If you’re in HR or talent acquisition, you know the frustration of never quite hitting that ‘fully staffed’ mark. Whether it’s in retail, manufacturing, healthcare, or any other industries, the constant struggle of hitting that ideal number of employees—like aiming for ’37 nurses’ but always hovering around 34 or 35—is all too familiar.

So, why does it seem impossible to reach full staffing capacity? There are three key factors:

Unrealistic Projections: The idea of being ‘fully staffed’ is based on a perfect scenario where everything aligns perfectly. But in reality, that never happens. Budgets set the numbers, breaking them down by the day or even the hour. But here’s the problem: these plans often don’t consider the actual staffing needs.

Reluctance to Over-Hire: Many HR pros are hesitant to hire more than they think they need. They worry about what’ll happen if the demand suddenly drops after they’ve hired extra people. God forbid they be over-staffed! This caution makes them play it safe and avoid hiring more, even when it might help reach the right staffing levels.

Comfort with Understaffing: Some companies actually feel okay with not having enough staff. They use it as an excuse to keep average workers around and justify paying for overtime. It’s like they’re subconsciously avoiding the responsibility that comes with having a full staff, because it means they’d have to deal with performance issues and manage more closely.

In reality, managing 37 open nursing jobs, means you’ll need more than 37 hires due to turnover, varying levels of experience, future vacancies, etc, etc. Yet, we never hire 40 or 41 nurses.

Ultimately, the reluctance to fully staff comes from being too comfortable with having too few people. This leads to making excuses and not holding anyone accountable. But shifting to full staffing means facing performance issues head-on and striving for excellence.

You’ll never become fully staffed because deep down in places you don’t talk about at staffing meetings you like to be understaffed, you need to be understaffed.