What Is Ad-Hoc Work? How to Handle, Track, and Price It Fairly

Let’s be frank; ad hoc work is insidious. Mostly, you don't even know it's happening, like you've been suddenly mugged of your time on an otherwise nondescript day. For those of you seeking a solid definition instead of a feeling: ad hoc work refers to unplanned, impromptu tasks that crop up outside of your regular workflow. As with any time thief, ad hoc requests often demand immediate attention and often lead to ritualistically overservicing clients. 

A client requesting last-minute project modifications, someone needing an urgent report, or a coworker requesting "a quick moment of your time to help with something" that has nothing to do with your priorities are just a few examples of ad hoc work. Even though these tasks might not seem like much, they can have a big impact and cause unseen chaos that will escalate over time, causing:

• Loooooonnnger days
• Lower team morale
• The death of productivity
• Ultimately, reduced profitability

In this post, we'll examine the silent costs of unmanaged ad hoc work and offer practical tips to juggle regular work with spontaneous ad hoc requests.

Real-life ad hoc work examples

So now that we have a rough idea of the nature of ad hoc work, let’s get more granular and in-depth with our ad hoc examples – be they ad hoc tasks, ad hoc projects, or – the silent slayer of them all – ad hoc requests…

Examples of ad hoc tasks

While these tasks can crop up suddenly, they are often baked into your working day, which doesn't make them any less annoying or time sucky, however. Here are some examples to get the blood boiling:

• Client changes mind at the last minute. Oh, this old chestnut. Picture the scene… you're a graphic designer neck deep in a client's branding project. Then, the client emails you as you're finishing the design to request a new logo variation and an urgent color change to accommodate their abrupt rebranding decision. Your schedule is upended by this unforeseen request, which forces you to rearrange priorities and postpone other tasks in order to fulfill the client's strict deadline.
• ‍Mitigating urgent complaints. You are a customer service agent tackling persistent problems with services. Your boss gives you the unexpected directive to resolve an urgent complaint from a big client who is threatening to escalate the issue. Your workday will be disrupted by this urgent ask, forcing you to put other cases on hold.
• Pressing reports for management. You're an analyst meticulously cobbling together a monthly report. Then, your manager unexpectedly asks that you undertake an entirely different report with important performance indicators for an impending executive meeting – within the hour. In short, you're left flailing, your workflow is left hanging (again), and you're stressed to bits.

Examples of ad hoc projects 

Consider the following scenarios somewhat similar to our ad hoc tasks outlined above – only they take waaaaaaaay longer and are far more tedious. 

• Office relocation and setup. Because of building renovations, your department is suddenly required to move to a new office location. In addition to the actual move, you have to plan team seating, IT setup, and furniture placement – all in a short amount of time. Managing logistics while maintaining daily tasks is disrupted by this unforeseen project.
• The marketing campaign tangent. You’re a member of a marketing team that is working on a new product launch. All of a sudden, senior management decides to "chase the shiny thing!" In other words, they're trying to piggyback or take advantage of a new trend and give your team a short-term project to develop and implement (AKA shoehorn) this new narrative into the campaign. Rapid planning, coordination, and deployment are now required for this ad hoc side project, which diverts your attention from your initial long-term plans.
• Response to an urgent cybersecurity breach. You're a member of the IT staff, and there's a breach detected that can jeopardize confidential company information, so this is an all-hands-on-deck scenario. You’ll need to down tools to identify the problem, eliminate the risks, and put new security measures in place while minimizing downtime and protecting key company assets. In short, this is critically important, will take a long time, and push everything you were doing on the back burner indefinitely.
• Event crisis management. A keynote speaker abruptly cancels the event you're planning for your company. This presents an unforeseen, high-pressure ad hoc project for you and your team, as you must now find a substitute speaker, update the schedule, and make sure attendees are informed.

Examples of ad hoc requests

"Requests" don't generally come from a manager or a client; they come from your coworkers. This makes them THE WORST culprits of time theft in my opinion, and the reason is threefold: You can't say no, there's often a lot more back and forth involved in terms of conflabs, and the work is often not seen/recognized by management.

• Assisting coworkers with unforeseen problems. You may be a software developer who is intensely focused on coding a crucial feature. Abruptly, a coworker from a different team comes up to you and requests assistance in resolving a technical problem with their system. Although helping them is vital, their spontaneous request diverts your focus from your current tasks and could push back the completion date of your own project.
• Quick data analysis. You're a finance professional, and a colleague asks you to quickly analyze a new dataset in order to find trends for an impromptu meeting while you're working on budget planning. This unforeseen request diverts you from your scheduled activities and calls for prompt attention and insight.
• Last-minute content edits. As a content writer, you're finishing up a project when a colleague requests that you quickly edit and proofread their blog post so that it can be published right away. You are forced to postpone your own deadlines in order to comply with this ad hoc request.

Ad hoc work effects on productivity

OK, so we've established that ad hoc work is often unavoidable and should be expected, but it can silently wreak havoc on workplace efficiency. With the above examples, you can see how it can repeatedly pull focus, resulting in project delays. Over time, it will drain your margins.

