Workforce management (abbreviated as WFM) has received increased attention lately. That’s a good thing, because lots of organizations can improve at this particular area. But, what does workforce management actually mean? Let’s delve into the world of WFM.
What is workforce management?
The right person, with the right abilities, at the right task, at the right time. That’s what workforce management is about. Of course, workforce management isn’t a brand new concept. Organizations have tried to deploy people efficiently and effectively for a long time. Moreover, lots of changes have envolved in this area, especially with the development of workforce management software. Therefore, organizations can automate their WFM-processes in order to realise a huge improvement on efficiency and quality.
WFM is more than just staff scheduling and time tracking
Thinking about WFM, you might think just about staff scheduling and time- and attendance tracking. Those are certainly important components. Only, workforce management goes way beyond. It’s not just a process, it’s a strategy. In fact, a complete area of expertise has occurred around WFM, in which the workforce manager plays a key role. WFM can be divided in:
Forecasting and budgeting
Forecasting is knowing exactly how much staff and what sort of staff is needed. Using historical data and upcoming events can help you gain insight in the needed staff. Another important factor is cost efficiency; how much can I spent on staff scheduling?
Staff scheduling
Staff scheduling is a big part of workforce management. Planning on staff can be complex, because multiple factors must be considered, like:
- Legislation and contractual arrangements
- Skills and certificates
- Preferred working times
- Availability
Excellent staff scheduling creates the right workforce, prevents unnecessary cost, and increases satisfaction as well as the motivation of your employees. Workforce management can help you by streamlining your process of staff scheduling.
Staff scheduling with Dyflexis
Managing time and attendance tracking
Time and attendance tracking can help by managing your workforce. For example by integrating a time clock system. In this way all valuable data can be gathered which can be used for:
- Forecasting
- Signaling staffing problems
- Signaling problems with specific staff members
- Your payroll
Time and attendance tracking with Dyflexis
Legislation
Complying with legislation is one of the most complex and expensive parts of WFM, as in;
- Needed certifications and trainings
- Legislation concerning working hours, days off and leave
- Contractual arrangements, CLA and other arrangements
Excellent workforce management software ensures you are in control. In this way, the chance of mistakes decreases and lawsuits will be prevented.
Holiday, leave and days off
Requests and approval of holiday requests are a part of workforce management. Workforce management software will automate this process. As a result, problems with your workforce will be prevented, you and your staff members will gain more insight into leave hours and you will spend less time on communication.
Payroll administration
Payroll administration will become much easier with a tool for workforce management. The required data (like worked hours, surcharges and leave recordings) will be sent directly to your payroll system, which provides you with a huge efficiency boost. It ensures you that mistakes are prevented and it saves you a lot of time.
Let’s see if your application can be integrated with Dyflexis!
The benefits of workforce management software
Workforce management software supports you by reaching business goals and it strengthens your competitive position by:
Decreasing loan costs
WFM-software helps with scheduling staff effectively. With Dyflexis a ‘DayMaster’ can be used, in which the following information can be found very easily:
- Who, when and how many hours has been worked
- How many hours a staff member has to work according is contract
- Holiday hours
- Contract types
- Skills and certificates
- Regular staff and on-call workers
This information makes it possible to schedule the right person, at the right time, at the right place, on the right task. With this the possibilities in forecasting the chance of overstaffing and understaffing will be decrease strongly.
Time-saving on your administration
WFM software provides you the opportunity to automate lots of time-consuming processes. It saves time in processes like:
- Creating and adjusting your planning
- Information about law and regulations
- Communication with staff members about schedules, planning and leave
- Payroll administration
Higher customer satisfaction
Delivering the desired quality with limited staffing is a challenge; customers have to wait longer and mistakes are more likely to be made. By using workforce management software are you able to create optimal deployment of staff. As a result, your staff is able to deliver the desired quality, which improves customer satisfaction.
Improvement of employee satisfaction
Employees are able to take advantage of well workforce management software too. They gain further insight into their schedules, working hours and leave and are less likely to experience errors. Furthermore, employees are able to influence their own schedule; they can communicate their (un)availability and leave easily with their supervisors. This way of ‘self-scheduling’ has gained lots of popularity in the last few years.
More flexibility
Workforce management software enables you to react to results in the organization immediately. Realtime data like turnover, staff productivity and budget reports are accessible at any time. As a result, adjusting and finetuning the schedules to fit the current situation will be a piece of cake. Furthermore, you will discover patterns and trends, which makes you able to predict the required staffing for the long-term.
Less financial and legal risks
An organization has to comply with legislation. Perhaps additional arrangements like, CLA or contractual arrangements have to be taken into account. This might involve some risks. Well developed WFM-software limits those risks to a minimum, because it will give you a subtle warning.
Dyflexis: workforce management SaaS
Dyflexis is a SaaS-solution for workforce management. Would you like to know if Dyflexis could help in achieving your goals? Request a free demo!
