How to Improve Team Utilisation Without Burning Out Your Staff: A Practical Guide

In any service-based business, team utilisation is the heartbeat of profitability. Get it right, and your projects are delivered efficiently, clients stay happy, and your bottom line thrives. Push too hard, though, and you risk burning out your best people — leading to high turnover, declining quality, and unhappy clients.

It doesn’t have to be a trade-off. In this guide, we’ll show you how to improve your team’s utilisation rates sustainably, without pushing them to the brink.

What is Team Utilisation? (and Why It Matters)

 

 

Team utilisation is a simple formula: billable hours ÷ available hours.

It’s a key measure of how effectively you’re using your team’s working time on revenue-generating activities.

Higher utilisation usually leads to better profitability. But here’s the catch: chasing 100% utilisation is a trap. It ignores the realities of holidays, sick leave, training time, and the human need for rest and recovery.

As a rule of thumb, most healthy service businesses target a 70–75% utilisation rate, according to the Project Management Institute. That allows space for deep work, creativity, and learning — all essential for long-term success.

The Hidden Cost of Over-Utilisation

 

 

At first glance, driving utilisation up seems logical. More hours worked = more billable time = better revenue. Right?

Not always. High utilisation without breathing room leads to:

• Burnout: Employees experience physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion.

• Attrition: Your best people — those who can get jobs anywhere — leave first.

• Quality issues: Stressed, overloaded teams make more mistakes, leading to rework and unhappy clients.

According to Gallup’s Workplace Report, overworked employees are 68% more likely to seek a new job within six months.
That’s a costly cycle you definitely want to avoid.

A Framework for Sustainable Team Utilisation

 

 

So how can you boost utilisation rates without breaking your team? Here’s a five-part framework to guide you:

1. Set Realistic Utilisation Targets

 

First, stop aiming for 100%. It’s neither realistic nor healthy.

Instead:

• Review historical data: What were your team’s actual utilisation rates last year?

• Adjust by role: For example, senior managers will naturally have more non-billable duties than juniors.

• Allow for non-billable activities: Training, internal meetings, admin work — they all add value, even if they aren’t client-facing.

Tip: Aim for 70–75% utilisation for production roles, and around 50–60% for Client Management positions.

 

 

2. Improve Forecasting and Resource Planning

 

Poor planning is a leading cause of overload. Fix it by:

• Implementing resource management tools like Forecast, Synergist, or Teamwork.

• Holding weekly resourcing meetings: Spend 30 minutes reviewing who’s overbooked or underbooked.

• Visualising workload: Heatmaps or traffic-light dashboards make it easy to spot issues early.

Better forecasting allows you to redistribute work before your team starts drowning.

 

 

3. Prioritise Workload Management

 

Not every task deserves the same attention.

• Teach the team time-blocking techniques: Help them reserve deep-focus time for important work.

• Hold quarterly planning sessions: Align priorities across teams, so urgent requests don’t always trump strategic goals.

• Empower project leads: Give them the autonomy to push back on unrealistic deadlines.

When your team knows what matters most, they can work smarter — not just harder.

4. Build Recovery Time Into Schedules

 

Humans aren’t machines. Recovery time after big pushes is essential.

• Plan ‘quiet weeks’ after major project deliveries to allow time for admin, training, or lighter client work.

• Encourage regular holiday use: Don’t just offer annual leave — make it culturally normal and encouraged.

• Create space for creative or strategic projects: Giving teams “off-brief” time can lead to innovation and renewed energy.

Short breaks lead to stronger long-term performance.

 

 

5. Promote a Culture of Open Communication

 

If people feel safe speaking up, you can catch burnout signs early.

• Hold regular 1:1 check-ins: Focus on workload, wellbeing, and career development — not just project updates.

• Run anonymous pulse surveys quarterly: Ask direct questions about workload and stress levels.

• Train managers to listen actively and take action on feedback.

As Harvard Business Review notes, psychological safety is the number one predictor of high-performing teams.
It’s your secret weapon against silent suffering.

 

 

Tools and Techniques to Help

If you’re serious about improving utilisation sustainably, invest in:

• Resource Management Software: Forecast, Float, Resource Guru.

• Time Tracking Tools: Harvest, Toggl Track.

These tools give you real data — not gut feelings — about where the risks and opportunities lie.

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

Improving team utilisation doesn’t have to come at the cost of your people’s wellbeing. In fact, when you set realistic targets, plan proactively, and nurture a healthy culture, you’ll find that your team not only works harder but works better — with less stress, higher loyalty, and better client outcomes.

Start today:
Review your current utilisation targets, and pick one action from this guide to implement in the next month.
Your future self — and your team — will thank you.