You’ve heard it before: Your people make your company, and your workforce is your biggest asset. And as a busy manager, you know the importance of building and retaining a strong team. Your employees’ success depends on many factors, some of which you can control — and some of which you cannot.
With a strategic workforce management (WFM) approach, you gain valuable insight that will help your employees thrive through both anticipated and unexpected challenges. You'll also benefit from automating tasks like scheduling and reporting, which can lead to more organized and informed staffing practices.
Workforce management is an integrated approach that uses both processes and technology to promote workforce efficiency, improve worker productivity, increase employee and customer satisfaction and meet strategic business goals.
Over time, WFM has evolved as a comprehensive strategy that runs the full course of forecasting, planning, scheduling, operating, reporting and analyzing.
While many companies still rely heavily on WFM software to reduce staffing headaches through automated scheduling, workforce management is gaining traction as a practice that is useful across the organization. A well-implemented WFM initiative offers many benefits and can help reduce employee absenteeism and attrition, lower workforce costs, enhance customer service and, ultimately, increase revenue.
Savvy organizations also know that workforce management helps with:
better decision making: The WFM process begins by forecasting the activities and issues that impact short- and long-term staffing requirements. With this knowledge, leaders can plan for different scenarios and be better prepared to pivot as needed. Forecasting and planning give teams the advantage of proactively preparing for vs. reactively responding to changing workplace or marketplace conditions.
happier employees: More engaged and satisfied employees tend to be happier employees, which can lead to greater worker efficiency and productivity, two hallmarks of successful workforce management. WFM strives to put the right people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right time, which generally boosts employee engagement and morale. Because employee retention is paramount in today’s competitive talent landscape, anything you can do to further employee happiness works to your advantage.
The argument to implement a structured workforce management program often focuses on how it will impact existing teams. But savvy organizations know the ability to embrace and incorporate technology solutions across the organization improves not only current workforce issues but also helps attract top talent.
For example, a recent study reveals that a company’s reputation as a digital leader impacts how future employees view the organization. A majority of respondents in the study say a company’s digital prowess greatly influences their desire to join the company. The study also states that “superior companies are twice as likely to embrace and utilize digital technologies and innovations.”
By implementing a workforce management solution, your company not only addresses current staffing issues, but also positions itself as a leader that values both human processes and innovative technology to benefit its most important asset: its people.
If you're unsure about whether a workforce management solution is right for you, click here to find out.