USA - English German - Deutsch Arabic - عربي Spanish Korean - 한국어 Australia - English New Zealand - English Singapore - English
Request a demo

What is workforce management strategy?

Workforce Management (WFM): Definition, Benefits and Best Practices

What is workforce management strategy

Strategies for Effective Workforce Management

Effective management of your workforce (WFM) is essential to a successful organization in today’s world. It is about planning, organizing and maximizing your workforce’s capabilities to maximize efficiency and productivity. Employing top practices in workforce management allows you to streamline your processes, reduce costs, and meet your objectives more efficiently. What is workforce management strategy? This article will provide the best strategies and methods for optimizing the management of your employees.

Table of Contents

Workforce management strategy

What is workforce management strategy?

What is workforce management strategy? A strategy for managing your workforce is a top-level, strategic plan that defines the function that labor plays in helping your company to achieve its goals. Strategists for managing your workforce ensure that you have the right personnel as well as processes and technology put in place to make sure that the best talent is placed in the right spot and at the right moment to provide your customers with the best service.

Advantages of Workforce Management Strategy

Let’s look at the many benefits that a well-planned workforce management strategies can provide to companies:

  • Better Preparation: Effective workforce planning highlights the current issues and the potential risks in the future. It assists HR and managers anticipate demands of the workforce and plan the budget of the company accordingly.

  • Reduced Hiring Costs:  The workforce management strategies provide a thorough analysis of your workforce’s productivity levels as well as the numerous aspects that go with it the morale of your employees, their engagement and earnings. This analysis assists in making better decisions to lower the cost of recruitment and streamline daily operations.

  • Improved Recruitment: Planning for workforce prevents understaffing and overstaffing. In addition, a thorough examination of your current workforce’s capabilities and performance will help you determine what qualities to consider when recruiting new employees.

  • Quality Employee Experience: A well-studied workforce management plan has positive ripple effects. Through ensuring the appropriate number of employees and planning for the workforce, it reduces the chance of burnout among employees and keeps the employee’s productivity and morale up, and providing a positive employee experience.

  • Reduced Employee Turnover: Certain tools for managing workforce automatize raises, bonuses and promotions. Predictive analytics help to determine the top performers as well as those who are at risk of quitting before it’s too late.

Workforce Management Tools

Here are the best examples of the top tools for managing the workforce.
  • Kronos Workforce Central: This tool is a favorite among users due to its extensive features for scheduling. It lets companies keep track of and manage employees' timing and time-off.
  • ADP Workforce Now: ADP Workforce offers strong payroll features. They aid in the timely calculation of employee's wages and salaries. The time tracking feature allows employers to keep track of employees to track their shift's beginning and ending times.
  • SAP SuccessFactors: These tools combine the HR solutions, such as workforce planning, as well as details about company's analytics to help with better decision-making.
  • Workday HCM: HR integrates three functions, i.e., HR payroll and the management of talent.
  • Zenefits: Zenefits is an advanced management tool that is focused in HR and payroll administration, calculation of wages and monitoring compliance.
Workforce Management Tools

Challenges of Workforce Management Strategy

Let’s take a look at some of the common obstacles that you could encounter when you begin the planning of your workforce:

  • Poor Data Quality: Effective workforce planning is largely dependent on the accuracy of data, forecasts and analytics. Without this data the strategy for managing your workforce is at risk of becoming inadequate and unsustainable.

  • Lack of a Structured Process: A strategic workforce planning process is a structured and proactive method. If you follow this method, your plan will likely remain strong after the implementation. Even if it appears useful for a short time, it won’t achieve the long-term outcomes you want.

  • HR Regime:  While we’re certainly not trying to cause an argument, a major obstacle to effective workforce planning stems from the limitations of HR managers. Due to the burden of manual work due to inefficiencies in the system, HR managers struggle to hold an effective discussion that is based on a business-oriented approach.

  • Time and Expenses: Planning for your workforce strategically is beneficial but takes resources and energy. This is a frequent obstacle in workforce planning, particularly for smaller or newer businesses.

If you follow the four steps listed above, adopting an effective workforce strategy that promotes the growth of your business is easy to reach. Employers who follow these steps will reap the benefits of higher productivity, better work efficiency and higher customer and employee satisfaction.

