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The next time an employee or manager comes to you and says, “We’re too busy,” remember these three words: “Busy is good.”

Busy is good. Busy means that you are obtaining value from your investment in human resources. When employees are not busy, it means that you are paying for time that is not being fully utilized. Certainly there is a gray area between not being busy enough and legitimately being so busy that the quality of output begins to suffer. Adding additional staff at the proper time is somewhat of a science. It pays, though, to err on the side of caution for the following reasons:

(a) Human resources are a substantial investment for most companies. They represent a significant portion of your overhead costs. More overhead means less profit. Small companies sometimes have a tendency to view human capital as a measure of their success. The more employees the company employs, the more successful the company must be, right? Not necessarily. Using growth in employee numbers to represent growth in your business success is a dangerous exercise. Employees add cost. If revenue is not surpassing the added cost of additional employees, your business is not growing. Growth is only measured through profit.

(b) Human resources represent a significant potential liability to your company. It is no secret that labor laws have become increasingly stringent and that employers frequently feel themselves stymied by restrictions that apply to their hiring, promotion, disciplinary, and dismissal procedures. Make the wrong move and you could pay for it — dearly.

(c) Unless your need for additional human resources is real, you may find yourself facing an uncomfortable downsizing or layoff situation. Being overstaffed could mean that you will be in a position where you have to cut costs to maintain the margin you need to survive as a business. Cutting costs frequently means cutting employees. There is no more difficult task for any businessperson than letting valuable people go.