource-sharing by identifying availability among other groups within the organization. When one team is overwhelmed, another group experiencing a lull in activity can delegate one of its members to help.
Boost team efficiency
Monitor task completion, and if one team member regularly delivers work faster than others with the same assignment, find out why. Encourage them to share their methodology with the group, reducing workload and boosting productivity for everyone. PMs can also create a shared space where team members share time-saving tips and tactics.
Work-life balance check-in
The PM should watch for recurring late nights among team members. Cram sessions like these may indicate an imbalanced workload.
Schedule a check-in with the group to see where they stand. If someone is overloaded, the project manager could offer coaching or delegate responsibilities to another colleague. Regular check-ins minimize staff overloading while increasing job satisfaction and engagement.
Want to maintain a balanced workload?
Tempo’s Portfolio Manager can help you control employee workloads and productivity. The software offers project managers visibility into team members’ outstanding tasks so they can address imbalanced work distribution before it negatively affects productivity, quality of work, and job satisfaction.
PMs can even combine Portfolio Manager’s advanced features, such as automated resource leveling and real-time data gathering, with Tempo’s Timesheets time tracking software. Allocating a balanced workload and avoiding overworked employees has never been easier.
