Did you know that companies that don’t exhibit efficient time management lose almost $20,000 per year, on average? From scheduling to performance management, a workforce management tool can help your business.
The purpose of WFM (workforce management) is to maximize your company’s performance levels. There are many activities involved in building a productive workforce. They can all be organized and maintained within the same space.
By 2025, the global workforce management market size is expected to grow to 9.3 billion United States dollars. That’s due to a growing demand for mobile applications and workforce optimization.
Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of workforce management and why it’s vital to your company’s success!
What Does Workforce Management Entail?
All types of businesses and companies of all different sizes can take advantage of workforce management (WFM). Workforce management involves a set of processes. They all have the purpose of improving company performance levels, productivity, and organization.
Not every business needs to utilize every activity of workforce management. However, every business could utilize at least a few of the concepts to make their company more successful and productive.
Here are some of the activities included in workforce management.
- Human resources management (HRM) — managing the people involved with and employed by a business
- Performance management (PM) — ensuring employee activities and output meet goals
- Real-time data collection — collecting stats concerning performance management
- Budgeting efforts — planning and utilizing monetary resources for all projects
- Scheduling — controlling, planning, and optimizing the workforce and projects
- Forecasting — predicting future outcomes of current projects and other work
- Field service management (FSM) — managing company resources on site
- Training management (TM) — planning and conducting employee training
- Analytics — analyzing current projects and situations and making recommendations for modifications
- Recruiting efforts — recruiting, shortlisting, and choosing new candidates for open positions
What Are the Benefits of Workforce Management Solutions?
From reducing risk to increasing productivity, there are many benefits of workforce management. Let’s take a look at some of the main advantages of workforce management for your business.
Reducing Expenses
When employee pay and time calculations are automated, there’s less room for error.
Workforce management helps to organize schedules more effectively. It provides a complete view of utilization so that different pay terms and schedules can also be implemented with precision and ease.
Long gone are the days of managers having to make manual schedule changes every time an employee has an issue or a request. Plus, when businesses use optimized workforce management solutions, they’ll spend less. Things like unplanned overtime and scheduling issues won’t remain as issues.
Eliminating Human Error
Human error leads to increased discrepancies and lost time. Whether it’s managing a project or recording employee hours, people make mistakes.
With a time tracking software, for example, there is much less confusion.
Increased Employee Satisfaction
Handling time-off requests and creating efficient schedules is an essential component of a happy staff.
With an increase in employee satisfaction, there’s usually a decrease in turnover. By making things automated, managers can quickly review, address, and approve absence requests. They can easily make other schedule changes, too.
Plus, happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy ones. By automating scheduling issues, employees will feel valued. They’ll be more than happy with solutions that allow them to address any scheduling needs.
Increased Productivity
When businesses take an automated approach and apply workforce management solutions, managers have access to more data and context.
Managers must be able to assign the right people, with certain skills, to specific jobs. Plus, production goals fluctuate, so it’s crucial to be able to respond to those without compromising on the quality of a product or service.
By using workforce management solutions, your company should have a higher workforce utilization. That will give you a productivity edge.
More Customer Satisfaction
Optimizing workforce efficiency goes hand-in-hand with customer satisfaction. Companies that achieve best-in-class performance in workforce optimization show increases in customer satisfaction.
Workforce management helps to improve brand equity, too, which is an integral part of sustainable company growth.
Reduces Non-Compliance Risks
Whether large or small, compliance obligations often extend beyond national or international laws.
As a company, you must adhere to union rules, employee contracts, local ordinances, and company policies.
When there are any gaps in compliance, it can lead to detrimental costs and errors. A workforce management solution helps organizations quickly demonstrate compliance. As a result, they mitigate any non-compliance risks and the costs associated with those risks.
Workforce Management Tips
Knowing how to optimize workforce management will inevitably put you and your company ahead of the pack.
Let’s take a look at some of the most vital tips for implementing workforce management solutions at your small business.
Communicate with Your Staff
You can’t implement anything new without also discussing it with your staff in an open forum.
Rather than tackling any issue on your own, utilize your staff’s opinions and talents. Ask them questions and let them respond accordingly.
For example, perhaps after integrating a time tracking software, you realize you’re not streamlining employee schedules. Take the time to ask your employees if anyone would be willing to move their schedules around and what their preferences are.
Whether you discuss schedules or production goals, include your staff in as much of your decision-making as you can.
Point Out Money Lost Without Workforce Management
Are you having trouble getting the board excited about workforce management solutions?
Provide them with valuable Return on Investment (ROI) information. Give them information about scheduling, good forecasting, and WTM best practices.
When they realize how much the company gains by utilizing workforce management tools, they’ll listen to what you have to say.
Use Modern Technology
There is plenty of different WFM software available. Plus, there are workforce management managers, too.
Before you choose a platform, do your due diligence to ensure you choose a workforce management solution that suits your company. What does your company need?
Whether it’s a timekeeping system or a performance management tool, make sure you choose a solution with the tools that you need to increase productivity and efficiency.
Implement New Tools
Too many companies spend money on fancy software or technology they never use. Workforce management software are supposed to make things easier, more efficient, and more streamlined.
Any tool or software that you choose should be simple, aesthetically-pleasing, and easy to use. You want your managers and employees to get excited logging in or using new tools to manage their workdays.
Make sure you spend sufficient time implementing your new solutions and training your staff accordingly, too. Provide refreshers so that you’re taking full advantage of your new solutions.
Using time tracking software, for example, makes for more efficient management, production, and happier employees.
Create Attainable Goals for Everyone at Your Business
Regardless of their roles, all employees should be involved in setting and reaching goals at their place of work.
You can make goals for productivity, sales, and professional and personal growth. Make sure you keep your goals relevant and include your staff so they feel empowered as integral roles in reaching those goals.
Ask for feedback, and provide incentives and rewards for meeting and surpassing targets.
Research Your Business
Before you build your workforce management business plan, you must look at your company’s data and history.
Where are you losing money? Where do you waste the most time? What could run more efficiently?
Spend time gathering the appropriate data so that you can identify and evaluate your business’ weaknesses. Most weaknesses can be turned into strengths.
Take a look at your employees, too. Which ones excel in certain areas and how can you help individuals foster growth that helps them as professionals and members of a team?
Look at each department separately to work out the kinks of each one, and as a whole company.
Remember to seek insight and ask your employees how to improve, too, as they often identify issues or make suggestions you wouldn’t have thought of on your own.
Stay Ahead by Implementing Workforce Management in Your Business
Are you wasting too much time handling scheduling changes? Do you waste time discussing requests and managing increased production times?
Do you feel that your employees and their talents could be better utilized? Are you without an efficient way to view old data and make projections and adjustments accordingly?
Do you feel as though your brand identity is slipping because you don’t have enough time to focus on building it?
Implementing a workforce management solution could significantly increase the efficiency, productivity, and sales of your company. Plus, the more you communicate with your employees and make things like project management and scheduling fun and easy to do, the happier they’ll be.
Satisfied employees are much more productive than unhappy employees.
Start by getting your timesheets and schedules organized. With a fully functional 30-day free trial, you’ll witness a world of difference in the way your business runs.
