In recent blogs we’ve looked at different ways workforce management software can help optimise your business with everything from creating knock-out schedules to turbo-charging your team’s productivity.
While it’s easy to see the benefits of investing in a workforce management solution, sometimes it can be harder to know whether investing in workforce management is right for your business. There are countless myths surrounding workforce management including concerns it’s only for large companies or worries about the time it takes to learn how to use it and implement it. New systems and new ways of working can be daunting and in any business there’s always a degree of resistance to change.
Embracing a new system will require an investment of time, energy and money. So before you begin, ask yourself the following questions to find out if it’s an investment that’s right for your business:
Do you regularly schedule staff?
Scheduling staff and creating rotas is hard work! Scheduling large numbers of staff, with complex staffing agreements can take days to do well and then is often changed after the schedule is completed. A good workforce management system will not only do this automatically for you, it will also optimise the schedule, ensuring people are where they need to be, when they need to be there. This works for large numbers but is also equally effective for small teams. If you’re spending unnecessary hours creating schedules then they chances are workforce management is right for you.
Do you have an effective method of recording when your staff work?
Time management and scheduling go hand in hand. Do you have a risk and error free method of recording when your employees work? If you don’t it could be costing you a huge amount each year. With systems like Quinyx, time-punching is included in the mobile app, making it easy for employees to use and ensuring hours worked are all automatically recorded.
Do you want to reduce the amount of time it takes to run your payroll?
As well as reducing the time it takes to run payroll, workforce management software also has zero-margin for error making sure your employees are paid for the hours they work every single time. By connecting to your payroll system, you’ll be able to automatically create salary files and calculate pay types from scheduled and worked hours.
Would you like more accurate budgeting and forecasting?
Businesses of all shapes and sizes are using business intelligence to improve the accuracy of their budgeting and forecasting. There are few things more damaging to a business than a wildly inaccurate forecast. By using real-time data, software like Quinyx is able to help you produce robust forecast and predict your future needs based on historical data.
Is it tricky to communicate effectively with your staff?
Internal communication always requires constant work to do well. Many companies tend to use a number of different systems, from email to apps, to communicate with their staff. The best workforce management systems come with an integrated communications hub that includes forums, emails and SMS messaging. Good workforce management isn’t just about automating labour intensive jobs, it’s also a way to categorically improve how you communicate with your staff.
Are there tasks in your business which need to be completed on a regular basis?
Task management is another element to running a business which takes up more time than it needs to. Whether it’s ordering more stock, following set procedures or simply performing a daily task, managers want to keep track of this and ensure everything is being done when it should be. At the same time, it makes life much easier for employees if they are able to see their regular tasks on their phones and check them off as they go.
Workforce management isn’t the answer for every business. However, whether it be retail, hospitality, healthcare, fitness and leisure or even the public sector, companies who invest in workforce management see measurable improvement in their productivity while at the same time, on average, halving their costs.
If you think it’s something that’s right for your business then speak to one of our experts who will happily provide you with more information.
