Workforce Management Software: What It Is and How It Can Help Your Business

Read time: 8 minutes

Gain a competitive advantage while enhancing your employees' experience

In the past, the concept of workforce management revolved around improving a business’s operational efficiency. Today, the scope has broadened significantly. Workforce management (WFM) not only optimizes business processes, but it also focuses on building a people-first organization. 

A modern workforce management solution skillfully balances operational excellence with employee empowerment — and today's leading workforce management software companies have stepped up to meet this challenge. 

In this article, we’ll explore what workforce management software is, how it can benefit modern businesses, and tips for how you can successfully introduce this innovative solution into your company. Here’s how the right technology can help your organization build an employee-centric workplace while also achieving positive business outcomes.

What is workforce management software?

Workforce management software is a solution designed to streamline and optimize how an organization manages its workforce. Typically, WFM software oversees three main areas: 

Together, these functions empower businesses to ensure the right talent is placed in the right job at the right time — and for the right cost. This software enables businesses to efficiently allocate resources, ensure compliance with labor regulations, minimize labor costs, and enhance overall productivity. 

What is the ROI of a workforce management system?

While workforce management software can be pricey, it can pay for itself in no time. In fact, research firm Nucleus Research determined that workforce management delivers $12.24 for every dollar spent, with an average payback period of just under five months. 

The biggest ROI driving benefits of the software? Labor optimization, employee/manager self-service, scheduling automation, and reduced employee turnover. Together, these impact drivers help businesses realize significant cost savings, boost productivity, and enhance overall operational efficiency, ultimately leading to a substantial competitive advantage in today's dynamic business landscape. 

What is a total workforce management solution?

Modern workplaces look different than those of the past. Not all employees work full or parttime, and many organizations increasingly depend on freelancers, contractors, and gig workers to do business. While a workforce management solution is typically designed to accommodate full- and part-time workers, total workforce management systems encompass contingent workers as well. If your business depends on these types of workers, you will want to explore a total workforce management system that lets you manage all of your talent from one system. 

Workforce management solutions vs. human capital management software

While workforce management and human capital management (HCM) are used interchangeably, there are some subtle differences between the two terms. At a very high level, human capital management aims to strategically maximize the value and potential of employees, while workforce management primarily focuses on increasing productivity and operational efficiency. 

Here’s an even more detailed look at how WFM and HCM differ: 

Workforce management solutions 

  • Optimize workforce operations to meet short-term operational goals and objectives
  • Ensure efficient business resource allocation based on factors like employee scheduling, time and attendance tracking, and labor forecasting
  • Minimize labor costs, reduce organizational inefficiencies, and enhance productivity through effective workforce planning
  • Prioritize operational efficiency and compliance with labor regulations to maintain smooth business operations

Human capital management solutions

  • Focus on building a company culture that attracts, develops, and retains employees
  • Maximize employee potential and performance by investing in engagement, satisfaction, and professional development
  • Manage talent through processes like including performance reviews, learning and development, and succession planning
  • Align HR strategies with broader business objectives to ensure organizational success 

Your business doesn’t need to choose one or the other. You can actually leverage WFM and HCM together to build a holistic people strategy that can improve operational efficiency, boost employee engagement, and drive better business outcomes. 

Interested in learning more? Check out our eBook on the benefits of a unified HCM and WFM approach, The Shared Future for HCM and Workforce Management. 

What are the benefits of workforce management tools?

From empowering employees with self-service capabilities to providing HR teams with data-driven insights, workforce management software revolutionizes the way organizations manage their most valuable asset: their people. If you’re on the fence about whether a workforce management system is right for your business, here are a few ways it can optimize your workplace operations, enhance organizational efficiency, and benefit your business:

1. Increase productivity and efficiency

Workforce management solutions can streamline operational processes, leading to increased productivity and efficiency. Automating tasks like scheduling and time tracking can reduce manual labor and minimize the time employees spend on administrative duties, allowing them to focus on more strategic tasks and projects. Workforce management software can also help improve organizational communication and collaboration among employees and teams by providing centralized platforms for sharing information, updates, and feedback.

2. Anticipate staffing needs

Using past data and predictive analysis, workforce management software can help anticipate changes in staffing needs. This allows your business to make informed decisions around hiring and budgeting, as well as strategically reallocating talent across locations to meet fluctuating staffing demands. This way, your company can maintain productivity levels so you can continue to serve and delight your customers.

3. Reduce costs

Improving workplace efficiency can mean more savings for your business. Automating manual tasks, allocating resources more effectively, tracking employee hours, making more informed scheduling decisions, and avoiding overtime pay — these are some of the ways that workforce management tools can help you better manage your business’s operational costs and maximize your return on investment.

