In message , at 22:03:00 on
Sun, 1 Mar 2009, Recliner remarked:
Mp point was that some of the staff may not even have agreed to do it
in the first place. How do you plan for something like that, if say,
50% more staff choose to take Christmas off than previous years?

If the staff choose to take Xmas off, then the agency will know that
in advance. The client will then be told how many engineers are
available, and if the client doesn't adapt his workplan to
accommodate that, it's the client's fault.

Wasn't the problem that staff had agreed to work over the xmas holiday,
and did, but were not willing (or allowed by their wives) to continue
working when the job overran?

My recollection is that it only over-ran because of the initial
double-booking of contractors.
--
Roland Perry