Workforce Management
How to run successful teams when technology has completely changed the game.
The great misunderstanding about workforce management
If you ask someone to define workforce management, they’ll probably say it’s about rostering staff efficiently and staying on the right side of employment laws. Those are two important parts of the picture — but not the whole story.
A burger franchise in Melbourne can pay correct wages, roster enough staff for the lunchtime crowds, and still suffer from poor customer service and costly employee turnover.
That happens when a business is missing the final part of workforce management: employee engagement. An engaged team feels valued by the business and is motivated to deliver the very best service.
So what is workforce management?
Workforce management (WFM) has three goals:
Workforce management refers to all the tasks required to run an efficient, engaged team. That includes rostering staff to budget, managing award requirements, ensuring accurate payroll, and creating an amazing employee experience. Workforce management software can simplify the whole process — and help any business adapt to change.
The changing world of workforce management
We’re in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution, which is about as dramatic as it sounds. Modern apps have transformed the way we live and work. Employment laws are only getting more complex. And millennials are the new face of the labour market, with different expectations of their employers.
Workforce management software is how you keep up. With the right solution, a business can attract the best talent, coordinate them to deliver a more profitable service, and navigate complicated legal obligations.
Three essentials for a successful workforce
Workplace efficiency
What do all businesses have in common?
Whether you run a chain of hardware stores across Queensland or one of Sydney’s harbour-side hotels, you rely on a workforce to provide a service more efficiently than competitors. But new technology can completely change how you do that.
The changing landscape and how you keep up
Leaps in technology transform how you provide your service and what you need from your workforce. In retail, the move from physical shops to online stores has created lower demand for shop assistants and higher demand for labour in warehouses and deliveries. Workforce management software helps companies adapt to any changes in labour demand and organise staff as efficiently as possible. Using artificial intelligence, they can predict how many employees you need across different roles, then roster people with the right training, at the right times, to deliver the best service at optimal cost.
It’s not just about efficiency
The appeal of this software goes beyond delivering great service and staying on budget. Just as consumers want the instant gratification of online shopping, today’s managers and staff want modern WFM systems because they deliver fast results, are available across their favourite devices, and are actually easy to use. When you can order a pair of wireless headphones or a new sofa with a few taps on your phone, suddenly using a time-consuming spreadsheet to roster staff seems even more inconvenient.
Legal compliance
There’s no easy way to say this...
When a company drops the ball on its award obligations, there’s no good part of the story. There’s the employees they let down, the litigation costs, the potential penalties, the media storm, the reputation damage. And often it’s because their workforce management system didn’t have the right checks and balances.
The changing landscape and how you keep up
In Australia, there are more than 100 modern awards that outline minimum requirements for wages, leave allowances, rest breaks, maximum weekly hours, and other entitlements — which are updated regularly. To manage these complex requirements, you need two things: a company-wide understanding of your obligations and a reliable workforce management system. For example, if you were the owner of a pub, workforce management software would help you roster staff with the required breaks, RSA training, and any applicable penalty rate or overtime calculations. All with a few clicks.
Employees pay attention
When it comes to issues of legal compliance, workers are more tuned in than ever. If a business doesn’t keep up with current laws, it leads to viral tweets, widely shared (unflattering) YouTube videos, and negative reviews on Glassdoor. A study by the ULPGC found that these reviews have a bigger impact than you might expect. Potential hires trust them more than other endorsements, like industry awards, and negative reviews either turn people away or raise their salary expectations.
Engaged employees
More than just a buzzword
You know that keeping your employees happy has high financial benefits. But do you know how high? According to Gallup, an engaged workforce can create a 21% rise in productivity, up to 65% less turnover, and a 22% percent increase in profitability. That’s a pretty significant win-win.
The changing landscape and how you keep up
Today, most of the world’s 2.3 billion shift workers are from the post-millennial generations. New technology and social norms have completely changed what they expect from employers – and that continues to evolve. Many of them feel that work-life balance is even more valuable than financial benefits and call for more control over their work schedules. This includes being able to easily set availability, request leave, and swap shifts when something comes up. Then there’s more obvious trends, like how social media has created a high expectation for clear communication, feedback, and recognition.
It’s not all about the tangible benefits
A study by Mercer found that employees are more than three times as likely to work for companies with a strong sense of social purpose. Enter brands like Google who host annual charity drives, have their own philanthropic foundation, and make matching contributions for their employees’ donations. These kind of ethical movements are the new foundation of brand loyalty.
Insights from our workforce management experts
The software behind high-performing teams
Employee rostering
Schedule staff to meet budget and demand. Manage legal requirements with greater ease. And share rosters instantly via web or mobile.
Time tracking software
Make it easy for employees to record their work hours, take the right breaks, and increase payroll accuracy.
Workplace communication
Create a space for clear communication, document sharing, feedback, and employee recognition.
Seamless integrations
Link Deputy with your payroll, POS, or HR software to sync your data and reduce your admin workload.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a workforce management system?
A workforce management system refers to software that helps a business run an efficient team of engaged employees, while staying on the right side of employment laws. With a top workforce management system, managers can create rosters in minutes, record exact staff work hours for perfect payroll, and give employees the tools they need to manage their work lives.
- What are workforce management tools?
When we talk about workforce management tools, we’re referring to a range of features that sit within the Swiss Army knife of a workforce management system. This starts with fundamentals like demand planning, employee rostering, and accurate time tracking for spot on timesheets and payroll. But it goes far beyond that.
A complete workforce management solution like Deputy helps employees swap shifts when something comes up, stay on top of their work tasks, and communicate effectively with the rest of the team. It also gives them the tools to manage their own availability and leave without the back and forth with management.
- How does your workforce management system adapt to change?
Deputy is constantly evolving with the times to help businesses stay efficient, manage legal compliance, and keep their employees happy. How? We listen. We’re always gathering feedback from businesses, employees, and regulators to build new functions and meet changing needs. It’s what we do.
- What is workforce planning?
Workforce planning is all about putting the right employees in the right place, at the right time, to achieve your current and future goals.
Workforce planning starts with forecasting labour demand, i.e. how many employees you’ll need to serve customers, what qualifications they should have, and when you need them. It involves identifying your current workforce’s ability to meet that demand, as well as any gaps that need to be filled through effective hiring and employee training.
Workforce management software is a key tool for this process. It doesn’t just help a business build accurate demand forecasts: it helps them put their plan into action with quick, intelligent rostering.
- What are the benefits of workforce planning?
Workforce planning keeps your business efficient, competitive, and thriving. It helps you adapt to the ever changing needs of your customers and deliver the best possible service, while reducing unnecessary costs. It also helps managers avoid the stress of chaotic last-minute staffing decisions. What’s not to love?
- What is workforce management forecasting?
Workforce forecasting is a crucial part of workforce planning. It’s also a key feature of any great workforce management system. The short answer is, it involves predicting your staffing needs to meet demand at any given time. This helps you deliver the best service to your customer and avoid costly overstaffing or unneeded overtime.
The longer answer? It involves taking into account a range of demand signals like historical sales data and foot traffic, the weather, and major events to forecast labour demand in the future. This helps you create a work roster with staff coverage and operating costs at the best possible level. Workforce management software can do this with minimum fuss and maximum accuracy for the best result.
- What is workforce management scheduling?
Workforce scheduling is one part of a workforce management system. The right software will allow managers to view important information like staff availability, wage costs, and demand forecasts in one place. It will then help them build a perfect work roster and send shift details straight to their employees’ phones and inboxes.