HR managers’ daily practice is all about balance: ensuring satisfied employees, maintaining insight into leave and absences, while making sure payroll runs smoothly. Workforce Management (WFM) plays an increasingly important role in this. By automating processes and making data transparent, WFM provides the tools HR needs to work more efficiently and contribute strategically to the organisation. Here are five benefits that make WFM indispensable for HR managers.
1. Staff scheduling and time registration in line with the collective labour agreement
Efficient staff scheduling is the basis for a well-functioning organisation and for complying with collective agreements. As an HR manager, you know how complex it can be to draw up schedules that not only comply with collective labour agreement requirements, such as rest times and maximum working hours, but also take into account availability, preferences and fluctuations in demand. With a Workforce Management (WFM) system, you can automate this process, ensuring schedules are not only accurate and fair, but also always in line with the collective agreement.
Good planning prevents under- or overstaffing and ensures that employees know where they stand. This not only increases productivity, but also contributes to employee satisfaction and trust in the organisation.
2. Automation of payroll processes: the payroll integration
An accurate and efficient payroll process is crucial for any organisation. Yet in many companies, it is still a time-consuming task prone to errors. Think of manually checking and entering hours worked, allowances, leave and both statutory and non-statutory hours. With a Workforce Management (WFM) system, this is a thing of the past.
The WFM system automates the entire process by transmitting all registered data directly and accurately to the HR and payroll package. The hours worked, including any allowances and leave taken, are automatically linked to the correct wage codes. This means the payroll is ready immediately, without the need for additional manual actions.
This automation minimises errors, shortens the turnaround time of the payroll process and gives HR professionals more time to focus on strategic tasks. Moreover, it ensures that employees are always paid on time and correctly, contributing to their satisfaction and trust in the organisation.
An automated payroll process is not only more efficient, but also offers more certainty and insight for both the organisation and the employees. You always have the guarantee that collective labour agreements have been correctly applied and that payroll administration complies with laws and regulations.
3. Automatic synchronisation between different systems
It is very time-consuming and error-prone if you have to enter the same data in multiple systems. Once you have hired an employee, it is your job to enter them into the right systems and the employee needs login details to the different systems. You probably work with the IT manager to do this.
An integration between a WFM and the HR and payroll package ensures that data is exchanged automatically. Very convenient, as manual entry of contracts and employee data is a time-consuming and error-prone process. Contract information is important and crucial data, in which you cannot make mistakes.
In practice, this means that employee and contract data from the HR and Payroll package are automatically in the WFM package. Even in case of changes in contracts or conditions of employment, the adjustments are processed immediately. Thus, the HR and Payroll package remains leading for the personal data.
As soon as the employee’s first month is over and the employee’s hours are approved, they are automatically forwarded to HR and Payroll package and placed on the correct wage code.
In short, the HR and Payroll package forms the basis for the personal and contract data, while the WFM package is leading in recording employees’ hours worked.
4. Managing access and rights for greater security
As an organisation grows, managing who has access to what data is often a challenge. It may just happen that an employee has access to sensitive information not intended for his or her role. This can lead not only to internal risks, but also to violations of privacy laws.
Controlled access management is essential for corporate data security and regulatory compliance. When rights and roles are not properly managed, data can inadvertently end up in the wrong hands, with dire consequences.
WFM software offers a practical solution by making it easy to manage roles and rights within the system. This makes it possible to define exactly which systems and information are visible per function within the organisation. Employees only get access to what is relevant to their role, which increases security and prevents unauthorised access to sensitive data. This makes access management easy and gives HR professionals more control over the allocation of rights within the organisation.
In addition, most WFM software has Single Sign On (SSO). With SSO, employees only need to use one set of login credentials to securely and quickly access the systems they need. This not only increases ease of use, but also provides a centralised way to manage access. When an employee leaves employment, access to sensitive information is automatically revoked, helping to improve security. For HR, this means less work with access questions and more certainty that information remains well protected.
5. Real-time reporting for deep insight
Lacking insight into key staff data, such as absence rates or overtime, makes it difficult to manage strategically. You might notice that employees are overworked, but without hard data it is difficult to address or prevent this.
Access to up-to-date data is crucial to spot trends and stay ahead of problems. Without insight, you risk small challenges growing into big problems, resulting in higher costs and reduced employability.
The extensive reporting features of WFM software give you real-time insights into important data at any time. Think absenteeism rates, leave balances and deviations in overtime. This information enables you to intervene in time, for example by distributing workload or encouraging employees to take leave. This not only helps control costs, but also improves planning and increases team productivity.
By centrally managing access and rights, together with the implementation of SSO, you ensure a safe, efficient and user-friendly working environment where privacy and security are guaranteed.
Conclusion: WFM makes a difference for HR
Workforce Management is much more than a tool for scheduling hours; it is a strategic tool that helps HR optimise processes, keep employees happy and reduce costs.
From automated data processing to in-depth reporting – WFM provides HR managers with everything they need to work more efficiently and maintain greater control over staff scheduling and payroll.
Contact us to find out what WFM can do for your organisation.
