IT Staffing Ratios: 2025 Updated Guide

Common IT Staffing Ratios Across Different Industries

Knowing industry staffing ratios helps you find the right fit for your business. However, there is no one-size-fits-all ratio, which varies based on key factors (which we’ll cover soon).

Experts at several Reddit forums believe there’s no official number when it comes to IT staffing ratio.

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IT Staffing Benchmarks by Organization Size

IT staffing ratios vary by organization size. According to a survey done by Workforce, for

• Small businesses with 1-500 employees, the staffing ratio is 1:18, i.e., 1 IT team member for every 18 regular employees.

• Mid-size businesses with 500-5,000 employees, the staffing ratio is 1:25, i.e., 1 IT team member for every 25 regular employees.

Now, you’d have imagined the IT-to-employee ratio for mid-sized businesses to be higher. But that’s not the case, as mid-sized organizations may have more standardized and automated processes, requiring fewer IT resources.

• Large enterprises with 5,000+ employees, the staffing ratio ranges between 1:50 - 1:200, i.e., 1 IT team member for every 50 - 200 regular employees. 

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How to Determine Your Ideal IT Staffing Ratio?

There is no universal IT staffing ratio. Some businesses operate efficiently at 1:200, while others require 1:20 due to complexity, security, or compliance demands. The right balance depends on industry benchmarks, workload, and automation.

Key Considerations

This section explores:

• Industry benchmarks for IT staffing ratios

• Key factors influencing staffing needs

• How to calculate a sustainable ratio

• The role of automation and outsourcing

• The impact of under-staffing and IT burnout

Industry Benchmarks for IT Staffing Ratios

While no fixed ratio applies to all, industry standards provide a reference:

Key Insights

• Gartner recommends a 70:1 ratio for service desks.

• Robert Half found companies averaging 136:1, though CIOs favor 82:1.

• Informal surveys report help desk ratios ranging from 30:1 to 800:1.

Industry Variations

• Highly Regulated (Finance, Healthcare, Government): Lower ratios (1:50 – 1:100) due to compliance and security demands.

• Manufacturing and Retail: Higher ratios (1:200 – 1:500) as many employees require minimal IT support.

• Tech and SaaS: Ratios (1:30 – 1:100) vary based on cloud reliance and automation.

• Education and Public Sector: Often underfunded, with 1:300+ ratios leading to IT burnout.

The correct ratio depends on industry, system complexity, and automation levels.

Factors Affecting IT Staffing Needs

1. IT Responsibilities

The responsibilities your IT team handles directly impact your IT staffing needs. Here are some key responsibilities of IT teams:

• Helpdesk Support: Troubleshooting, password resets, software assistance.

• System Administration: Managing servers, networks, and cloud infrastructure.

• Cybersecurity: Threat monitoring, compliance enforcement, data security.

• Compliance and Risk Management: Regulatory audits, reporting, and security policies.

• Project Management and Digital Transformation: Cloud migrations, process automation.

• Vendor and License Management: SaaS subscriptions, hardware procurement.

• Onboarding and Offboarding: Ensuring smooth employee IT transitions.

Companies expecting IT to handle everything from Level 1 support to strategic decisions need a lower ratio. Those with clear role separation and outsourcing can sustain higher ratios.

Discussions on several Reddit forums suggest that staffing ratios depend on an IT team's responsibilities.

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2. Ticket Volume and Complexity

Another key factor in IT staffing is the number and complexity of tickets per IT staff member.

• Higher user ratios work when IT mainly handles fundamental issues (e.g., password resets, and software installations), which can be outsourced or automated.

• Lower user ratios are needed when IT manages critical infrastructure, security, and compliance.

How to calculate ticket volume:

• Count the average number of tickets per IT staff per month.

• Divide it by the number of employees.

• If IT staff handles over 100 monthly tickets, consider expanding the team or increasing automation.

Pro Tip: You can also check the number of monthly tickets per IT staff on your help desk software.

3. The "Hit by a Bus" Test

This test asks a simple yet powerful question: What happens if a key IT staff member suddenly leaves or takes time off?

If your entire operations come to a halt when a key member is absent, probably because of lack of documentation or redundancy, and your organization faces these issues:

• Employees scrambling for backup support.

