Discover practical ways to keep consultants productive between projects, from training and business development to internal work and project preparation.
When consultants are between client engagements (often described as being “on the bench”), their time does not have to be unproductive. It does, however, carry a measurable financial impact, making it useful to understand how to calculate the daily cost of unassigned consultants.
Some gaps last only a few days, while others continue for several weeks. The length of time depends on client demand, project timing, consultant expertise, location, and upcoming staffing needs. Whatever the duration, firms should give consultants clear priorities and meaningful work rather than leaving them to wait for their next assignment.
Time between projects can also help consultants build relevant skills, support future revenue, improve internal resources, and prepare for upcoming client work.
Start With Clear Priorities
The right plan depends on how long the consultant is likely to be available.
A consultant waiting three days for a confirmed project should not begin a month-long certification. Equally, someone who may be unassigned for several weeks needs more than a few administrative tasks.
Effective resourcing is not only about reducing bench time. It also means avoiding the opposite problem: overloading some consultants while others have capacity. Learn how to turn bench time into billable work without overloading your team.
Match Activities to the Expected Time Available
The plan should remain flexible. If a suitable client opportunity appears, client placement will normally take priority.
Invest in Relevant Training
Time between projects is an opportunity for consultants to develop skills they may not have time to focus on during a demanding engagement.
Training should be connected to likely client demand. Generic courses may keep someone occupied, but targeted development is more likely to benefit both the consultant and the firm.
For example, a consultant expected to work on digital transformation projects might focus on process mapping, data analysis, change management, or a relevant technology platform.
Support Business Development
Consultants can make valuable contributions to sales while they are between projects.
Because they understand how engagements are delivered, they can bring practical insight to proposals and pitches. They may also be able to translate previous project experience into credible examples of the firm’s capabilities.
These assignments should be specific. Asking someone to “help with business development” is less effective than asking them to draft a defined section of a proposal, research a target account, or prepare an anonymized case study.
Create Useful Thought Leadership
Consultants often have valuable expertise that has not yet been turned into publishable content.
The strongest topics usually come from real questions clients ask. A consultant who has just completed a supply chain project, for example, may be able to explain common implementation challenges or lessons that apply across the industry.
Content should avoid disclosing confidential client information. Focus on general principles, anonymized examples, and reusable insights.
Thought leadership can support marketing and sales while also helping consultants sharpen their ideas and strengthen their professional profiles.
Improve Internal Knowledge and Resources
Consulting firms generate useful knowledge on every project, but much of it is lost when teams move directly to the next engagement.
The work should solve a defined problem. “Improve the knowledge base” is too broad. “Create a reusable project-closeout checklist” or “organize recent case studies by industry” gives the consultant a clear outcome.
Good knowledge management can help future teams work faster, avoid repeated mistakes, and deliver more consistently.
Assign Internal or Pro Bono Projects
Internal projects allow consultants to apply their skills while contributing to the firm’s priorities.
These assignments can also create development opportunities. A junior consultant might lead a small internal initiative, while a senior consultant provides guidance.
Pro bono projects are another productive option, particularly when a longer period of availability is expected. Consultants can support nonprofit or community organizations with strategy, operations, technology, research, or financial planning.
Internal and pro bono work should still have a clear scope, timeline, and owner. Otherwise, it can become difficult to complete or hand over when client work begins.
Prepare for the Next Engagement
When an upcoming project is already known, preparation is often the best use of available time.
This does not mean beginning unpaid client delivery before the engagement starts. The purpose is to reduce onboarding time and help the consultant contribute sooner once the project is underway.
Better resource forecasting and earlier transition planning can also reduce time on the bench. Discussions about the consultant’s next assignment should begin before the current project ends, rather than after the person becomes available.
Encourage Mentoring and Collaboration
Consultants between projects can also share their expertise internally.
These activities strengthen relationships across the firm and can make consultants easier to deploy across different teams and project types.
As with other bench activities, mentoring should have a clear purpose. Pair people based on a specific development need rather than arranging meetings without defined goals.
Allow Time to Recharge
Not every available hour needs to produce an internal deliverable.
Consulting projects can involve long hours, travel, demanding deadlines, and sustained client pressure. After an intensive engagement, a short period of reduced workload can help consultants recover.
Where possible, firms can encourage employees to use annual leave, complete lighter activities, or spend time reflecting on their development goals.
A balanced approach supports long-term performance. Filling every non-billable hour with internal tasks may increase visible activity, but it can also contribute to burnout.
What Not to Do
Bench time should not become either unmanaged downtime or a collection of low-value tasks.
Avoid:
- Leaving consultants without clear communication
- Assigning work that has no audience or purpose
- Giving one person several competing internal priorities
- Using busywork simply to fill time
- Waiting until a project ends to discuss the next assignment
One or two meaningful objectives are usually more valuable than a long list of unrelated tasks.
Make Time Between Projects Purposeful
To understand how effectively your firm is balancing billable and non-billable time, it is also important to calculate your consulting firm’s utilization rate.
Productive non-billable work should do at least one of three things: prepare the consultant for future client work, support future revenue, or strengthen the firm.
That might mean completing targeted training, contributing to a proposal, documenting project knowledge, creating thought leadership, supporting an internal initiative, or preparing for the next engagement.
The goal is not to keep consultants busy for the sake of it. It is to use the time intentionally while preserving enough flexibility for consultants to move quickly when the right client project becomes available.
Projectworks gives you a live view of capacity, skills, leave, and demand. So you can balance workloads, reserve capacity early, test staffing scenarios, and keep forecasts accurate with real timesheet data.
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