A commissioned study
Shift-load census
A shift-load census answers a blunt question: how many people were actually in each bay, on each shift, against the work that left the door. It is the right study when you already suspect the day shift is crowded and the evening is thin, and you want that suspicion inked.
We stand where the floor already stands. We mark heads at agreed hours. We do not ask people to fill a questionnaire. The plate that comes back is dense on purpose: columns for shifts, rows for bays or counters, a stain where a handoff failed.
The census does not include overtime analysis or a bound briefing. Those are separate studies. If you later commission a workforce insight briefing, the census week can be reused so you are not counted twice.
Bring the printed roster for that week, even if it is already wrong. Wrong rosters are useful; they show what the office believed.