What is the difference between WFM and WFO?

WFM vs WFO – What’s the Difference?

What is the difference between WFM and WFO

A Comprehensive Guide to WFO and WFM

Anyone who is involved in planning has heard of workers management (WFM) and workforce optimization (WFO). While they’re both concepts that play an important role in enhancing efficiency of organizations, both serve distinct functions and serve different purposes in a corporate context.

What is the difference between WFM and WFO? In this article, we’ll discuss workforce management and optimization, go over the major distinctions, and also examine the management of workforce engagement (WEM).

Table of Contents

What is the difference between WFM and WFO?

What is the difference between WFM and WFO? WFM along with WFO have different characteristics in each of the following categories:
Scope and Focus
  • WFM concentrates on operations aspects involved in managing a workforce and includes tasks like planning and forecasting the volume of work, scheduling the attendance of employees, as well as the levels of staff.
  • WFO offers a wider perspective, and while it addresses the operational aspects of WFM however, it is more strategic and covers aspects such as employee engagement, engagement, CX, as well as compliance.
Areas Covered
  • WFM generally covers the day-to-day administration of the workforce in order to achieve the goals of the contact center. It generally includes areas like scheduling and monitoring, forecasting, live monitoring and staff levels.
  • WFO encompasses WFM and WFM, but it also extends it to include areas like quality and compliance Performance management, quality, coaching and training, as well as CX.
Purpose and Goals
  • The goal of WFM is to maximize the amount of staff available, decrease expenses, enhance customer service, and improve overall efficiency.
  • The goal of WFO isn’t just to increase efficiency in operations but also to boost the efficiency of employees, customer satisfaction and compliance with the regulations. It is aiming to build an effective and holistic workforce through focusing on the training process feedback, continuous improvement.

WFM (Workforce Management)

WFM is the process of optimizing management of the employee to ensure the appropriate number of employees equipped with the required capabilities are in place to handle interactions with customers efficiently and effectively. The main objective of managing the workforce is to align staffing levels to the expected workload, taking into account factors such as the volume of calls, chat or email volumes as well as service level goals as well as historical data.

What Is Workforce Management (WFM)?

Key functions of WFM include:

  • Forecasting:  Analyzing the past to anticipate future contact volumes and interactions with customers.
  • Scheduling:  Making work schedules for agents in order to assure sufficient coverage at times of peak and non-peak.
  • Real-Time Monitoring:  Monitor activities of the contact center in real-time, allowing them to make adjustments if needed to achieve service level objectives.
  • Performance Tracking:  Monitoring and analyzing agent performance to determine areas that need improvement and to provide feedback.

Benefits of WFM

A reliable supplier of solutions for managing the workforce can ensure that there is a perfect combination of a solution from their portfolio and the company looking for assistance. The right solution can aid with the following aspects.

  • Regulated finances: Financial regulation technology that calculates labor requirements for businesses can help them reduce costs by cutting any over-staffing or overtime. Some advanced WFM solutions are able to share effects on budgets as the schedules are being created.

 

  • More accurate payroll: Human errors caused by manually entering data can be drastically reduced by using software for managing the workforce that analyzes hours of work and determines what is normal overtime hours within the business.

 

  • Enhanced productivity: Employers can analyze attendance data and times against other companies who have similarities, like size, industry size, and regions. If competitors are performing better than the other this can serve as an impetus to act.

 

  • Smarter schedule creation: There are numerous tools for managing workforces that inform staffing managers about labor shortages, allowing them to fill the gaps in order that shifts can be run efficiently. WFM software also has the ability to build schedules according to parameters such as department, role or geographical location to ensure that all critical considerations are considered.

 

  • Compliance risk minimisation: Employee leave can be better controlled with workflows that can automate the entitlement of leave as well as allocation and balances. Recordkeeping functions can prove beneficial in the case of an audit being conducted.

WFO (Workforce Optimization)

WFO however, on the contrary is a broad concept that covers a variety of aspects of operations at a contact center focused on enhancing overall efficiency, agent productivity and the customer service. While WFM is focused on scheduling and staffing, WFO goes beyond that to tackle various aspects of managing a contact center.

The WFO’s key components include:

  • Quality Management (QM): Is the process of monitoring and reviewing the quality of interactions with customers typically via call monitoring and evaluations.

  • Performance Management:  Set performance targets giving feedback and coaching on agents as well as evaluating their improvement in time.