• Unresolved issues reveal hidden inefficiencies.

• Overworked IT staff returning to massive backlogs.

..you need more IT guys.

4. Remote and Hybrid Workforce

Managing a remote or distributed workforce adds additional layers of complexity that can strain your IT team, especially if you already have a lower IT-to-user ratio.

Managing remote workforces often involves:

• Supporting multiple office locations and field agents: When your organization has multiple locations, the IT team must ensure unified network management and implement consistent security practices, which requires more effort and time.

• Home office setups and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies: The recent increase in home office setups and the adoption of BYOD have led to various devices connecting to corporate systems. With so many different devices in the picture, it can become complex for IT personnel to ensure each device complies with the policies and remains updated.

• IT support across multiple time zones: Organizations with employees working in different time zones also have difficulty offering continuous support. Without hiring additional resources, providing support to employees in different time zones is impossible.

• Limited technical expertise: Remote workforces often have limited tech knowledge. And regular remote interactions can turn into repeat training sessions, as per this Reddit thread:

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So, a globally distributed workforce may require a lower IT-to-user ratio to maintain service levels.

5. Security and Compliance

Some companies outsource security, while others manage it in-house. Organizations that outsource security and compliance to managed service providers (MSPs) can often operate smoothly with fewer IT staff members.

However, companies handling security internally require more IT staff to manage complex tasks, including:

• Identity and Access Management (IAM).

• Compliance audits and reporting.

• Cyber threat monitoring and response.

Overall, organizations that manage cybersecurity in-house need lower IT ratios (more IT staff members) than those that outsource.

Signs Your IT Ratio is Too High

• Employees avoid submitting tickets due to slow IT response: If your IT team is understaffed, it will struggle to resolve issues on time, leading to unnecessary delays. This might force employees to avoid raising tickets, looking for workarounds, or ignoring the problem.

• Critical issues pile up when IT staff take time off: If critical problems pile up when an IT staff member goes on vacation, you’re understaffed. An IT Manager shared a very similar insight in a thread:

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• Business growth isn't matched by IT scaling. As your business grows, so should your IT department, e.g., by automating redundant tasks or onboarding more employees. Otherwise, you’d find it hard to manage the increased workload.

How to Improve IT Efficiency Without Hiring More Staff

Even without adding headcount, organizations can optimize IT efficiency by:

• Automating routine IT tasks: By automating tasks like ticket prioritization, password resets, and patch management, you can get more done with fewer IT employees.

• Implementing self-service IT portals: Implementing self-service portals and training your employees on leveraging them can help you minimize minor support tickets that don’t require manual intervention.

• Implementing remote management tools can minimize the need for on-site IT support. For instance, with tools like Workwize, you can remotely manage all your assets across their lifecycle, from procurement to disposal.

• Outsourcing non-critical IT tasks – Outsourcing day-to-day tasks to managed service providers (MSPs) will help your IT team save time and invest it in more strategic work.

• Standardizing software and hardware—Implementing standardized software and hardware within your organization will help streamline the IT environment, eventually reducing complexity and troubleshooting time.

By following these processes, you can boost IT efficiency without hiring new IT employees or overburdening your existing team.

IT Staff Workload and Burnout Risks

IT teams are often understaffed, and the workload is beyond manageable, eventually leading to burnout. Here’s an example of how a Help desk guy got burnt out:

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With companies having IT staffing ratios as high as 1:1000, 1:400 might seem feasible. However, companies with these kinds of ratios might also face problems like:

• Slow response times: With one IT staff member for every 400 or more employees, slow responses are inevitable. After all, a single person can only handle so many tickets.

• Security vulnerabilities: While companies can and do leverage automation, an overextended IT team may struggle to keep up with regular system updates, patches, and security monitoring

• Increased employee frustration: If tickets are not resolved on time and employees have to wait for long periods, this can lead to frustration, which can directly impact productivity.

• Unplanned downtime: Without the right number of IT staff members, there will be some blind spots, which could eventually cause unexpected system outages or downtimes.

A sustainable IT ratio, however, helps you balance efficiency and support quality.

Finding the Right IT Ratio for Your Organization

To determine an effective IT staffing ratio, consider:

• Monthly IT ticket volume: If too many tickets are piling up and it’s taking longer than expected to resolve them, you need more IT guys. Or you can try automating certain processes and see if that does the trick.

