Workforce management software is important for businesses with hundreds or thousands of staff. It helps schedule, forecast, and maintain a proper budget to run business operations smoothly. By including a great deal of automation and tools, it lets organizations effectively plan and meet strategic goals while ensuring efficiency.
To achieve business bottom lines, it’s important to choose the best workforce management software that offers the following key elements without fail.
5 key Elements of Workforce Management Software
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Real-time Workforce Tracking
The software should offer real-time tracking features to remotely monitor field staff through an intuitive app. It should have the capability to monitor, guide, and track any number of employees’ physical locations. Not just that, it should be able to offer executives:
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Current location
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Halt period
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Lat & Long of the place
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Time duration
2. Field Employee Expense Management
Expense management is another important feature that modern workforce monitoring solutions should offer. The software should make it easy for:
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Field staff to file expenses with valid proofs
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Managers hierarchy to review and process the claims
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Executives or staff to get notification on claim status
Moreover, it should offer managers the ability to put a cap or limit on expenses to avoid over-budgeting. And there should be an easy option to categorise expenses as per heads like travel, food, stationery, miscellaneous, etc. This will allow field executives to easily file their expenses.
3. Simple Task Management
Effective task allocation and fulfillment are only possible if managers assign them in a careful and timely manner. Best workforce management software solutions shouldn’t miss the task management feature where managers can assign tasks in bulk based on the availability of staff and priority of tasks.
More than that, it should allow field staff to curate customisable checklists — that are editable without restriction. Whenever the task is done, the managers should get a reminder and consider adding more tasks, of course, based on the capacity of their staff. Other than this, it should have an effective order management solution for field staff who are often on trips to collect orders.
4. Geo-verified Attendance Marking
Distance shouldn’t restrict field staff from marking their attendance. Therefore, field service management software for the workforce should come with special geo-verified attendance marking capabilities. The software should be intelligently coded to fetch the geo-coordinates from the location where employees mark log in or log out.
It should have an auto-login feature that ensures that attendance is marked only when executives reach their destination, like the client site, field visit, or appointment location.
5. Easy Online Leave Management
Workforce management software is incomplete without leave application management. It should come with a streamlined dashboard through which employees can apply for leaves in advance or on the spot by viewing their leave balance or quota. On the other hand, the manager should get a notification about the leave and provide instant action either as approved, rejected, or pending.
Having attendance & leave management software helps avoid proxy attendance, reduce absenteeism, and avoid mismanaged week-offs.
Common Challenges to Avoid While Implementing Workforce Management Solutions — for Optimising Labour Costs
Workforce management software solutions no doubt are the best tool to optimize labor costs as they help:
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Align staffing supply with demand.
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Reduce overtime and absenteeism.
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Improve productivity and quality.
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Enhance employee retention & engagement.
However, implementing workforce management solutions is a not-so-simple process. It goes through so many challenges such as the following that needs effective addressing.
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Lack of clear goals and metrics
Organizations missing goals and metrics cannot expect wonders from workforce management tools. It’s important to set a clear vision and scope for workforce management, communicate it well with all stakeholders, and monitor and review the progress and results regularly.
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Inadequate data quality and integration
While implementing WFM tools, the integration of quality data and information is the key. WFM tools need accurate and timely data input from HR, payroll, sales, operations, and customer service. If by any means, the data is incomplete, outdated, inconsistent, or inaccessible, the workforce management solutions won’t provide the desired outcomes.
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Improper user adoption and training
WFM tools bring forth innovative ways in how people work. The system introduces new processes, responsibilities, roles, and expectations. It would demand new levels of skills, knowledge, and behaviors for better data analysis, collaboration & problem-solving, and collaboration. Thereby, users must be trained enough to adopt the new systematic change and should be taught to embrace it without any deficiencies.
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Unrealistic expectations and timelines
Setting unrealistic expectations and timelines is another major challenge even with the best workforce management software. Customised WFM solutions won’t reduce labor costs or help forecast demand overnight. They require careful planning, testing, and adoption — which comes after the passage of time. Since this software is guided by external and internal factors like customer demand, employee availability, and market organizational culture, organizations must remain patient and give it some time.
Final Thoughts!
Workforce management software is a potential-filled technology that streamlines workforce planning, scheduling, employee engagement, budgeting, and compliance — all in one go. To make an informed choice for the best workforce management solutions, it’s important to consider the above key elements.
All in all, the workforce management solution must have features that enhance productivity, reduce costs, and equip the workforce for better operational efficiency. TrackoBit’s Workforce management solutions offer you just that. Can’t believe it? Start with a free demo!
Read More:- Top 10 Best Workforce Management Software For 2023
