24×7 environments like manufacturing, public safety, government operations, and energy production & utilities run best when the right employee is at the right place at the right time.
But forecasting labor requirements, creating and managing employee schedules to meet those needs, and adjusting for unexpected changes in labor and demand is a complex task, even for the most adept schedulers and demand planners. This is especially true if your current workforce management solution only tackles time and attendance. Or you have papers with your employees’ ever-changing shift schedules… somewhere on your desk.
To help your employees be more productive, empowered, and engaged, it’s critical for HR and Operations departments to work together across the entire enterprise to streamline and centralize workforce management processes—in real-time.
Translation: workforce management is only effective if it is holistic, meaning you’re going to need so much more than scheduling software to get the job done. Here’s why.
1. Provide Unmatched Visibility into Your Workforce
Rather than relying on manual data entry, a holistic, cloud-based SaaS solution would keep track of your employees for you.
Plant managers and supervisors can be equipped with real-time labor information and employee schedules from the comfort of their mobile devices. What’s more is this level of scheduling transparency does not need to end at the managerial level: Employee Self-Service gives power directly to your shift employees, giving them the freedom to view schedules, request time off, volunteer for shifts, and more.
This is all the more powerful when you realize that too much overtime or after-hours work contributes to nearly a third (32%) of the reasons why employees burnout—and 95% of HR leaders claim employee burnout is a reason their employees are quitting.
With cross-departmental visibility into employee hours, the onus on schedulers and demand planners to accurately create the most optimal shift schedule becomes a lot less daunting. And reducing employee burnout is an added benefit for everyone.
2. Resolve Scheduling Issues Proactively
By having real-time data easily accessible from anywhere, your organization can transform from one that is reactive to proactive in no time.
Picture this scenario: rather than learning from lagged reports or dated emails that there was a “missing employee” that held up production, you’ll be ahead of the issue after receiving an immediate notification that they called in sick; and you’ll have the appropriate tools to assign the most qualified and available worker to the vacancy.
3. Navigate an Increasingly Complex Regulatory Landscape
There are external and internal factors at play here.
Combatting labor fatigue is an integral part of increasing the quality of life of your shift employees; not to mention, you’ll proactively prevent workplace accidents. Updated labor laws that directly impact scheduling will have you scrambling to avoid fines and grievances if you aren’t aware of them—or if you cannot ensure that your schedules adhere to them due to lack of visibility.
You can ensure adherence to even the most recent compliance laws with a WFM approach that automates compliance coverage.
But what about enforcing your rules internally? A holistic approach with the right software can help there, too, aiding in the automatic setup and tracking of attendance policies.
How Indeavor Makes This Dream a Reality
Our workforce management SaaS solution which offers clients an end-to-end, cloud-based employee scheduling, time & attendance, and absence management system. Integrate with your human capital management and enterprise resource planning systems to create a robust platform that provides you with real-time employee data.
Interested to see how we can help your organization tackle WFM realistically? Click here to request a demo or give us a call today.