 For you see, when unplanned work takes precedence, the obvious outcome is that scheduled tasks and deadlines will be frequently pushed back. These interruptions not only stall progress but can create cascading delays across other teams relying on timely contributions. As a result, the financial impact of ad hoc work cannot be overlooked.

So, here's how you know ad hoc requests are hijacking your productivity.

1. Repeated interruptions. This results in those aforementioned breaks in workflow.
2. Missed deadlines. Planned tasks or projects are repeatedly postponed due to unforeseen, “urgent” ad hoc work taking precedence.
3. Reduced productivity. Ad hoc work may be a major factor if you or your team are finding it difficult to maintain focus and finish tasks quickly.
4. Blurred priorities. Keep an eye out for situations that cause confusion or poor prioritization because it becomes difficult to discern between important tasks and unforeseen requests.
5. Hidden costs. Look at how frequently resources are redirected to unforeseen projects, which can result in lower profitability or higher operating costs.
6. Boundary issues. You need to determine whether someone along the chain, or indeed you yourself, is taking requests without providing clear terms, which could lead to scope creep or unmanageable workloads.‍
7. Stress or team burnout. This is the major indicator that ad hoc work has become an untamed beast in your business. The erratic nature of it may be having a negative impact if team members regularly display signs of overwhelm or frustration.

Tips for managing ad hoc work

Let's look at how to create boundaries and set reasonable rates for ad hoc work so that unforeseen tasks don't repeatedly scupper your working day. Ad hoc tasks can be properly managed while safeguarding your time, funds, and resources if you take the proper approach.

Below are some tips to help you establish reasonable rates and some needed boundaries around the inevitability of ad hoc work.

Set the scope

Start by outlining the differences between regular work and ad hoc work. Clearly state with your boss or client what is covered by your standard agreements or pricing, as well as when extra fees (where appropriate) will be incurred for unforeseen requests.

Build in that buffer

Start to take into account the disruption that ad hoc work can cause, such as postponements of other projects, overtime, or the need for more resources. You can then include these expenses in your pricing. While keeping the majority of your working day for scheduled work, set aside specified time blocks for ad hoc requests. This helps strike a balance between structure and spontaneity.

Set revision limits

Determine how many changes are feasible/allowed within a project's scope for agencies and independent contractors. Moreover, extra ad hoc changes ought to incur additional fees. Speaking of which…

Employ hourly or premium rates

For urgent, last-minute jobs, charge a higher hourly rate or apply a premium. This highlights just how valuable your flexibility and prompt attention to matters are.

Be upfront

To mitigate misunderstandings, be transparent about your pricing structure from the outset. Make sure stakeholders or clients are aware of the financial ramifications of ad hoc requests, and don’t be afraid of highlighting this. After all, undercharging is a scourge that needs to be managed properly. And, chances are, if a client decides not to go with you based on your boundaries, then you’ve probably dodged a bullet.

Learn to say 'No' when necessary

Similarly, show assertiveness by refusing requests that would overburden you or interfere with important tasks. 

Implement an approval system

If the level of ad hoc work starts to mount, put in place a system that requires a supervisor or client to approve requests in order to assign only necessary tasks.

Track and modify

Keep tabs on the amount of ad hoc work you're doing. Reevaluate your boundaries and make the necessary adjustments if it starts to interfere with everyday tasks or cause burnout.

Billing for ad hoc work

While we've established that employees must set boundaries to avoid overload, and that business owners must know how to appropriately price ad hoc work. However, without first keeping track of the hours spent on ad hoc tasks, accurate billing is impossible. It is challenging to fairly account for their disruption and value in the absence of this data.

This is where Memtime can be your silent "guardian" who can:

Also, in terms of tracking billable hours, we have a handy blog posts for that to keep you abreast of best practices. 

Wrapping up

The first step in fairly tracking ad hoc work is to use tools or systems that accurately record the time spent on these tasks without interfering with your work processes. You can see how ad hoc work impacts overall productivity and profitability by documenting specifics like task duration, frequency, and impact on daily priorities. This information offers insights for improved resource allocation and boundary-setting going forward and helps guarantee fair billing, particularly when tasks spill well beyond initial expectations.The bottom line is this – you can’t accurately bill for ad hoc work without first accurately tracking all the ad hoc hours, and Memtime can silently capture the real cost of this form of work without interruptions 🤓

Memtime is an automatic time tracking tool that records meetings, document edits, emails, and tool usage without the need for human input. It runs smoothly in the background. It gives teams accurate project and task timelines, so they don't have to recreate their workdays.

The Memory Aid, a chronological timeline that shows program names, specifics, and time spent. All information is confidential, kept locally on your computer, and only you can see it.

Memtime enables users to log specific activities as time entries, review their day in 1- to 60-minute increments, and sync them with projects in their project management software. It facilitates two-way syncing to import tasks and export time entries with ease, thanks to integrations for more than 100 apps. 

How about you give a try for free for 14 days to see how it can help?