What is workforce management with an example?

Workforce Management: Definition & Examples

What is workforce management with an example

Understanding Workforce Management

Anticipating what your workforce needs next week, next month, or years from now requires more than business acumen and gut instinct. Workforce management (WFM) is a delicate balance between adequate staffing and customer demand. Whether you’re understaffed and need more employees to handle your workload or you have a generous headcount you can’t justify, it’s important to strike the right balance to maintain efficiency while keeping your customers and workers satisfied. What is workforce management with an example? In this article, we will explore the various components of workforce management in detail and provide a practical example to illustrate its application in the workplace.

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What is workforce management with an example?

What is workforce management with an example? Workforce management is the process of optimizing employee productivity and efficiency in an organization. It involves forecasting labor requirements, scheduling employees, tracking time and attendance, managing payroll, and analyzing performance data to improve workforce productivity.

These are some examples:

  • Get people to work on time: A scheduling app lets you automatically assign agents to specific jobs and get field service techs to their assigned worksites. It's not just a top-down process. The software lets workers negotiate with colleagues to swap shifts. Agents and field service techs can work out scheduling conflicts on their own.
  • Orchestrate field service technicians: The retailer sells complex items like home security, entertainment systems, or appliances. A software platform can help managers know which techs with the right skillsets are needed for any given appointment, oversee their workloads, and recognize good work or encourage improvement.
  • Supervise mobile and remote workers: A workforce management platform can ensure fair, equitable scheduling and supervision of off site staff.
  • Track vacation time and days off: Software can help you integrate people's time-off requirements so complicated scheduling is easier to visualize and plan around.
  • Fine-tune customer support: Customer data tells you that people who buy electronic gadgets tend to make more customer support calls at specific times of day or night. WFM tools can help you make sure you have electronics experts available when customers need them.
  • Organize staff events: Workforce management software can help fold events like trainings, team meetings, and all-hands announcements into your work schedule.
  • Measure employee effectiveness: Software can track valuable employee data that allows supervisors, managers, and leadership to make wise decisions when promoting or giving raises to customer service and field agents.
  • Project future staffing needs: An analytics app can study previous staffing assignments and use predictive AI algorithms to suggest the exact number of agents you'll need during a holiday crunch. If a new product release points to a rising demand for contact center agents or field service technicians, the software can help you plan for it.
  • Ensure compliance: Workforce management software helps you avoid scheduling agents for more hours than employee regulations allow. Plus, collective bargaining contract data can be imported into the system to ensure you're in sync with union rules. a new product release points to a rising demand for contact center agents or field service technicians, the software can help you plan for it.

Components of workforce management

Every business is unique, and no two workforce management processes are identical. However, there are some core components that WFM solutions should include:

  • Staff forecasting and scheduling: Businesses need to accurately predict future workforce needs—too many employees at one time results in wasted labor budgets, while too few can impact efficiency and customer service levels. This is a universal requirement for successful operations, regardless of whether companies implement general WFM, call center workforce management, or a different industry-specific approach.

    Finding that scheduling sweet spot can be difficult, however, as organizational trends, employee skill levels, and changing consumer preferences are all common factors that can impact staffing requirements. With workforce management, businesses can create accurate schedules time after time and find the perfect balance between efficiency and labor cost optimization.

  • Time and attendance tracking: Time and attendance tracking—monitoring and recording employees’ hours, time off, and, in certain cases, their productivity—is crucial for both hourly and salaried teams. This data is essential for calculating payroll, optimizing efficiency, and complying with labor laws and regulations. Additionally, teams can use WFM time tracking to enhance employee experience management and ensure timesheets are always accurate.

  • Real-time team management: Real-time team management allows businesses to monitor employee schedules and customer demand on an hourly basis. This enables teams to make on-the-fly adjustments to schedules and resources so operations are running as efficiently as possible. This key WFM component can also highlight training opportunities and process improvements to keep businesses operating at peak levels consistently.

