Anticipating what your workforce needs next week, next month, or years from now requires more than business acumen and gut instinct. Workforce management (WFM) is a delicate balance between adequate staffing and customer demand. Whether you're understaffed and need more employees to handle your workload or you have a generous headcount you can't justify, it's important to strike the right balance to maintain efficiency while keeping your customers and workers satisfied.
Our guide explores how workforce management software is integral to your organizational planning. We also suggest specific questions to ask when evaluating the best platform for your business.
Workforce management is the practice of optimizing an organization's employees to improve productivity, efficiency, and overall business performance. WFM activities include scheduling shifts, tracking attendance, forecasting labor needs, and managing compliance.
What is a workforce management solution?
Traditional workforce management has relied on paper-based processes, or spreadsheets, to manually track employee activities such as leave, attendance, and shift patterns. But these repetitive tasks place a burden on management and Human Resource departments to keep records accurate and updated.
A work management solution is a software platform that helps businesses automate and streamline their workforce management processes. It’s a more productive approach that eliminates the risk of human error.
The concept of WFM dates back to the late 1980s when call center managers explored new ways to drive efficiency among their staff. Since then, it has been widely adopted across many other industries due to the many benefits of workforce management:
WFM tools allow managers to monitor and track compliance, ensuring the organization operates within legal boundaries.
By automating these tasks, managers can focus on more critical aspects of workforce management, such as employee satisfaction and engagement.
Companies interested in deploying a workforce management solution have specific objectives to drive the implementation forward. The most common of these strategic goals include:
Making accurate workforce predictions
From seasonal demand to the impact of generative AI, companies experience fluctuations in their headcount requirements and must find a way to forecast their future labor needs accurately.
WFM solutions can help meet this goal by analyzing:
By accurately predicting labor needs, organizations can optimize staff schedules to minimize costs while maximizing productivity.
As labor requirements constantly evolve, businesses must stay on top of any regulatory changes to meet compliance obligations. Speaking on a webinar, WFM Application Consultant Matthew Grabowski explains,
"At UKG, we're all about making sure we're compliant with state and federal regulations. A company I'm working with has had in excess of $38 million in fines in the last six years, so compliance is the biggest issue right now when we're looking at workforce management."
Inspiring a culture of action
With the fast pace of modern business, organizations don’t have the luxury of waiting around to see what happens next. To stay competitive in the market, they must take a proactive approach by anticipating and addressing the challenges and opportunities before them.
With the right tools and data at their fingertips, managers can make swift, informed, and ethical decisions to achieve their business goals and inspire innovation within their teams. Doing so drives business growth and cultivates a work culture that values initiative, strategic foresight, and continuous improvement.
Overcoming barriers to global expansion
Whether expanding your business into different countries or new markets, your organization will likely encounter some obstacles. There are many factors to consider, from language and cultural differences to compliance risks and industry-related regulatory requirements.
WFM solutions overcome these barriers, providing tools to:
With a robust employee management system, you can expand your business operations without worrying about losing control over your global workforce.
Efficiency directly impacts your organization’s bottom line. Reduced waste, faster output, and less idle time will save you money, freeing up resources to invest in other areas of your business. While streamlined processes are undeniably linked to productivity, your employees’ energy levels and preferred working patterns are also critical.
Employers can unleash efficiency by giving employees access to workforce management systems, enabling them to swap shifts, request time off, and enhance their work-life balance in just a few clicks. The ability to manage employee schedules independently fosters a sense of autonomy in your workforce—a key factor in driving productivity and engagement, with an excellent return on investment.
Case study: Nucleus Research conducted an ROI analysis of 11 WFM deployments, which revealed that every dollar spent on WFM delivered $12.24 in terms of benefits, time savings, retention, engagement, and payroll. Companies can expect to receive payback in as little as five months.
The software market offers numerous workforce management solutions, each with different bells and whistles to choose between. Although the options can seem endless, you can expect a quality WFM solution like UKG Pro® Workforce Management to have the following key features in common:
Time and attendance
Time tracking is a staple of workforce management that links with payroll. It allows businesses to accurately record the hours employees work. With timekeeping automation for both hourly and salaried workers, employers can:
Attendance tracking also provides insights into planned, incidental, and extended absence patterns. Managers can identify areas for improvement, such as addressing chronic lateness or reducing unplanned employee absenteeism.
Staff scheduling is a complex task influenced by:
AI-powered scheduling recommendations allow employers to create optimized schedules for their employees in minutes rather than hours. With better visibility into staffing requirements, managers can avoid overstaffing or understaffing situations, resulting in cost savings and improved productivity.
Additionally, employee scheduling features like self-service and shift swapping allow staff to work flexible schedules, leading to increased job satisfaction and engagement.
Labor management analytics offers organizations valuable insights into their workforce data. With real-time, customizable dashboards and reports, employers can track key performance indicators like labor costs, productivity levels, and overtime trends. These data-driven insights empower managers to make strategic decisions that align with the organization's goals and objectives.
Give your people a voice by enabling open dialogue between managers and employees. WFM solutions offer built-in communication tools, such as group chats, direct messaging, and company-wide announcements, to inform employees about their schedules, time-off requests, shift swaps, and other important company news or policy changes. This feature also allows managers to gather crucial employee feedback.
Strategic workforce planning
As skills gaps widen and headcounts change, employers must commit to workforce planning to anticipate their future needs. WFM software helps HR leaders and managers with capacity planning and workload budgeting based on:
This strategic approach to demand forecasting allows organizations to adapt quickly to changing business environments and stay ahead of the competition.
Workforce optimization is a best practice for any type of organization in any industry. For example:
Looking beyond industry differences, your WFM approach may also vary according to the size of your organization:
Small businesses have the following considerations:
As your business grows, your WFM system should easily scale up to accommodate more employees and complex schedules. Some essential considerations include:
Enterprise organizations typically have more complex scheduling needs, with multiple shifts, locations, and job roles. Ensure your WFM software solution accommodates the following:
With a sea of available options, selecting the right workforce management solution for your organization can be challenging. It's worth conducting extensive research into a shortlist of WFM tools and pitting them against each other before you invest. Here is a checklist to work through during your WFM evaluation process:
Data security and privacy
Customer support and training
UKG Pro Workforce Management makes it easy to put your people front. Our platform offers a customizable approach to workforce management, meaning you can tailor rules and features to meet your industry's and your organization's specific needs. Whether you need to track attendance, improve resource allocation, or boost productivity, our WFM platform will provide an elevated experience for all.
Ready to optimize workforce management in your organization? Take a product tour today or contact our sales team for more information.