Every business relies on its employees to get the job done. However, managing a workforce, big or small, requires extensive planning and monitoring to keep employees engaged, working on time, and paid. The best way for businesses to organize their staff is to utilize workforce management tools that provide HR managers with quick, accurate, and easy-to-access employee information.
What is Workforce Management?
Workforce management (WFM) is as simple as it sounds: the strategy of managing the fundamental day-to-day operations of an organization’s employees or workforce. This includes overseeing the work performed by employees, and when it’s done, including factors such as employee efficiency, performance, and scheduling.
There are a few primary goals to workforce management as a strategy, including:
- Increasing employee productivity and efficiency
- Achieve lower costs than competitors
- Managing a flexible and available workforce to perform key duties
- Maintaining compliance throughout the business
This strategy can be linked with human capital management (HCM), the idea that employees are working assets of the company. Generally, workforce management has the same core strategy as HCM, with the main difference being a greater focus on the employees. Integrating an HCM and a workforce management strategy can enhance your overall business’ capabilities and efficiencies.
Workforce Management Tools You Need to Succeed
A wide variety of tools are available that focus on managing a workforce. However, every business should have solutions for the essential functions of workforce management. Here are five must-have tools all businesses should use for workforce management:
Time and Attendance Software
One of the most crucial facets of workforce management is tracking an employee’s attendance, including their in-and-out time.
Defining the Tool: A Time and attendance solution can help track and monitor employee time from the moment they clock-in to the time they clock-out. This allows employers to manage labor costs throughout the business.
How it Relates to Workforce Management: Time and attendance solutions aid in analyzing employee time for any specific job or project. This is especially important for billable projects. Using a solution to compile, track, and provide necessary timesheet editing for each employee can help manage employee efficiency and the labor needed at particular times for each job.
Time and Attendance Solution Features that Contribute to WFM Success
These time and attendance features should be utilized to help track and adjust employee efforts throughout the business:
- Timesheet tracking and editing
- Automated timesheet calculations, including time-off accruals
- Notifications for schedule changes or timesheet errors
Employee Scheduling Software
Going hand-in-hand with time and attendance, scheduling employees helps forecast who will be needed and when for any and all positions.
Defining the Tool: Tools designed for employee scheduling do exactly that: schedule employees in the positions and times they are needed. Scheduling solutions often have workflows that simplify the process of scheduling individual employees, creating a fast and simple way to schedule an entire workforce.
How it Relates to Workforce Management: Planning out which employee is working where and at what time is a cornerstone in workforce management. Optimizing shifts to work with an employee’s schedule and the business’ needs is vital for achieving positive workforce management.
Important Functions Scheduling Tools Provide
Scheduling tools have more in-depth features that simplify both the employee and manager experience by allowing on-the-fly changes to be initiated instantly and communicating them as soon as they happen. Managers will want to use scheduling tools to help manage and monitor these key employee scenarios and functions:
- Aid in employee leave communication between the employee and manager, as well as implementing leave requests in the schedule
- Monitoring employee hours throughout the week and ensuring overtime is recorded for accurate pay
- Forecasting the organization’s labor demand for a specific project or position weeks ahead of time
Business Analytics Tools
Having a means of measuring and recording employee time, performance, and pay is how workforce management is assessed.
Defining the Tool: A business analytics tool can define a broad range of metrics managers can view to make informed decisions or to determine the success of the employees or the business as a whole.
How it Relates to Workforce Management: Having a means of measuring and recording employee time, performance, and pay is how workforce management is assessed. Using data-driven metrics can help managers determine if and when changes in their plan need to occur regarding their employees.
What Metrics Can Business Analytics Tools Measure?
There are many key performance indicators managers can monitor to achieve lean workforce management. Some examples of what analytics can measure include:
- Employee hours and productivity
- Budget versus expenses
- Employee compensation and retention
Compliance Management Software
As part of a business’s HR efforts, a regulatory compliance management solution will help ensure workers are being paid properly and the workplace is following the correct procedures to continue doing business.
Defining the Tool: HR Compliance systems give employers access to critical legal information for running their business, which may include:
- Wage and hour laws
- Employee leave laws
- Employer requirements for the workplace
- Unique state or local laws
How it Relates to Workforce Management: Keeping up with regulatory changes on top of the many existing labor laws is a high priority for any business, regardless of workforce management. Tools for managing compliance are made to limit any potential risk a company may face if labor laws are not adhered to. Even one compliance misstep can cost employers thousands, going against one of the key goals of workforce management.
What Can Compliance Management Systems Provide?
As for the solution, compliance management tools can provide these points of guidance that will help promote positive workforce management:
- Workplace policy guides and templates
- Employee training modules and information
- Assistance in employee handbook creation
Tool Integration and Mobile Access
To truly maximize the potential of these solutions, an integrated solution that incorporates all the critical workforce management functions will make for a faster, easier, and more effective overall management strategy. Integrating workforce management tools into a dedicated mobile application is also common for more efficient workforce management.
Benefits of Integrated Systems and Mobile Solutions: Unifying all the essential workforce management tools while having mobile options can enhance workforce management efforts by allowing managers to:
- Unify data gathered from each tool
- Use a centralized, cloud-based hub for easy access and communication between tools
- Have remote access to these tools for businesses with big or multiple campuses, moving worksites, or multiple devices
Additional Solutions that Can Enhance Workforce Management
All-encompassing workforce management solutions can provide even more tools for managing employees beyond the scope of an employee’s labor efforts. These tools can also contribute to long-term workforce management success:
- Recruiting and onboarding
- Employee learning and career development
- Performance analysis and review
Enhance Workforce Management with an All-in-One Solution
When evaluating all the essential tools that go into workforce management, it’s important to consider every essential function of your business beyond your employees. Full Suite HCM solutions fulfill all of the essential workforce management-related tasks while providing even more services and features that help your business grow. Contact us today to learn more about the HCM Full Suite solution and additional guidance on workforce management.
