What is workforce management? What are the needed tools? Workforce management software benefits the bottom line by reducing labor costs, improving productivity, and avoiding non-compliance. It’s a crucial tool for tech-savvy organizations and HR departments alike.
WFM helps businesses manage their workforce by gathering data about scheduling, shift planning, and employee time off requests. It also minimizes errors and increases staffing flexibility.
Contents
Employee Self-Service
Employee self-service (ESS) technology gives employees one place to access their pay stubs, PTO balances, and other personal HR information. It also allows them to update their contact information, list emergency contacts and manage open enrollment and other administrative tasks.
When an employee can do these things themselves, it saves both the employee and the company time and money. It also reduces data errors and ensures accurate and timely information.
It’s especially beneficial for remote, hourly, and distributed workforces that may not log into the office daily. It also helps companies boost engagement by enabling them to communicate with employees on their own time and in their way.
For managers, ESS transfers many routine and time-consuming tasks to their teams. This frees them up to focus on managing their teams and facilitating growth. It also creates a sense of connection with their team members, increasing morale.
Improved Work/Life Balance
When employees work inconsistent schedules or feel a lot of pressure from managers to work long hours, it can affect their ability to maintain a balanced lifestyle. An enlightened employer who supports employee work/life balance will ensure that they have the right amount of time for everything from work to family and hobbies, allowing them to be their best selves both in and outside the office.
For businesses that pay their employees hourly, a workforce management system can help them optimize their workforce and increase productivity and operational efficiency. The software automates labor scheduling, time and attendance tracking, and employee benefits administration.
It also helps them navigate compliance issues, such as safety regulations, employee pay, and FMLA compliance for leave (paid or unpaid). A workforce management system that integrates well with payroll and HR can help reduce errors that could hurt the bottom line.
Increased Productivity
Workforce management software benefits employees of all types and sizes. It helps you to assign and schedule tasks, track employee progress, and improve team communication.
It also helps you keep your business compliant with local, state, and federal regulations, which saves your team from the headache of non-compliance and potential fines. Moreover, modern workforce management systems can integrate with other digital components of your business to simplify and streamline complex tasks.
Keeping employees up-to-date on tasks and communicating clearly about changes is a major productivity boost. The best WFM solutions allow employees to access all the data they need on their devices, whether in the office or on the go.
Having all your employee information in one place makes it easy for you to provide managers with actionable, accurate reports. Having payroll, time and attendance, and benefits data integrated into a single platform also reduces errors that can be distracting or frustrating for employees and managers.
Reduced Errors
A business’s success can depend on the accuracy of its employee schedules and time tracking. With workforce management software, managers can easily create these schedules and track their team members’ hours.
This allows them to understand better their staff’s productivity, which can then be used to adjust training and coaching for optimum performance. It also helps employers control labor costs, a significant expense that can greatly impact most businesses’ bottom line.
For example, healthcare agencies with mobile workers can benefit from automated mileage tracking to ensure they deliver care as efficiently as possible. Using this technology, they can avoid back-and-forth trips and focus on the most efficient route to each destination.
Workforce management software can also help manage compliance concerns, such as overtime hours, employee pay, or safety regulations. These software solutions can help reduce or eliminate minor violations that could lead to extensive audits, lawsuits, and more.
Increased Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is a key measure of how employees feel about their job and the company. High engagement levels increase productivity, morale, and profitability.
Managers and team leaders play a significant role in determining employee engagement. They can build relationships that help employees reach their full potential and stay engaged.
The best managers also take the time to learn their team member’s unique talents and work them into the organization’s success. This creates a win-win for both parties.
Workforce management software can help managers do this by allowing them to forecast labor demand and schedule the right people with the skills needed at the right time. This can improve cross-team efficiencies, remove redundancy and reduce operational costs.
The most effective workforce management tools will also provide a user-friendly experience with various features to help teams do their jobs. These tools can vary in cost, with some offering a flat monthly fee and others charging by the number of users.
