How to Monitor Team Workload and Capacity in monday.com
Overview
Tracking team workload and capacity in monday.com is essential for managing productivity, preventing burnout, and ensuring balanced task distribution. With built-in tools like the Workload Widget, People Columns, and Time Tracking, monday.com makes it easy to visualize and manage team bandwidth.
This guide covers how to:
- Set up boards for workload tracking
- Use the Workload Widget to visualize team capacity
- Configure effort estimates
- Best practices for workload management
🧱 Step 1: Set Up Your Board for Workload Monitoring
Before you can track workload, your boards should be structured with the right columns:
✅ Required Columns
| Column Type | Purpose |
|---|---|
| People Column | Assign tasks to team members |
| Date Column | Define deadlines or timeframes |
| Numbers Column (optional) | Enter effort estimates (e.g., hours, story points) |
💡 Pro Tip: Name your columns clearly, such as “Owner,” “Due Date,” or “Effort (hrs).”
📊 Step 2: Use the Workload Widget
The Workload Widget helps you visualize how much each person is assigned over time.
📌 How to Add the Workload Widget:
- Open or create a dashboard
- Click “+ Add Widget”
- Search for and select Workload
- Choose the board(s) you want to monitor
- Map the following:
- People Column (assigned user)
- Date Column (due date or timeframe)
- Effort Column (optional for custom effort values)
⚖️ Understanding the Workload View
The widget displays:
- Each team member’s task load over time
- Color-coded bars to indicate workload level
- A timeline broken down by day, week, or month
If no effort column is defined, each task is counted as 1 unit of effort by default.
🎯 With Effort Column:
You can use numbers (e.g., hours, points) to better reflect true task size.
| Example | Calculation |
|---|---|
| John has 3 tasks this week, each 2 hours | Total = 6 hours |
🛠 Step 3: Adjust Capacity Settings
You can define a default capacity threshold (e.g., 8 hours per day) to flag when a team member is overloaded.
- Click the three-dot menu on the Workload Widget
- Choose Settings
- Set default daily or weekly effort capacity
⚠️ Workloads exceeding capacity will show in red—making it easy to rebalance assignments.
🔄 Step 4: Balance Workload Across Team
If someone is overloaded:
- Reassign tasks to other team members using the People column
- Adjust due dates to spread effort across time
- Break large tasks into subitems to distribute work more effectively
📈 Bonus: Other Ways to Monitor Workload
📍Timeline View
- See who’s working on what across a project timeframe
- Great for visual project planning
📍Calendar View
- Get a day-by-day view of deadlines and assignments
- Quickly identify clusters or bottlenecks
📍Time Tracking Column
- Monitor actual time spent (vs. estimated)
- Identify discrepancies between planned and real effort
✅ Best Practices for Workload Management
| Tip | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Use effort estimates in a Numbers column | Enables more accurate workload reporting |
| Set capacity limits per role | Account for part-time staff or varying availability |
| Regularly review the workload widget | Helps prevent last-minute overloads |
| Combine dashboards with automations | Auto-notify users when tasks exceed capacity |
| Use subitems for task decomposition | Allows granular workload tracking |
🔌 Integrations for Advanced Workload Management
- Google Calendar / Outlook: Sync tasks with external calendars
- Slack / Teams: Notify team when new tasks are assigned
- Zapier: Automate workload tracking with other tools
❓FAQs
Can I track workload across multiple boards?
Yes! The Workload Widget supports multiple connected boards.
Can I set different capacity levels per team member?
Not directly—but you can use multiple workload widgets or columns to simulate this.
What if I don’t have an effort column?
The system assumes each task = 1 unit of effort. Adding a Numbers column allows better accuracy.