Using the right workforce management tools is your secret weapon to creating a successful business, with happy customers and happy employees, both now and long into the future.
Investing in a comprehensive workforce management solution is a big choice for any organisation and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. But before you reach that point, how do you know you need a workforce management solution or if it’s the right time to improve the way you currently do things?
We’ve put our top tips and advice together to help you get a clearer picture of your current situation and whether leveling up your workforce management game can help you have a happier and more successful business.
1. Lose the unnecessary admin
When it comes to creating a rota and scheduling your staff do you find yourself spending a disproportionate amount of time on it each week only for the schedule to be changed over and over again?
If the answer is yes, this is the key sign you need to invest in workforce management. Complex schedules can take hours to create. A workforce management solution will do it for you at the click of a button while automatically updating your staff through a notification to their phone with their shifts. You’ll also be able to make real-time changes with the minimum amount of fuss and hassle. Got two employees who want to swap shifts? Simple approve it with a single click. Not only does it save time but it will boost efficiency and productivity across the whole business.
2. Put your employee experience first
The nature of shift work is volatile. Employees will come and go, each of them bringing a new list of days when they can and cannot work. Some workers like day shifts, others night shifts. Some prefer weekend shifts, whilst others prefer weekdays. Juggling staff and their shifts can easily become one of the most time consuming tasks a business has to deal with. And when employees feel they aren’t working on their terms (and therefore not enjoying work) they are more likely to leave if a better opportunity presents itself.
By putting your employee experience first, and using better workforce management to help you do it, you’ll improve your staff retention.
3. Embrace flexible working
The idea of flexible working is often met with a groan and a roll of the eyes. It’s all too often equated with lower productivity and increased costs. In particular, business owners and managers fear logistical headaches and wasted hours spent wrestling over spreadsheets.
We believe the opposite to be true. With the right tools and technology in place, flexible working can allow businesses to improve productivity, save time, reduce costs, improve employee retention and boost employee happiness.
Download our free report to see the impact improved flexible working can have
4. Have engaged employees
No approach to a comprehensive workforce management strategy is complete without highlighting the importance of employee engagement.
If it’s not one of your top priorities, it should be. Employee engagement is much more than a desirable for businesses to have; it’s essential, and businesses who ignore how engaged their employees are do so at their peril. Why? Because businesses who have engaged employees consistently outperform those who don’t and always have the competitive edge over their rivals.
Download our guide on how to improve employee engagement
5. Control your labour costs
There’s nothing revolutionary about looking for new ways to reduce and control labour cost. Failure to control these costs effectively can quickly lead to you feeling the pinch and having to resort to drastic measure to combat them.
Typically, this includes cutting staff, either by making them redundant or reducing their hours, or increasing the price of products and passing this cost over to the consumer. It also makes you more vulnerable to competitors and eats into the capital that may be set aside to help grow your business in the form of advertising, marketing and sales.
Reducing your labour cost shouldn’t be complicated. In fact, when you have the right data, the right tools, and a clear understanding of how your business works, it’s easy. This guide will show you how.
Improving your workforce management will help you stay ahead of the competition and give you a platform to future proof your business.
Furthermore, using software and technology to help you do it is the most logical approach. With a cloud-based and mobile-first workforce management tool including employee scheduling, communication, task-management and payroll integration all in one place, the power you have at your fingertips will not only make your business more profitable, it will create a better life for your employees by improving their work lives.