  • Training and Learning:  Giving ongoing training and development opportunities for agents to enhance their skills and gain knowledge.

  • Speech Analytics:  Utilizing advanced technology to study customer interactions and discover trends, patterns and areas for improvement.

  • Desktop Analytics:  Monitoring the desktop activity of agents to pinpoint the inefficiencies of processes and suggest improvements.

  • Workforce Management:  While WFM is an independent concept, it’s often thought of as a component of WFO because of its focus on maximizing the scheduling and staffing.

Benefits of Workforce Optimization

Here are the main advantages from Workforce Optimization:

  • Increased efficiency and productivity: A sufficient amount of employees on the job at all times. Organisations can have an accurate picture of employees’ attendance and their overall working hours. This allows them to manage the demands of customers effectively. In peak times, WFO enables organizations to know if they are required to employ temporary staff or implement technologies that can help them manage the increasing demands for work, such as.

  • Lower costs and increased savings: You will be able to avoid overstaffing, but also understaffing in which you’d be losing money through poor customer service. In addition, it reduces costs, but can also provide opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell. WFO which introduces automation into the company provides immediate guidance and actionable information regarding revenue opportunities.

  • Improved customer service and retention: Customers receive assistance and questions are answered promptly and quickly. This results in a better customer experience. WFO can help you analyse customer interactions, discover the underlying causes behind customer behavior, and develop strategies to keep customers. WFO software allows businesses to gain a deeper understanding of the habits of their customers and their capacity to meet their requirements. It enables a company to address customer complaints more quickly, take action quicker and improve customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer is likely to be a repeat customer.

  • New opportunities: WFO creates internal career mobility when new products and opportunities are created. It allows employees to function at their highest level and increases the chance of horizontal or vertical mobility within the business. When employee satisfaction improves as does the satisfaction of customers.

The Future of WFO and WFM

The future direction in WFO (Work at Home) along with WFM (Work from Home) are influenced by the changing technology and workplace dynamics. Here’s a quick overview of the major developments:

  1. Hybrid Work Models: A combination of WFO and WFM A majority of businesses choose to adopt a hybrid model that allows employees to work from home some of the week, and then return to the office for meetings, collaboration or team-building exercises.

     

  2. Flexible Schedules: The flexibility of working hours will continue to expand. Employees will have greater control over their work schedules, which will allow them to manage their work and personal life better.

     

  3. Technology Integration: Digitally enhanced tools (e.g. software for collaboration cloud-based meetings, virtual meetings) can facilitate seamless communications between office and remote workers.

     

  4. Focus on Employee Well-being: Through WFO and WFO and WFM There will be more attention paid to the mental health of employees, work-life balance and fostering a healthy atmosphere whether at home or in the office.

     

  5. Increased Emphasis on Results Over Hours: Companies will prioritize the quality of their work and its results over the amount of time working, giving more control to employees to control their work habits (WFM and WFO).

The future may be a time of equilibrium of WFO and WFM that is driven by flexibility technology, as well as the focus on outcomes in the hope of creating workplaces that are suited to both employees’ needs and company objectives.

Frequently Asked Questions

In the context of a call center WFO is a reference to Workforce Optimization. It is the use of tools and strategies for managing the scheduling, staffing and performance to ensure that agents are able to respond effectively to the needs of customers. WFO is designed to increase productivity as well as customer satisfaction and reduce expenses.

Workforce optimization is focused on increasing efficiency by coordinating the right individuals with the appropriate tasks at the appropriate time. It utilizes technology and data to improve the efficiency, scheduling and performance. It aims to improve business results while cutting expenses.

Within Workday, WFM stands for Workforce Management, which involves the management of employee time, attendance scheduling, leave, and attendance. It assists organizations in optimizing the use of staff, making sure they comply with labor laws and monitor labor costs efficiently. Workday’s WFM tools work in conjunction with other HR functions, such as hiring and managing talent, to simplify processes for employees.

Absolutely, WFM along with WFO complement each other. While WFM ensures that there is sufficient personnel at the right moment, WFO works on optimizing the performance of employees and improving service quality.

Request a Demo

By clicking the button above, I consent to Bright Pattern contacting me by phone call and/or SMS to respond to my above inquiry on services and for future marketing messages and offers. Message & data rates may apply, and message frequency may vary.