Successful Project Management: Modifying the Project Schedule
- 3/15/2011
Assigning Overtime
Asking people to work longer hours is another strategy for shortening a project schedule. By working beyond the normal day, they can complete tasks in fewer days. If people earn a salary and don’t earn any extra for working longer hours, the project price tag doesn’t go up. However, this sort of overtime abuse won’t work for long. Employees get tired of long hours. Morale decreases and employee turnover increases—both of which negatively affect your project. If people are paid overtime rates, your project costs do increase. In addition, you have to consider whether people could do more beneficial work with that time.
You can assign resources to work overtime in a couple of ways. You use the Overtime Work field only when you pay resources more for overtime hours. Here are some of the techniques you can use:
Increase work hours for a period. If resources don’t earn premium overtime rates, you can assign longer hours for a period of time. To do this, in the Resource Sheet view, double-click the resource you want to set up for overtime. In the Resource Information dialog box, in the Resource Availability section, specify the start and end date for the overtime and the units, as shown in Figure 13-5.
Modify the working hours in a resource’s calendar. For example, you could specify the work hours for one Monday to start at 7:00 A.M. and end at 7:00 P.M.
Figure 13-5 You can specify a resource’s availability at different times.
Assign overtime hours paid at an overtime rate. If you pay more for overtime hours, you use overtime hours and the overtime rate in Project to calculate labor costs correctly. You set a resource’s overtime rate in the Resource Sheet’s Overtime Rate field.
Overtime Hours Paid at an Overtime Rate
Project doesn’t automatically assign hours that people work as overtime hours. If people receive premium pay for overtime hours, you must set up a few things before Project can calculate the cost accurately. In the Resource Sheet, be sure to fill in the Ovt. Rate cell with the amount that the person is paid for overtime. For example, resources with a standard rate (Std. Rate) of $50 an hour might receive $60 an hour for overtime.
Then, for each assignment, you must specify the number of overtime hours. To do this, follow these steps:
If the Task Form isn’t visible in the bottom pane, on the View tab, in the Split View group, select the Details check box, and then in the drop-down menu, choose Task Form.
Right-click the Task Form pane and select Work on the shortcut menu.
In the resource assignment table, Project displays the Units, Work, and Ovt. Work fields along with a few others.
Type the number of overtime hours for the assignment in the Ovt. Work field, as shown in Figure 13-6.
Figure 13-6 The Work value equals the hours of regular and overtime work.
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The Work field represents the total work hours for the assignment, both regular and overtime work. Project subtracts the overtime hours from the hours in the Regular Work field for the assignment. For example, if a task’s Work equals 32 hours, and you assign 8 hours of overtime, the Overtime Work field changes to 8 hours, and the Regular Work field changes to 24 hours.