Workforce Management (WFM): 5 benefits of betting on your workforce
It is well known that there is strength in numbers and, in the business world, this premise is no exception. This observation seems to have given birth to Workforce Management, a set of practices and processes contemplated within labour management that are implemented with the aim of maximising the performance of workers. This, moreover, leads to ensuring the competitiveness of the company.
The way a company manages its workforce, beyond its business idea and the products or services it offers, is decisive for its success. This is because the better the services are connected, the more likely it is that schedules and goals will be met.
In this article, Appvizer explores the importance and benefits that Workforce Management brings to the management of an organisation. Learn about the processes involved and the key role that Workforce Management tools play in the process.
What is Workforce Management (Workforce Management)?
Workforce Management in Spanish
Workforce Management, which in Spanish could be translated as workforce management, is a strategy that seeks to streamline certain business processes so that employees can:
- Dedicate themselves to the tasks they have been entrusted with;
- save time by leaving aside tasks of low strategic value such as:
- Fill in forms,
- make requests,
- requesting information, etc.
What is the added value of Workforce Management?
The main objective of implementing Workforce Management is to standardise business processes and make them work together, maximising their effectiveness. By aligning procedures, the company's human talent is able to significantly improve its performance.
Processes covered by Workforce Management
Workforce Management is usually applied to processes in the Human Resources Department to simplify and streamline the input of information, although it is also applicable to other areas of the company.
Some of the processes that can benefit from Workforce Management include:
- HR. HR.
- Resource management. Scheduling and task allocation, taking into account employees' qualifications, personal working time preferences and availability.
- Career management. Understanding how each team member works, enabling the employer to understand their needs in terms of training and career development. Also, recognising their performance when targets are exceeded.
- Workplace wellbeing. Improving the experience of employees from the moment they join, through their life cycle in the company until they leave.
- Time and attendance. Time recording and management of sick leave and leave of absence.
- Planning and Administration. Estimation and generation of budgets, as well as monitoring of company resources and their correct disposition between the different departments of the company.
- Field Service Management. Administration of material or mobile resources of the company.
- Analytical. Data analysis and generation of statistics on the operation of the business with a view to its future evolution.
- Customer Service. Applied to contact centres (contact centre) for:
- Forecasting business trends and planning marketing campaigns;
- analysing the number of customer requests in order to forecast a consistent number of agents at their disposal;
- scheduling of shifts to meet service demands.
Benefits and advantages of Workforce Management for the company
Considering the central role that Workforce Management plays in the company, companies investing part of their IT budget in its optimisation will bring the following benefits:
1. Increased operability and productivity
When a Workforce Management System is implemented and standardised, it becomes possible to meet the organisation's production and performance targets without compromising quality. This is because Workforce Management facilitates:
- The correct allocation of responsibilities,
- to the professionals who have the necessary skills,
- so that they carry out the activities at the right time,
- and at the right cost.
In this way, it ensures the achievement of the desired production, having optimised all resources.
2. Cost reduction
Estimating and allocating resources can be a difficult task when managing complex projects or several projects at once. The company needs to be able to ensure the correct correlation of activities to minimise the risk of staff being subjected to overtime.
Thanks to the automatic calculation of employees' working times, the scheduling of staff assigned to a mission is simplified and optimised. In this way, it is possible to ensure that the planned budget is met and even generate significant savings.
In addition, in the event that overtime is required, exceptional payment rules can be automated to ensure that they are properly remunerated.
3. Improved customer service
By implementing Workforce Management Systems it is possible to provide better customer service to ensure customer satisfaction. This is because teams have more and better tools, which make them more efficient in delivering a better overall customer experience.
4. Risk limitation
Reducing the risks of non-compliance with national and international labour laws is no longer a concern for organisations with a Workforce Management system. This is because these tools generally have the necessary standards to ensure compliance with legislation and make it easier to verify compliance with the relevant authorities. This not only mitigates the risk of legal non-compliance, but also the risk of financial damage resulting from non-compliance.
5. Increased workforce motivation
When employees are able to work better because they have tools that make their day-to-day work easier, they tend to be more committed to their work and to the company as a whole. This is possible thanks to the optimisation of aspects such as:
- Communication between work teams and project management,
- the generation of useful data and information for better decision making,
- automation of repetitive tasks,
- time control and absence management, etc.
By benefiting from greater transparency in processes and having greater visibility of them, workers perform in a much more trustworthy environment, which ultimately translates into better rates of work motivation and well-being.
Organisations that achieve better performance from workforce optimisation see an 11% increase in employee satisfaction, compared to 2% for all others.
Workforce management software
Specialised Workforce Management software is the means for companies to achieve the efficiency and productivity gains they expect. This set of tools ensures that the right person is assigned to the right job. They also facilitate the effective monitoring of all operations.
WFM tools are able to contribute to:
- Improving the performance of the organisation's human talent,
- Reducing labour management costs,
- Reducing absences and other inefficiencies related to human resources.
Don't let any more time go by without focusing your efforts on the most valuable resource you have: your human talent. Tell us in the comments what other benefits you have been able to see by implementing a Workforce Management system for your company.
Article translated from Spanish