Employee capacity is a performance measure.
Engagement measures commitment. Capacity measures whether people can act on it.
Two measures, two questions
| Engagement | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|
| The question | Do people want to do the work? | Can people keep doing it? |
| What it covers | Whether the work feels worth doing, trust in the people leading, people to rely on, somewhere to develop | What people start the day with, time to recover, room to concentrate, holding up under pressure |
| What a high score cannot tell you | Whether people have anything left | Whether people care about the work |
Performance needs both. A team can be committed and running low. A team can have plenty in reserve and no reason to use it.
Capacity and engagement, compared
The four parts
Capacity has four parts. Each has its own page.
- Starting the day. What people have available when the working day begins. Read more
- Time to recover. Whether the work leaves room to rest between busy stretches. Read more
- Room to concentrate. Whether people can stay with one job long enough to finish it. Read more
- Holding up under pressure. How people cope when the hard weeks do not stop. Read more
Why it matters
Performance problems that start as capacity problems usually reach a manager late: as errors, delays, sick days or a resignation. A measure that shows capacity earlier gives people time to act.
Pages: Why employee capacity matters · Capacity and burnout · Capacity, productivity and performance
How organizations measure it
Three routes, each with limits: asking employees, observing the work, and measuring the body. This site explains each, and what an organization can and cannot do with the results.
How to measure employee capacity
Who publishes this
employeecapacity.com is published by thrive at work, a human performance research company that builds a platform for measuring capacity and engagement together. The reference here is written to be useful whichever tool an organization uses. About this site
Questions
What is employee capacity?
What people have available to do their work and keep doing it.
How is it different from engagement?
Engagement shows whether people want to do the work. Capacity shows whether they can keep doing it.
How do you measure it?
By asking employees about the working week, observing the work, or measuring the body. Each has limits. See how to measure employee capacity.
What is an employee capacity assessment?
A structured way of finding out what people have available, usually a survey reported for groups.
What should a capacity index show?
A result for each of the four parts, a comparison, the number of people who answered and direction over time.
What does capacity have to do with burnout?
When capacity runs low for long enough, the result can be burnout. Capacity is the earlier measure.