  • Reporting and analytics: Workforce management can help businesses make strategic, data-driven decisions through reporting and analytics features. With the help of WFM software, organizations can gather information on employee performance, attendance, turnover rates, and other important metrics like revenue per employee and time to fill. Using this data, teams can identify areas of improvement, implement strategies, and set long-term goals.
Components of workforce management

Benefits of workforce management

Here are the positive outcomes of workforce management:

  • Better labor planning: Workforce management allows for planning labor accurately. The labor force is essential to keep the business running, and it is often the most significant expense for the company. You want to have the right number of employees at the right time and increase the staff volume when the business needs it.

  • Improved environment: Workforce management enhances the quality of the work environment by improving employee satisfaction. When the organization plans workload adequately, employees are usually more satisfied in their jobs.

  • Increased productivity: WFM improves employees’ productivity. The satisfaction employees gain from better scheduling improves their mood and translates into increased productivity. HR productivity also improves thanks to automation, better accessibility to workforce-related data and instant reporting.

  • Defined processes: When you clearly define the processes for proper management, it creates more time for business owners and operators to lead their organization.

  • Customer satisfaction: Workforce management uses historical data trends to create staffing forecasts. It ensures that the workforce aligns with business needs. Thanks to accurate staff planning, the necessary work is achieved and customers are satisfied.

  • Detailed reporting: Workforce management allows creating reports on data-driven, reliable information. The report covers service levels, abandon rates and helps the organization understand and manage absenteeism or overtime.

  • Cost reduction: Workforce management reduces and optimizes labor costs. It also reduces administrative costs by automating and simplifying workforce-related reports.

  • Plan for different possible scenarios: Thanks to “what-if” scenarios, users can view different potential situations and plan proactively. Accurate planning allows business leaders to make informed business decisions.

Workforce Management Best Practices

Effective workforce management is critical to ensure optimal team performance and organizational success. Here are six best practices to guide you:

  1. Ensure Accurate Forecasting: Use historical data, seasonal trends, and anticipated events to forecast labor demands more accurately, ensuring the right number of skilled employees are available as needed. This optimizes labor costs and meets customer service levels.

  2. Implement Flexible Scheduling: Adapt schedules to meet both business needs and employee preferences. Some examples of flexible shift solutions include shift swapping, part-time shifts, and remote work opportunities. This practice can enhance job satisfaction and reduce absenteeism.

  3. Invest in Training and Development: Having regular training and development programs equips your employees with the skills they need—not only for their present roles but also for future positions in the organization. This makes your employees feel valued and see a clear path for career advancement.

  4. Utilize Technology: Leverage advanced workforce management tools and software to automate scheduling, time and attendance tracking, and other administrative tasks. Technology can provide real-time data and insights to make informed decisions. We will tackle more of this in the next section of this article.

  5. Communicate Effectively: Maintain open lines of communication with all team members. Regular updates, feedback sessions, and open forums can foster a positive work environment and help address any concerns proactively.

  6. Monitor Compliance with Labor Laws: Stay informed about relevant labor laws and regulations to ensure compliance. This can include regulations about overtime, minimum wage, rest breaks, and working hours. This helps you avoid legal issues and promote an ethical workplace.

Frequently Asked Questions

Workforce management (WFM) focuses on forecasting labor needs, scheduling shifts, tracking attendance, and optimizing performance. It aims to balance staffing levels, costs, and compliance while enhancing employee engagement, training, and retention. WFM uses data and technology to improve efficiency and align with business goals.

Technology plays an important role in automating workforce management processes. Its use helps improve data accuracy and provides real-time insights into workforce performance, assisting you in taking informed decisions.

Workforce management improves employee work-life balance, job satisfaction, and fairness in scheduling. It reduces burnout, offers flexibility, supports skill development, fosters better communication, streamlines processes, and ensures more efficient use of time, all of which contribute to higher morale, better productivity, and lower turnover.

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