Cost of error
Pricing both directions
The cost of being short is treated as unknowable and therefore as nothing. A rough figure changes every decision.
Pricing an Understaffed Hour
A rough figure for the invisible side, built from things you can observe. Crude and transformative, because the alternative is zero.
Pricing an Overstaffed Hour
The visible error, which is easier to price and usually smaller than the invisible one. What it actually costs, including the part that is not loss.
The Queue and What It Costs You
Waiting is the visible form of understaffing, and the relationship between staffing and wait time is far steeper than people expect.
Turnover as a Staffing Cost
People leaving is treated as an HR number. It is a direct consequence of staffing decisions and it belongs in the labour arithmetic.
Overtime: the Expensive Correction
The usual response to being short, costing more per hour and producing less. Where it is right and where it is a symptom.
Agency and Temporary Cover
The other expensive correction, with a different cost structure and a specific failure that catches operations out.
Deciding Which Error to Make
You will be wrong every week. Choosing the direction deliberately, period by period, is the whole of good staffing practice.