• Number of applications, operating systems, and devices supported: Diverse apps, operating systems, and devices mean more configurations for IT staff to manage, patch, and troubleshoot. And this may require a larger IT team.,, and troubleshoot, which

• Coverage for multiple locations or remote employees: Organizations wherein employees work remotely or from multiple locations face additional challenges managing their needs, requiring additional IT support.

• Expertise of the IT staff in question: If your IT has deep expertise and cross-functional expertise, they can potentially handle more requests faster, enabling them to support a higher number of employees and vice versa.

• Security, compliance, and 24/7 operational requirements: Industries such as finance or healthcare require more frequent updates, proactive monitoring, and rapid incident response. They may also need to be operational 24/7, which requires a larger IT department to maintain secure and compliant infrastructure.

• Whether IT staff spend more time firefighting than improving systems: If your IT team is spending more time reacting to the issues instead of implementing strategic improvements, they may be highly understaffed. Having the right number of IT members will ensure ample time is invested in improving systems.

The Reality of Overworked IT Teams

Real-world IT staffing ratios reported by IT professionals:

• 1:400 (Healthcare) – “No backup, overwhelming workload.”

• 1:135 (SMB) – “If I take a vacation, everything falls apart.”

• 2:400 (Retail) – “Help.”

• 1:250 (Global Company) – “We have an MSP, but they don’t fix much.”

• 1:125 (Education) – “User training reduces the ticket load.”

The big picture is that a sustainable IT ratio ensures efficiency without burning out the staff. Organizations should reevaluate the staffing ratio if slow IT response, staff restrictions or security risks are reported.

To ensure long-term success, organizations need to automate processes, outsource day-to-day OT operations and maintain comprehensive documentation.

Factors That Influence Your Ideal IT Staffing Ratio

Let’s now discuss what factors impact the IT staffing ratio and how. This will help you determine the right ratio for your organization:

AI-Powered ITSM Tools

AI-driven automation and advanced ITSM tools can substantially impact an organization’s IT staffing ratio.

Let’s assume your organization relies on manual elements for IT help desk management. 

The employees call, raise a ticket, or email the IT team regarding the issue. The first point of contact then determines its priority, assigns the problem to the right person, and follows up until the issue is resolved.

Did you notice how complex and time-consuming this process is?

Let’s change the scenario. You implement an AI-powered ITSM tool for helpdesk management. This tool automatically prioritizes issues based on predefined rules, assigns them to self-help resources or the right IT team member, or resolves them automatically.

This process reduces the complexity and involvement of manual elements and boosts operational efficiency. As a result, fewer IT team members are required than organizations that don’t leverage automated ITSM tools.

See what a System Admin has to say about automation and staffing ratio:

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Key Takeaway: Companies that leverage AI-powered ITSM tools often require fewer IT resources than those that don’t.

Automated Asset Management Solutions

Automated asset management solutions can substantially impact an organization’s IT staffing ratio. Let’s understand this with an example.

Imagine your organization relies on manual IT resources for asset management. 

Let's say your IT team procures hardware (office supplies, laptops, keyboards, mice, and more), installs an MDM solution, and delivers it to your global workforce. If a repair request is received, your team visits the user or asks them to send the device. The same goes for processes like asset retrieval and disposal.

Not only is this process complex (logistical challenges), time-consuming (manual resource deployment), and expensive (customs fees), but it is also prone to errors, which can directly impact the end-user experience.

Let’s change the scenario. You implement an automated IT asset management solution like Workwize. This platform helps you automate every process, from hardware procurement, deployment, management, and repairs to retrieval and secure disposal.

Result? You can enable zero-touch onboarding and offboarding, save yourself more than 40% of the manual workload, and reduce the error margin, boosting the end-user experience.

Because you save more than 40% of your manual workload, you can get more done with fewer manual resources, i.e., a lower IT-to-employee ratio.

Key Takeaway: Companies that invest in automated IT asset management solutions like Workwize and save 40% of their time don’t need as many IT resources as those that rely on manual processes. 

How do AI Agents Affect IT Staffing Ratios?

