Creating a workforce management strategy can seem daunting. However, it is crucial for any business looking to be productive and competitive in today’s marketplace. A good workforce management strategy focuses on all the activities needed to manage and sustain a productive, cost-effective, and happy workforce. In addition, the strategy includes consistent policies and procedures around managing employee time and attendance, scheduling, and absences. Without a plan in place, your organization will struggle to achieve the level of productivity required to succeed.
What is a workforce management strategy, and why do you need one?
A workforce management strategy ensures that an organization has the right number and type of employees with the necessary skills to complete work tasks effectively and efficiently. Additionally, it enables businesses to adapt their workforce quickly in response to changes in demand, helps control labor costs, and fully utilizes employees efficiently. If your organization doesn’t have a workforce management strategy, it will struggle to be productive and competitive in today’s marketplace.
There are many benefits of a workforce management strategy. For example:
- To determine how many employees you need and what skills they should have
- It ensures that employees are utilized in the most efficient way possible
- To enable your organization to adapt its workforce quickly in response to changes in demand
- It helps you control labor costs by reducing unnecessary overtime and absenteeism
As a result of creating a WFM strategy, your organization will achieve its business goals because you will have the right number of employees at the right time to meet the organization’s demands.
What are the key components of a workforce management strategy?
The key components of a workforce management strategy include:
- Determining how many employees you need and what skills they should have
- Creating efficient work schedules
- Managing employee time and attendance
- Tracking absences and vacation time
- Planning for contingencies
- Evaluating and adjusting your workforce plan as needed
How to create a workforce management strategy for your business?
There are a few key steps to creating an effective workforce management strategy for your business. Here are the main ones:
Assess your current situation.
These questions will help you evaluate your current situation:
- What workforce processes and procedures do you currently have in place?
- Which processes are working well, and what could use improvement?
- What skills do the team currently have and what skills will they need in the future?
- What challenges are you facing when it comes to managing your workforce?
Define your goals and objectives.
What do you want your workforce management strategy to achieve? More efficient and productive employees? Lower costs? Greater flexibility to adapt to changes in the market?
Here are some example goals:
- Maintain X% staffing levels
- Design and implement new training for X role
- Decrease/increase X by X
- Reduce turnover by X%
- Enhance performance management to support new program goals
Standardize your processes and procedures.
When creating a workforce management strategy, it’s important to standardize your processes and procedures as much as possible. With standardized processes, everyone is on the same page when it comes to managing employees, and this will make it easier to track and monitor progress. Additionally, it will create a more consistent and efficient work environment. There are a few critical steps to standardizing your processes and procedures:
Firstly, draft standard policies and procedures for managing employee time and attendance, scheduling, absences, etc. Consult with all relevant stakeholders when creating these policies, so that everyone is on board with them.
Secondly, implement the new policies and procedures. Be sure to train all employees on how to follow them correctly. Finally, monitor the results of the new policies and procedures and make any necessary adjustments along the way.
Automate time and attendance tracking.
One of the best ways to ensure that your workforce management strategy is efficient and effective is to automate time and attendance tracking. This will help you track who is working, when they are working, and how much time they spend on each task. It can also help you identify any employees slacking off or taking advantage of the system.
There are a few different ways to automate time and attendance tracking:
- Use time tracking software. This is an excellent option for businesses that have a lot of employees and need a more sophisticated system for tracking time and attendance. There are various time tracking software programs available, so find one that meets your needs.
- Use time clocks or biometric scanners. These are a great option for businesses that have a lot of hourly employees. Time clocks or biometric scanners can automatically track employee hours, making it easier to stay compliant with labor laws.
- Use employee ID cards. Managers can use employee ID cards to track employee hours by scanning them at specific points throughout the day (e.g., when they enter and exit the building). This is a more simplistic option but can be just as effective as other methods of tracking.
Automate employee scheduling.
When creating a workforce management strategy, it’s essential to consider how you schedule employees. One way to automate this process is to use employee scheduling software. This software can help you create schedules quickly and easily and help you stay compliant with labor laws.
There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing employee scheduling software:
- Make sure the software is easy to use. You don’t want to spend a lot of time figuring out how to use the software. It should be intuitive and easy to navigate.
- Make sure the software is customizable. For example, the software should allow you to create schedules that meet your specific needs and requirements.
- Make sure the software is compliant with labor laws. The software should include features that help you stay compliant with labor laws, such as tracking employee hours and overtime.
Establish a monthly planning/review session.
Your workforce management strategy should include a once monthly, meeting with internal stakeholders to review the previous month.
- Was the service level achieved?
- Was the forecast accurate?
- What was the accuracy of the schedule?
- What opportunities for improvement can you explore?
Finally, share the performance expectations for the next month. In doing so, you enable better recruitment, training, and staffing decisions. Even more, everyone is aligned on what is needed to archive success.
Conduct a daily huddle.
One way to ensure that your workforce management strategy is effective is to hold a 15-minute daily huddle to review the previous day’s performance and discuss expected performance for today. This allows you to get everyone on the same page and helps to ensure that everyone is aware of the expectations.
The daily huddle should be short and should include the following topics:
- Review of yesterday’s performance
- Review gaps in performance
- Discussion of today’s priorities as a result of yesterday’s performance
- Review adjustments to improve
So, if you need anyone to take action communicate that here. For example, break changes, canceling offline activities, or having agents take different call types.
This blog post has covered a small part of developing a workforce management strategy, but it is a great place to start. Most importantly, design your strategy to meet what your stakeholders expect from you. Secondly, create solutions that reduce or eliminate administrative tasks so you can focus on analytical work.
