Workforce management is about deploying your human resources more strategically and aligning them with the processes and procedures that are central to operations.
So said Neil Pickering, senior manager, HR innovation at UKG, during a webinar hosted by ITWeb, in partnership with UKG and LabourGenie.Net.
Workforce management is key to reconstructed and optimised human capital management (HCM) and if approached in the right way, can address the needs of all stakeholders in a business, including employees, shareholders and customers.
Employees will receive incentives, flexibility and recognition, while customers benefit from good service, good products, value for money and feel appreciated. Shareholders will be are assured of a healthy bottom line, productivity and peace of mind that the business can sustain itself, irrespective of the challenges.
The drivers
Pickering said the point of departure with workforce management is to understand how busy the business is going to be, how many people will be required and where they need to be allocated.
“It starts with a forecast,” said Pickering. “So you look at historical information, several months, weeks and what is trending in order to better understand where you will need people, which are the busiest areas of the business.”
This forecast or schedule is the game-plan to use resources effectively, taking into consideration part-time or full-time staff, or consultants, as well as all relevant skill levels and certification.
Scheduling aligns staff coverage with customer demand to reduce unnecessary labour expenditure. UKG believes innovative self-scheduling capabilities give employees more input and control over their schedules.
Schedules can be adjusted in real-time as daily operational needs change.
“This is very important and the schedule must be followed by everyone across the organisation,” Pickering added.
Why go smarter?
Experts believe that COVID-19 forever changed the way businesses operate and the dynamic between employees and employers. This has been exacerbated by global conflict and the impact on international supply chains. It calls for businesses to pivot and adapt, hence the need for smart workforce management technology.
Smart workforce management empowers employers to gather data and apply analytics to be adequately informed in order to make a better decision.
They are armed with data that shows which parts of the business are more profitable, where in the organisation is best practice actually happening, which areas are most productive.
“Using this data in real time is very important,” added Pickering. He referred to automated payroll as an example of how collated data can be gathered and stored and then used to pay employees accurately as per their contracts.
Pickering emphasised that smart workforce management can drive down the costs associated with HR issues such as unplanned absenteeism, the need to bolster productivity, compliance with labour legislation, and a shortage of skills.
“We need to focus on people. Businesses must become agile and be able to switch out and change operating model quickly and easily.”
Workforce management critical to workplace trends
Dereck Sigamoney, MD of LabourGenie.Net, outlined several standout trends for 2023, including hybrid work models, enhanced employee experiences, evolving workforce, digitisation, compliance, upward mobility, adaptation to automation.
Business leaders will have to prioritise staff retention, work-life balance and worldwide collaboration, he said.
According to a recent study on employee experience trends, 61% of employees who don’t always use sick days when needed specified their volume of work as the reason. Other research shows that 85% of employees prefer hybrid working to the traditional on-site work, and will continue to operate like this going forward.
Sigamoney says this highlights the need for greater work-life balance, especially when working remotely or in hybrid models.
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