Takeaways from the IDC Technology Spotlight: The Imperative and Value of Intelligent Workforce Management

As organisations compete for scarce talent, demand for better workforce management and intelligent digital workspaces dedicated to supporting improved employee experience will grow. The best workforce management solutions will drive measurably better business results.

WorkForce Software and Oracle recently sponsored this new IDC Technology Spotlight: The Imperative and Value of Intelligence Workforce Management, which shows how modern workforce management is making a positive impact on organisations looking to remain competitive in the current labour market. This blog contains the key takeaways, but be sure to read the full report for all the details on how these programs can benefit your workers.

Due to the current economic climate, organisations are putting more focus on their workers and the core elements of the employee experience. At a time when talent is in short supply and challenging conditions are contributing to waves of worker resignations, keen employers are responding by modernising work tools and management models to better attract labour.

Improved communication and collaboration tools are helping ensure more efficient and innovative engagement for workers. By automating some of the more mundane work tasks, employees are freed up to focus on higher-value work. This allows workforces to become more resilient, agile and better able to troubleshoot sudden obstacles as they arise.

Changing Trends, the Challenges They Pose and the Solutions to Fix Them

In the effort to remain functional during the pandemic, businesses found themselves trying multiple new methods that are now becoming standard protocol.

• Automation of Processes and Integrated Workflows – Automating simpler tasks where possible allows employees and managers alike to focus on higher-value tasks — and improves efficiency, productivity and employee engagement.
• New Ways of Learning, Training and Sharing Information – Many employees are trained in a process only once after being hired but retain very little after a month. Make use of digital programs to train offsite and in-the-moment and to refresh experienced workers on proper methods and functions.
• Constant Access to Employee Feedback – Conduct employee surveys to identify and repair problems before they become endemic. This data is highly valuable for tracking employee morale, correlating morale with productivity and anticipating future workforce issues.
• Digital Access to Everything Your Org Requires – Seamlessly integrated and AI-enabled access to critical work data, HR tools and communication channels can keep your entire organisation in contact across divisions and levels.

The Benefits of Intelligent Workforce Management

Enterprises implementing new workforce management platforms have continuously seen improved results. IDC Research has found that mature employee experience programs are directly correlated to employee productivity. In turn, employee productivity is directly tied to customer satisfaction, which 58% of all surveyed IT and LOB leaders consider to be their key metric in judging productivity.

Consider these other outcomes and how employee experience has had a positive impact:

• Higher Productivity – Workers committed to their roles are more productive and more engaged in their roles.
• Lower Administrative Costs – Automated mundane tasks and digital access to important work and HR data for employees reduces the workload for administrators.
• More Effective Staffing – The ability to easily communicate and swiftly coordinate a team for ideal rostering (by skill level and availability) means the right workers are in the right places at the right time.
• Improved Talent Retention – Hiring is costly in both time and money. Providing and optimising current employees with better digital tools to carry out their tasks keeps them engaged, and engaged workers are consistently surveyed to show higher satisfaction with their organisations.

How WorkForce Software Works For You

The WorkForce Suite ties the employee experience process into the employee’s normal flow of work, leveraging data about the employee to provide a seamless feedback approach. The WorkForce Suite offers a modern workforce management platform with the following components:

• WorkForce Performance – Forecasting, rostering, time and attendance, tasks and absence and leave
• WorkForce Accelerators – Absence compliance, fatigue management, phone entry, global templates, compliance portal, clocks
• WorkForce Experience – Communications, documents, training, surveys
• WorkForce Intelligence – Insights, analytics, chatbots, assistant

IDC states that many organisations managing deskless shift workers struggle to evolve beyond pre-existing management models that limit two-way communication. WorkForce Software is the right move for organisations dedicated to a winning employee experience strategy and the corresponding benefits to efficiency, productivity and worker morale. Enterprises with the best workforce management solutions continually drive measurably better business results.

The IDC Technology Spotlight: The Imperative and Value of Intelligent Workforce Management discusses the trends occurring using business technology solutions for workforce management, and key benefits arising from their use.

Read the full IDC Technology Spotlight to learn more.