An AI agent is an intelligent system that understands and responds to customer inquiries without human intervention. This technology leverages machine learning and natural language processing to handle various tasks, from answering simple questions to solving complex issues or even handling multiple tasks simultaneously.

Let’s now understand how AI agents impact IT staffing ratios:

AI-Powered IT Service Desks

When you deploy AI-powered IT service desks, you allow chatbots or virtual assistants to manage routine tasks automatically. These AI agents can answer FAQs, handle password resets, and guide users through basic steps without needing intervention from manual IT resources.

So, by deploying AI agents, you can reduce the number of service requests that reach manual IT resources, enabling you to lower your IT-to-employee ratio.

Predictive Maintenance and Proactive IT Support

AI agents can help you continuously monitor all your systems. When they notice something is off, such as login attempts from an unexpected location or error logs, your AI agents will trigger an alert or take the required measures, such as applying a patch or reallocating resources, before things go south and impact the end users.

In short, AI agents can help you deal with potential issues before they become disastrous, minimizing downtime and its impact. As a result, fewer manual IT resources are required.

AI in Cybersecurity and Compliance

AI plays a crucial role in detecting cybersecurity threats. AI-powred systems can help detect threats in real time, allowing for instant incident response and mitigation. AI agents can also adapt, evolve, and continuously learn from new data, boosting their ability to detect emerging threats.

In fact, according to the Ponemon Insitute, 70% of cybersecurity professionals say AI is very effective in detecting threats that previously would have gone unnoticed.

Additionally, AI can help with compliance and risk management. Compliance teams can offer high-level instructions and delegate redundant yet complex tasks like preparing reports or making risk assessments to AI agents. Once the AI-powered system completes the job, you can verify the results without manually performing the entire process, saving valuable time.

Workforce Augmentation vs. Replacement

From the above content, anyone would think AI is here to take up your jobs. But that’s not true. Instead of considering AI agents as your replacement, you must consider them as your assistants who supplement your ability to perform better.

How to Optimize Your IT Staffing Ratio

Optimizing your IT staffing ratio is crucial if you wish to reduce costs, boost your operational efficiency, enhance security and proactive management, and improve employee satisfaction and productivity. Here’s how you can optimize your IT staffing ratio:

Leveraging IT Automation for Efficiency

By integrating solutions that help you automate different tasks within your organization, you can effectively optimize your IT staffing ratio.

While several processes can be automated, one of the most complex, time-consuming, and error-prone is IT hardware lifecycle management.

Using global IT hardware management tools like Workwize, you can automate the entire IT asset lifecycle from asset procurement, deployment, management, and repair to retrieval and disposal, enabling zero-touch onboarding and offboarding for your distributed workforces.

With an automated asset management solution, you no longer have to deploy as many manual resources to source, configure, deliver, manage, retrieve, or dispose of IT assets as you would without an automated solution.

This will help you save more than 40% of manual hours, meaning you’d need fewer IT resources to complete the same job, leading to a better IT staffing ratio.

Training Employees to Reduce IT Support Tickets

Integrating IT self-service portals within your organization and training your employees to leverage them can help you reduce IT support tickets (that IT employees have to handle).

Self-service portals allow employees to resolve common issues like resetting passwords and software installations without direct IT support. This can reduce the number of IT support tickets that require manual intervention, increasing productivity across the organization.

In addition, by providing your employees with the proper cybersecurity training, you can reduce cybersecurity risk from 60% to just 10%. Lower cybersecurity risk translates to fewer security-related tickets or incidents, further lowering the IT team's burden and enabling you to reduce the IT-to-employee staffing ratio.

Tracking IT Workloads and Staffing Needs

Tracking your IT workloads and staffing needs is crucial to optimize your IT staffing ratio.

Continuously tracking your IT workloads (preferably using an ITSM solution), monitoring support tickets, asset usage, and incident response times, can help you determine when and where your IT team is more strained. This information can also help you adjust your staffing levels to ensure you’re not over- or understaffed during peak times.

Also, dedicated asset management solutions like Workwize can offer you real-time visibility into hardware spread across your global workforce. Workwize allows you to monitor performance, schedule maintenance, and retrieve or dispose of IT assets, reducing the need for extra IT support.

