The firm hired two juniors. The seniors got busier.

Adding capacity below the bottleneck rarely relieves it: why junior hires often make senior people busier before they make them freer.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for The firm hired two juniors. The seniors got busier.

A service business at capacity does the obvious thing. It hires at the bottom of the structure, where the day rate is lowest and the arithmetic looks best: two juniors for the cost of one senior, and the senior is freed to do the work only they can do. Six months later, the seniors are working later than before, the juniors are underloaded, and the extra capacity has shown up in the payroll but not in the output. This is not a failure of the hires. It is a predictable…

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