Utilization Floor Review (Retention)

Utilization Floor Review (Retention)

1. 01

   Pull a 90-day utilization series per person, not per team

   Team averages hide the individual at 92% and the one at 48%. Export booked hours against available hours for each named resource so the review starts from person-level variance.

2. 02

   Flag anyone above 85% booked for three consecutive weeks

   Sustained load at that level precedes burnout and sick leave, and it usually means one client account is quietly consuming a shared specialist.

3. 03

   Flag anyone below 60% booked for two consecutive weeks

   Underutilized bench time is the clearest revenue leak in a retainer model. Name the account that should be absorbing those hours before the month closes.

4. 04

   Reconcile booked hours against actual tracked hours for the same window

   A gap between what the schedule says and what time tracking records means the plan is fiction. Everhour and Toggl both surface this variance without a manual spreadsheet join.

5. 05

   Rank open work by margin contribution, then reassign the bottom quartile

   Low-margin work is where overstaffing hides. Move senior hours off it and let a junior or an automated workflow carry the remainder.

6. 06

   Confirm every reassignment with the account lead before it lands in the schedule

   Client-facing continuity matters more than an optimized heatmap. A silent swap on a retainer account reads as churn risk to the client.

7. 07

   Publish the revised allocation and the two metrics that triggered it

   Show the utilization floor and ceiling you applied. Teams accept reshuffling when the rule is visible and the same rule applies to everyone.