Outsourcing and Managed IT Services

You can outsource your IT operations if your organization requires 24/7 IT support without the overhead of full-time IT employees, experiences fluctuating demand, or lacks specific IT skills. And this will help you reduce (quite obviously) your IT-to-employee staffing ratio. 

You can create a hybrid approach wherein external providers offer day-to-day operations, and your core IT team focuses on strategic decisions or innovation.

In addition to optimizing your staffing ratio, outsourcing IT operations will help you save tons in IT overhead. No wonder 37% of the IT operations across companies are outsourced.

Implementing a Tiered IT Support Model

If you implement a tiered IT support model and structure your support functions into different levels, you can effectively optimize staffing ratios. Here’s how:

Tier 1 – AI-Powered Automation

At this tier, you can deploy self-service portals and chatbots to automatically handle fundamental troubleshooting issues like password resets, sharing credentials, etc. This reduces the number of support requests that reach human IT agents, reducing the overall IT workload, overhead, and the IT-to-employee ratio.

Tier 2 – Technical IT Staff

When automated solutions fail to resolve an issue, you can deploy technical IT staff at this tier. Manual resources can handle more complex problems that require human judgment.

Tier 3 – Specialized IT Roles

In the third tier, you can deploy advanced experts to address specific compliance, cybersecurity, or infrastructure issues. This will ensure that critical issues receive the required attention and minimize downtime.

When there’s a specific team or tier to handle issues based on their complexity, you can optimize your IT staffing ratio, improve efficiency and service delivery, and reduce costs.

Future Trends in IT Staffing

Let’s explore the top trends that are impacting the landscape of IT staffing:

AI and Automation

AI and automation are revolutionizing the IT industry. They help organizations effectively automate tasks, substantially reducing the need for manual resources. All you need is a team of specialized IT professionals who can manage complex AI-powered automation systems, and AI will take care of the rest.

Remote Work

As remote work rises, IT teams must shift from centralized offices to a globally distributed model. Deploying remote support teams ensures seamless issue resolution across locations and time zones. Additionally, companies may prioritize IT professionals with both technical expertise and business acumen to align IT with strategic goals.

How Workwize Can Help You Optimize Your IT Staffing Ratio

Workwize is a global IT hardware management solution that helps you manage all your IT assets globally from a single unified platform.

By integrating Workwize within your tech stack, you can automate:

• Asset Procurement: Source high-quality IT assets or office supplies from our 80+ global vendors.

• Deployment: Configure the assets remotely and deliver them to your employees from our local warehouses within 5-7 days. This not only saves logistical costs but is sustainable for the environment.

• Repairs and Maintenance: employees can log repair requests from the self-service portal. The next steps are automatically taken based on pre-decided rules. And you can track the entire process. 

• Retrieval: Zero-touch offboarding allows you to retrieve assets from your employees regardless of location, securely. You can track the status of the retrieval from your dashboard.

• IT Asset Disposal: Workwize ends the IT lifecycle by handling IT asset disposal, from securely retrieving the device to performing a certified data erasure.

Imagine manually performing the above tasks for every employee you onboard as your remote team expands. How many more manual IT resources would you need?

Automating the entire IT hardware lifecycle with Workwize makes the process more seamless, error-free, and efficient. It also reduces the number of manual IT guys you need on the field, substantially optimizing your IT staffing ratio.

Want to see Workwize do its magic with your own eyes? Book a free demo and start automating from day one.

FAQs

How do I assess my IT ratio?

Here’s a simple exercise to assess your IT Ratio:

• If IT support is delayed or avoided, the ratio is too high.

• If IT staff can’t take vacations without causing chaos, staffing is inadequate.

What is the easiest way of optimizing IT staffing ratios?

Some of the most effective methods of optimizing IT staffing ratios include automation and outsourcing. Companies that invest in:

• Self-service IT portals (employees reset passwords themselves).

• Cloud-based IT management (reduces local infrastructure maintenance).

• Automation of routine tasks (AI-driven monitoring, remote deployments).

• Outsourcing MSP support (security, infrastructure maintenance).

...can often support more employees per IT staff member.

Example:

• A company relying on on-premise servers and manual processes may need 1 IT staff per 75-100 users.

• A cloud-first company with strong automation could scale up to 1:300 or more.