Are you looking for a robust workforce optimization plan? If so, you probably know there are lots of options from which to choose. There are several reasons why you need to think carefully about the solutions and software you deploy. They include:
- The vendor you work with will be responsible for answering any customer service calls you might have. You need to make sure they are available to assist you.
- If you have the right workforce management ecosystem, you will have an easier time managing your employees. This means it will be easier for you to keep them happy.
- If you do not choose the right solutions to optimize your Human Capital Management (HCM) software, time management program, or Learning Management System (LMS), your company can become very inefficient, thus wasting valuable budget dollars.
Carefully weighing your platform options require an analysis of your current needs and technology ecosystem. What are some of the most important factors you need to consider when building onto your tech stack? These are called the three I’s. They are industry, integrations, and intuitiveness. What are each of these elements, and why do they matter when choosing a solution?
1. Industry
The first I stands for industry. You should find a platform or end-point solution that is designed specifically for your industry. Even though there are some platforms that claim to work well in just about every industry, there is a saying that if you are a jack-of-all-trades, you are a master of none. That is true when it comes to HCM, LMS and shift scheduling solutions as well.
Depending on the industry in which you work, there may be specific requirements you need to meet. You need to find a platform that helps you meet the detailed regulations with as much automation as possible to save time and energy while freeing your team up to work on revenue-generating tasks. A few examples include:
- In the public service sector, employers must be mindful of union contracts and labor regulations specific to that industry.
- In food processing, employers need to be compliant with staffing, training and OSHA regulations.
- If you work in an industry that has a lot of staffing and demand changes, such as manufacturing, you need a platform that can help you meet changing demand needs.
Accessing this data via detailed tracking with automated reports provides the information employers need for annual industry labor activity audits.
If you are looking for a platform that can help you change staffing assignments quickly, you might want to choose an automated scheduling solution such as Indeavor’s. If you automate these staffing changes, you can make it easier to adjust on the fly. This makes it easier for you to meet the demands of the industry.
It is also important to think about platforms that can manage fatigue management, which is particularly important in the highly regulated nuclear industry in order to prioritize worker safety. Some companies deploy this project as a stand-alone tool, but Indeavor has this solution integrated with the rest of the automated scheduling system. Those who work in the nuclear energy industry can avoid expensive penalties while promoting worker safety through fatigue management at the point of scheduling.
2. Integrations
Next, it is imperative to deploy a solution that features robust integrations. With integrations, you promote data integrity because this information is fed through each system. If your workforce optimization solutions integrate with each other, it dramatically improves workforce visibility. This means that managers will gain access to the information they need to make better decisions about how to keep the company efficient. With detailed analytics, managers can figure out what is working well, what is not, and what needs to be changed. For example, many platforms have programs that require skills-matching and specific certifications to specific projects. This is usually a manual process or within a standalone system.
This is another area where Indeavor excels with integrating automated scheduling into Learning Management Systems. In situations where people need to change positions that require a specific amount of training and/or certification, people should only switch to assignments for which they are qualified. Indeavor provides a number of helpful integrations that allow ERP, HCM and LMS programs to match labor skills to specific positions, keeping the company on track. This type of implementation is critical in workforce optimization.
3. Intuitiveness
Finally, it is important to find a platform that is intuitive. You may have found the best platform in the world, but it will not be helpful to you unless you (and your staff) know how to use it. Therefore, it is critical to find a workforce optimization solution that is intuitive to the people who use it, leveraging the same vocabulary, structure, and sequences. Before selecting a solution, think about who will be using the technology, what their skills are, and whether they will be able to use that specific platform effectively.
For example, Indeavor offers a mobile schedule application that is very easy to use. Employees quickly adopt this technology to:
- Take a look at their schedules
- Ask for time off for vacation days or sick days
- Swap shifts with other people
- Put in their annual shift scheduling requests with our shift scheduling software
The reality is that a labor scheduling software program is only helpful if people know how to use it. When the user experience is made as easy as possible, it makes it easier for managers and employees to adopt and use the platform effectively. This type of mobile engagement is at the core of Indeavor’s automated scheduling system for workforce optimization.
Rely on Indeavor’s Workforce Management Solution
Enterprise regulations and demands are changing quickly and workforce management solutions promote visibility and support with the data you need. At Indeavor, we have designed a platform that is perfect for industrial organizations that require rapid changes and on-the-fly adjustments to ensure you are leveraging right-size staffing to meet frequently changing demands.
Instead of asking your managers to review every swap, you can give your employees the autonomy they require while still putting guardrails in place that keep your company operational. Furthermore, the solution provides Labor Alignment Analytics, which is a KPI that will forever change how companies measure the success of their scheduling processes.
Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can help you streamline operations with employee scheduling software!
