A labour histogram across all your jobs: next quarter's crews on one chart
The operations manager is asked whether a seventh job can start next quarter. Each project manager says the current staffing plan is workable. Added together, those plans require the same finishing crews on several sites during the same weeks.
Stack the weekly crew demand from every committed job into one company chart for the coming twelve weeks. Compare that demand with people genuinely available, separated by the skills and locations that matter. A company labour histogram reveals conflicts that individual project plans can miss. Use it to decide when to negotiate dates, recruit, arrange suitable external capacity or decline work before an unsupported start becomes a promise.
Bring the jobs onto one staffing basis
- Collect current job requests. Ask each project lead for weekly crew numbers from the latest work sequence, including preparation and return visits. Record the schedule issue and assumptions so one outdated request does not distort the whole company picture.
- Separate capacity that cannot substitute. Group the skills and locations needed rather than counting everyone as interchangeable. Confirm planned absences, transfers and other commitments with their owners, keeping identifiable personnel details in the controlled staffing record.
- Stack the weeks. Add each job's demand in the same weekly columns and draw the confirmed availability beside it. Show signed work separately from bids or hoped-for starts; a possible award can be tested without pretending it is already committed.
- Read the overload's cause. Identify the jobs, operations and release dates creating each excess. Check whether the conflict is genuinely concurrent within the week, and ask the project leads which assumptions could change without breaching another commitment.
- Compare confirmed responses. Test negotiated resequencing, recruitment and suitable external crews with the responsible managers. Include readiness, supervision and onboarding, not just a headcount. A hiring intention remains a gap until people and availability are confirmed.
- Record the bid and staffing decisions. Name who confirms each change and when. Update the whole chart after a start moves, then check neighbouring weeks before telling a client or general contractor that the conflict has disappeared.
Common mistakes
- Adding tender hopes to committed demand without labelling them.
- Counting intended recruits before their availability is confirmed.
- Moving one start without checking the overload transferred to another week.
Action list
At the next operations review
- Use current dates for every committed job.
- Keep critical skills and locations visible.
- Name the weeks exceeding confirmed availability.
- Assign each staffing or date decision.
- Recheck the chart before accepting more work.
Check your understanding
The total demand fits the company headcount, but both jobs need the same specialist. Can you confirm both starts?
