There’s no doubt about it; employees are every business’s most valuable asset. And with that said, they’re also the most expensive. For this reason, maximising employee productivity and efficiency should be a top priority.
When both variables peak, employees quickly pay for themselves.
Of course, hitting this sweet spot isn’t always easy. The art of appropriately rostering staff to meet the needs of your business and maintain service standards calls for an agile and strategic approach.
Time and attendance need to be managed, absences and leave need to be factored into the equation. Building schedules that roster the right mix of skills is an art in itself. Throw evolving business needs into the mix and workforce management can seem next to impossible.
So how can you overcome the challenges, address every facet and come out on top? Here’s our guide to the key principles and best practice workforce management principles that will help you not just understand the concept, but actively apply it to your workplace.
Standardise key processes
Create consistency and transparency by standardising key processes like tracking hours, calculating pay, distributing leave, swapping shifts and so on.
By defining these processes from the word go, you’ll set an even playing field that creates a mutually beneficial culture of fairness and understanding.
For example, if an employee wants to request leave and the process is unclear, they may leave it until the last minute, which stresses them out and leaves their employer in the lurch. Had an established leave request process been in place, this could have been easily avoided.
Automate number crunching
From hospitality and retail to administration and HR, manually managing shift times and pay rates is a headache. By automating time, pay and leave calculations businesses can improve data accuracy, as well as free up time for HR and administrative personnel to focus on more complex tasks.
Ultimately, automating these processes minimises payroll errors, which translates to higher staff satisfaction, as well as reduced labour costs in the form of improved time-tracking.
Want proof? Atlantis Childcare was able to reduce manual processing errors by 90% upon implementing Ento’s Time and Attendance solution.
Practice flexible communication
Even the most refined workforce management strategy falls short if communication lines are inflexible.
Streamline conversations between employers and managers by empowering them with platforms that support constant connectivity.
Once again, workforce management solutions step up with instant roster distribution, staff self-service features and allocated discussion areas via email and SMS. And we’re not just talking PC compatible. In today’s tech-forward world, compatibility with smartphones and tablets is a must.
Integrate and unlock insight
The data you collect from your workforce management system is worth so much more than hours clocked, pay earned and holiday leave racked up.
Integrate workforce management processes with other core HR functions and you can unlock a goldmine of data regarding employee time, labour, performance and absence.
This process of ‘datafication’ is not only useful to payroll departments but can also be used to develop strategic schedules, refine budgets and optimise performance.
Streamline time, attendance and payroll
From a staff performance perspective, streamlining time, attendance and payroll is a proven way to boost satisfaction and heighten engagement.
Take the retail world, for instance. McKinsey research found that with workforce management retailers can cut store labour costs by up to 12 per cent while improving both customer service and employee satisfaction.
Invest in integrated workforce management systems
Purpose-built to bring accuracy, simplicity and integration to the workforce management process, intelligent software like Ento automates a host of administrative, technical and numerical tasks. When it comes to modern principles of workforce management, purpose-built software is well worth the investment. Even better is that software like Ento plays nice with your existing systems, so your data can sync seamlessly.
Make it easy for everyone
Heighten satisfaction, decrease stress and minimise mix-ups by making the workforce management process as easy as possible for employees, managers and HR personnel.
As a manager or executive, you should be asking yourself whether your business employs these basic workforce management principles.
Implementing a strategy and playing by the ‘rules’ may chew up a little time, but ultimately the payoff is unparalleled. Think heightened staff satisfaction, outstanding efficiency and a workforce that hits peak productivity, every day of the week. Find out more about Ento’s workforce management software today.