4. Improve employee satisfaction

Workforce management software helps businesses better accommodate employee needs. Employees can easily request time off or swap shifts using self-service features, giving them greater control over their schedules while still ensuring your business’s staffing needs are met. Giving employees autonomy and ownership over their roles can improve morale, engagement, and job satisfaction.

5. Empower employee and manager self-service

In the same vein, workforce management tools can help improve your employees’ and managers’ overall efficiency and productivity. 

- For employees: Employees can easily clock in/out, swap shifts with a colleague, and request time off from their preferred device. This flexibility enables employees to manage their schedules more efficiently, freeing up time for strategic tasks and projects. 

- For managers: Workforce management software can give people leaders access to real-time data and analytics to help inform their decision-making processes. With tools for scheduling, performance management, and compliance management, managers can make informed and timely decisions about how to maximize their team’s potential. With the right tools, your employees and managers can self-serve and proactively address their needs on their own. This can free up your HR team’s time and resources, giving them more time back in their day to focus on strategic people initiatives.

6. Streamlines HR processes

By automating repetitive HR tasks and processes, workforce management tools reduce the administrative burden on HR teams. From automatically sending timesheets to payroll to keeping track of overtime hours, WFM software streamlines workflows, minimizes manual errors, and can even help keep your business compliant.

7. Enables data-driven decision-making

Workforce management software provides valuable insights into your workforce, empowering your business to analyze past data, identify trends, and be more strategic about how you leverage your employees and company resources. These solutions often have powerful reporting dashboards with key performance metrics like attendance, productivity, and labor costs, helping you see what’s working, identify areas for improvement, and take action to ensure your business and employees have what they need to succeed. 

8. Create a safer workplace

Lastly, WFM software can help businesses proactively manage and monitor workplace safety. Using L&D tools, companies can issue and track employees’ training progress and ensure every individual has watched and completed key compliance certifications. Accurate time and attendance tracking features can also ensure that employees are adhering to their schedules and taking appropriate breaks, reducing the risk of fatigue-related incidents and ensuring compliance with labor laws and safety regulations. Of course, in-platform reporting can also help companies track incidents, implement preventive measures to enhance workplace safety, and keep similar accidents from reoccurring in the future.

Best practices for successfully implementing workforce management tools

If you’ve decided a workforce management system is a good match for your business, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind to get the most out of your software purchase. To maximize your ROI, here are a few things to keep in mind at you start your vendor search:

1. Define clear objectives and goals

One of the first and most crucial steps in evaluating workforce management software is to establish clear goals around what your business hopes to achieve with a new solution. This involves identifying the specific challenges and pain points within your current processes that you aim to address. Whether it's improving scheduling efficiency, reducing labor costs, or enhancing employee engagement, having well-defined objectives will help guide your evaluation process and ensure that the software you select is well-designed to address your business’s specific needs.

2. Involve stakeholders and end-users in the selection process

To ensure your workforce management solution meets the needs and expectations of your entire organization, you’ll want to include key stakeholders and end users in the software selection process. By involving HR professionals, managers, and even employees in the evaluation and testing phases of your search, you can gain valuable insights into the software's usability, functionality, and potential impact on daily operations. This collaborative approach not only secures internal buy-in but also helps identify any potential issues or concerns early on so you can make an informed decision about your future software and set your business up for a smoother implementation process.

3. Provide comprehensive training and ongoing support

Your new workforce management tools can only be effective if your employees actually use them. To ensure ongoing adoption and utilization, you’ll want to conduct comprehensive training sessions and provide self-serve documents to help employees navigate the new system and its tools. 

For best results, try designing different training programs for employee cohorts based on their needs (like having specific trainings for new hires, first-time managers, etc.) to help ease the transition and maximize the benefits of the new system. Some companies also choose to take a phased approach to workforce management solution implementation, meaning they space out the launch of each tool, rather than unveil them all at once. This gives employees time to learn and get accustomed to the system without overwhelming them.

4. Monitor performance and seek feedback for continuous improvement

After implementation, the work doesn’t end. You’ll want to continuously monitor your solution’s performance to track trends in key performance metrics like scheduling efficiency, labor costs, and employee engagement levels. This can help you understand how your business is fairing and whether you need to take action to improve your results. 

You’ll also want to regularly seek feedback from your employees to identify any areas for improvement. As end users, they may have helpful insights into how to improve software usage or effectiveness, whether that’s introducing a new tool or offering more training programs to improve adoption.

Managing your workforce with UKG

Your business relies on essential processes like time and scheduling, payroll administration, and leave management to operate efficiently. While these may not be the most glamorous aspects of HR, they are crucial to business success.

Luckily, workforce management software can automate these functions and significantly reduce their administrative burden. This allows your HR team to streamline operations and free up time to focus on more meaningful work and strategic initiatives.

Ready to empower your people through operational excellence? Watch a two-minute demo of UKG Pro® Workforce Management today to unlock your employees’ hidden potential and achieve business success.

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