Calculating Employee Needs

The number of employees you will need to operate your Pet Care Service Business safely and efficiently will depend on the the types of services you will offer, i.e. boarding, dog day care, grooming, retail, training; the scale of your business, i.e. the number of pets you will care for; the occupancy rates you anticipate, and your hours of operation. We'll propose some general guidelines you can use to start populating the personnel schedule for your business plan. Always keep in mind that every employee is an ambassador of the business who should be cheerful and eager to please, even under the busiest of conditions.

From a management perspective you will need a manager, an assistant manager, a boarding supervisor, boarding attendants, a dog day care playground supervisor, playground attendants, at lease one receptionist, and possibly a groomer if you are going offer more than basic pet grooming services. All employees should be cross trained as multi-taskers and be able to pitch in with any Pet Care Service Business Activity at any time from intake to poop patrol, and from first aid to outtake. Let's get started.

1. Define what services you will offer. Think of Overnight Boarding, Dog Day Care, Grooming, Retail, and Training.

2. Define the maximum number of pets you can anticipate in each category. This will be dependent on available space if you're renting, or what you can afford to build. Generally use 100 to 125 square feet per pet guest as a guideline to start the personnel needs analysis.

3. Define the occupancy and the utilization rates for each type of service. The occupancy numbers will vary according to the size of the facility and your geographical location. You can obtain Industry Occupancy Statistics from The Pet Care Services Organization, the National Trade Organization for the Pet Care Services Industry. The published overall yearly occupancy rates for large kennels (>100 pet guests) is approximately 58% and Dog Day Care Facilities is approximately 62%. Approximately 20 per cent of boarding and dog day care guests will utilize some grooming service, and approximately 10 per cent of all boarding and dog day care guests will purchase a retail product of some sort while visiting your facility. These numbers can be increased significantly through various sales and marketing campaigns and active sales approaches. When you multiply the maximum capacity by the occupancy percentages, you'll be able to calculate a utilization figure which is the basis for determining the number of employees you'll need to staff your facility.

4. Define your hours of operation. You will need to provide personnel covrage for all areas for al hours of business operation. Keep in mind the needs of your potential clients. If you offer Dog Day Care services, you may have to be open early and stay open late. If you offer boarding, you should consider being open weekends and providing late pickup. Most employees will want to work at least 4 hour shifts if part time and no longer than 8 hours if full time, but you can split shift and implement start time differentials to cover your busiest times. Also, keep in mind that overtime may be a factor for employees that work greater than 40 hours a week.

5. For Boarding Services, experienced Pet Care Service Business Operators will use a factor of one kennel attendant to 20 pets. For Dog Day Care Facilities, the ratio is one playground attendant to 12 pet guests. For the purposes of completing this calculation, use the utilization factor you calculated above as the basis for the number of pet guests you'll need to care for in your facility. As Manager and assistant manager, you will participate in any and all of the facility operations, especially when you're busier than expected, or your employees call in sick, go away on vacation, or quit.

6. With this information in hand, you can populate your personnel needs schedule which is a mandatory part of any credible Business Plan.

You can also refer to Our Pet Care Service Business Development Library for more information.