Over my head in Overhead

What is an acceptable level of overhead? For charities and non profit organizations, most people cite a "no more than 25%" figure that has gained acceptance over the past several years, although some will argue that figure is restrictive and counter productive.

The overhead percentage at my company -- simply figured as number of non billable folks out of the total headcount -- is about 24%. But we're not a non profit...not theoretically, anyway. We have 9 IT folks--that's 1 IT person for every 7 billable staff people. This means I shouldn't even have to turn my own computer on in the morning.

My colleague's brother used to head up HR for Kowalski...the sausage people. He was a one-man band, responsible for the personnel issues of more than 350 people. Including little old Polish ladies who didn't want to work with their neighbors who didn't go to Catholic Church (true story). We have 3 HR people but for the most part, we ignore each other's religious convictions.

When times are flush, overhead isn't watched as carefully. There's more than enough profit to go around. But speaking for myself -- no raise in 2 years, a salary cut this year and 25 billable staff laid off in the last 2 years -- something's gotta give.