| Exceeding team utilization targets | Pursuit optimization | Breaking down regional silos |
|---|---|---|
| With clear visibility of resource availability and accurate utilization metrics, Wohlsen is equipped to reduce overhead costs and improve its bottom line. | With insights into pursuit projects, running what-if scenarios is helping to make strategic business decisions about the projects they go after. | Using Bench as a collaborative planning tool across multiple offices, Wohlsen can share available resources instead of expensive recruitment. |
“We have total transparency in our metrics now. Fast-forward from last year to this year, our utilization has exceeded our targets. The increased utilization rate contributes directly to higher than forecasted profits.”
Ed McCauley, Vice President of Corporate Services, Wohlsen Construction Company
The Company
Developing client relationships with expertise and trust
Founded in Lancaster, PA, in 1890, Wohlsen Construction Company has been an important part of the fabric and history of development in Pennsylvania and its surrounding area for over 130 years. They have an exceptional track record of construction projects across multiple states, including Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Wohlsen is committed to sustainability and continuous technological improvement, which helps them deliver on a wide range of projects. The key to their success is the Wohlsen Way, which emphasizes developing client relationships based on expertise and trust. Wohlsen’s ability to honor their client commitment is why they are consistently listed on the ENR 400 and award winners regionally and nationally.
The Challenge
Limited visibility into hiring needs and workforce utilization
Ed McCauley, the Vice President of Corporate Services at Wohlsen, has helped oversee the company’s successful technology implementation for over ten years. However, Wohlsen was trying to leverage an in-house software solution that was not meeting their needs when it came to workforce planning.
“We had a custom piece of software that we developed over the years designed to meet the needs of each operational leader,” said McCauley. “It had so many tentacles in different systems that nobody was really able to understand where they needed to make updates to influence what was being displayed on the screen. At the end of the day, all the effort that went into that tool resulted in our operations leaders just falling back on Excel and keeping everything in a second source of truth.”
This lack of usability resulted in unreliable data for Wohlsen’s operational leaders.
“If you used that Excel worksheet, you could gain insight into one specific region, but we wouldn’t be able to see what the next region had regarding availability or capacity,” said McCauley. “It limited the visibility and scope of our resources, resulting in over-hiring and poor utilization of our team members.”
The Solution
A corporate workforce planning solution to help:
1) break down regional silos and share team members across regions
2) pursuit optimization through improved scenario planning
The team at Wohlsen implemented Bridgit Bench in September 2021. “[Our team] quickly learned how to navigate the tool. How it was designed is familiar, so anybody who knows how to use a web application can use Bridgit Bench. When it’s easy to use, we reduce the friction, and the next thing you know, good data is going into it.”
McCauley explained that high-quality data was an immediate boon for their business and the ability to share resources amongst regional offices easily. “We have someone here in Pennsylvania supporting a project in Connecticut now, and that’s not something that would’ve traditionally happened. Since we have full organizational insight, we’re able to do that in a far more effective way.
Along with the visibility across the organization, Wohlsen uses Bridgit Bench to get insight into their pursuits, something they weren’t able to do before. They can make better business decisions by being strategic about the projects they go after.
“What-if scenarios would cause a lot of complex moves in an Excel spreadsheet,” said McCauley. “In Bridgit Bench, what-if scenarios are easy to put in place. We can see the impact, learn on the fly, and make quicker decisions. I think the speed-to-decision that Bench gives us has helped in planning and determining go and no-go scenarios. We can ensure that we have the talent to put on the project to be successful for ourselves and our clients.”
The Impact
Exceeding workforce utilization targets and forecasted profit
“We have total transparency in our metrics now. Fast-forward from last year to this year, our utilization has exceeded our target. The increased utilization rate contributes directly to higher than forecasted profits,” said McCauley.
One of Wohlsen’s top priorities is having a positive experience for its clients and employees. With the strategic advantage that Bridgit Bench helps provide, their confidence in these relationships has grown and created a competitive advantage. They can grow profitably by utilizing their team more effectively, ensuring they aren’t overstaffing projects.
“Using Bridgit Bench gives us the ability to make sure we’re using our team members, their capacity, and their talent in effective ways.”
Ed McCauley, VP of Corporate Services, Wohlsen Construction
Their effective planning goes beyond just project management and delivery. They use Bridgit Bench to plan centralized corporate services like 3D coordination, BIM coordination, marketing, and safety management. Doing this helps “make sure that when we decide to go for a project, we have every resource we need to ensure that the pursuit, pricing, and execution is successful and safe.”
Utilization Rate ROI Calculator
What does an increase in workforce utilization mean?
For a company of Wohlsen’s size and the average construction salary in Pennsylvania, even a 1% increase in workforce utilization rate means annual savings of $130k. A 5% increase represents $650k in savings.
Use our ROI calculator to see how much improving utilization rates could save you.
Working with Bridgit
A shared value of building relationships with expertise and trust
McCauley appreciates the time and attention Wohlsen gets from Bridgit’s Customer Success team and their commitment to keeping promises.
“The amount of conversations that were had around what we needed and what we were interested in seeing, it became incredibly apparent that Bridgit was focused on the continued development of the software. Bridgit is clearly focused on meeting the needs of their clients.”
Now, Wohlsen is working on streamlining its integrations with Unanet and Procore and has recently integrated with BambooHR to ensure accurate people data feeds into Bridgit Bench. Better data for their users means McCauley and his team can rely on Bench as a single source of truth for workforce planning without needing extra time and effort importing data manually.
“It’s causing us to look at how we use the CRM and make better decisions about tracking the different stages of a project throughout the life cycle. That will get better data that will influence better planning downstream throughout the project.”
Of course, the Bridgit integration team is helping them build those integrations and providing documentation and ongoing support. We look forward to helping Wohlsen unleash the full potential of its workforce.
If you want more information on how to do the same, take a quick tour of Bridgit Bench or talk to one of our workforce planning experts.
