What is Workforce Management?
Learn what workforce management is, how it benefits businesses, how to increase productivity and about effective workforce management solutions.
Published on:
18 Oct 2018
Improving the productivity of your workforce, of your staff, can help create a more effective business and a more effective business generates increased profits, which pays increased bonuses and commissions, so you get happier employees, that stay longer, that are more productive … and round we go. Poor workforce management can cost a business a lot in lost profitability. Ensuring the right staff are working on the right things at the right time, are motivated and engaged, is key to business success. So this is about working smarter, not harder and longer.
What is workforce management?
Workforce management software can be used by both large and small companies alike. It can help you with staff scheduling, employee time management, holiday management, time and attendance, task and activity management, manage remote employees, data loss prevention and provide behaviour analytics. Workforce management software can help you identify clients, staff and activities that are lowering your productivity. Improving employee productivity will help drive up customer satisfaction levels as a more productive employee is often better prepared, ready, willing, happy and able to handle difficult customer conversations, rather than working on time-wasting, non-productive tasks.
Five tips to increase worker productivity
Plan your time in advance so you know you can manage immediate urgent issues as well as important tasks that need completing for the future. If you don’t do this, you’ll only ever be reactive in your working day, always fighting fires.
Work as team. If you’ve important admin to do, ask a colleague to cover the phones for you, for example.
Escalate any issues holding you back to management so they can help you resolve them, or discuss with colleagues, that’s why they are there. You’re a team.
Be clear about what you need to achieve today, then at the end of day, give yourself a pat on the back for doing it.
Make sure you’re enjoying your work. Have fun with it. It’s hard to be productive if every day is a drag. If you’re not enjoying it, think if it’s the right job or company for you.
Three benefits of effective workforce management solutions
Your staff are perhaps your most expensive resource so anything that helps to increase staff productivity and so increase your profitability and keeps you competitive, can only be a good thing.
Most workforce management solutions involve increasing the amount of data and information managers and directors have available to make better decisions. Better, more timely decisions will reduce business risk.
Improved customer satisfaction results from your staff, your workforce being better managed. They’ll know what’s expected of them, when and how to go about things more clearly, so will be more customer focused when needed, not distracted by many levels of uncertainty.