Steps in the Strategic Workforce Planning Process

There are several steps in the process of strategic workforce planning which could serve as a guideline to follow when establishing an efficient WFM strategy.

  1. Analyze business objectives: First, examine the goals and strategic goals of the business. Find out the top priorities for your business now as well as in the future.

  2. Analyze workforce: This stage is a thorough analysis of the current quality and quantity of employees. Find any gaps in knowledge or skills that may hinder the capacity of an organization to expand and change.

  3. Forecasting: Through forecasting, employers are able to better plan ahead and anticipate any future challenges as well as misalignments between demands and supply. The analysis of skills gaps will give employers the time needed to plan for any possible interruptions to operations.

  4. Find solutions to the gap: The final step is on establishing an action plan and identifying the solutions for any gap that exist in the workforce by recruiting and training, reskilling and retraining as well as outsourcing. In establishing a culture of learning at work everyone will be in a mental attitude to increase their knowledge and fill in the gaps as part of their personal career track.

Top Workforce Management Strategies

Let’s look at the latest trends in the field of workforce management which you can incorporate into your business.

  • Use automation to streamline monotonous and time-consuming operations
    Automating processes to perform repetitive tasks is gaining popularity. For instance the retail management software could automate the screening of hundreds of applicants and plan interviews with employees which makes the process more efficient and streamline procedures.

  • Use predictive analytics to analyze the future trends
    Modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms aid in the analysis of large volumes of HR-related data as well. This assists in accurate workforce scheduling by identifying the necessary skills required for the coming years.

  • Focus on the skill set rather than the experience or glorifying job titles
    The focus of this type of hiring is to hire people with certain skill sets. This helps ensure that employees possess the required skills to perform the job. While the traditional method is to select candidates based on their degree or previous titles.

  • Create a learning environment so the employees’ skill set improves with time
    Continuous training and development programs allow employees to keep up-to-date with their knowledge. This keeps the workforce current and increases morale and retention for further growth.

  • Think about your staff and opt for flexible working hours
    Flexible work arrangements such as remote and hybrid models let individuals work from their own homes. This allows employees to meet their diverse requirements and increases satisfaction to employees. Remote work models allow for the recruitment of applicants from a wider geographical area.

  • Allow the employee to work as per their freedom
    Encouragement of employee autonomy provides the impression of credibility and confidence in employees. It lets employees be at their own pace which leads to higher levels of satisfaction at work.

  • Consider different types of workforce working models
    Total workforce management integrates all types of employees–full-time, part-time, and freelancers–into a single place. This aids organizations in managing their responses and reacting quickly to any changes in the demands.

  • Keep a tab on each and every employee’s performance to understand your operations completely.
    Data analysis of the workforce can provide valuable information and create strategies and operational plans that align with corporate goals. This step is essential when it comes to analyzing the performance of employees, planning recruitment and retention, and also predicting the requirements for the coming years.

  • Ask the senior management to give their team timely feedback to ensure their work ethics are aligned with the company’s growth objectives.
    Companies should focus on improving employee engagement at the team stage through periodic feedback programs and rewards-based incentives. In addition, providing equal opportunities for growth among employees ensures that employees maintain their dedication and enthusiasm for the company.

  • Think about employee’s physical and mental health wellness
    Integrating various types of health and wellness programs into the employee’s daily schedules can help improve performance. They include physical and mental health plans, physical fitness challenges and mental health resources and also allowing flexible working schedules for employees to decrease stress.

The changing developments in workforce management change the way employees experience work and increase operational efficiency. They are vital to take advantage of the modern technology of today creating a digital workplace that promotes an environment that is healthy for all employees.

Frequently Asked Questions

At its heart, WFM is a comprehensive and integrated system of processes and tools which aid in planning, directing and monitoring employee work including attendance and time employees’ schedules, time and attendance, as well as the compliance with labor laws.

The four core components in Workforce Management (WFM) are scheduling, forecasting and real-time management as well as performance management. Forecasting anticipates demand for the future while scheduling helps employees achieve it, real-time management adjusts for unexpected changes and monitors performance and enhances the effectiveness of employees to ensure that the goals of service are achieved.

Request a Demo