What is workforce optimization?

Efficiency in business is about ensuring that an organization has the correct resources, and that those resources provide optimal returns. Workforce optimization allows organizations to better understand how many employees they need, where and when those employees are most productive, and what kind of support will help them improve. Deep analytical insights into employee behavior help ensure that the organization has the right number of employees at all times.

It’s been said that what you don’t measure, you can’t improve. WFO analytics places employee productivity under a microscope, identifying and closing performance gaps and establishing optimal workloads. And, by introducing automation solutions to repetitive and time-consuming tasks, WFO empowers employees to work smarter, not harder, and achieve more with their valuable time.

Overstaffing can be just as problematic as understaffing. WFO helps businesses find the perfect balance, correctly quantifying need and employee capacity to create scheduling solutions that ensure that there is always the right number of staff available. WFO also helps companies recognize new revenue opportunities—including cross selling and upselling—in real time, so employees can bring in better returns without the organization needing to increase hiring.

The level of customer service a business can provide is linked to how well it meets the needs of its staff. WFO gives businesses accurate, effective insights into employee behavior, informing decision makers on how to better support their workforce. Additionally, workforce optimization offers a clearer understanding of the customers themselves and root causes of their habits and behaviors, so that organizations can create data-backed strategies for retaining and supporting the people who keep them in business.

Engaged, productive employees that know that they are performing at optimal levels are naturally happier. WFO helps staff do more with less and achieve better outcomes.

For each to perform their tasks effectively, employees and managers must be able to communicate easily and directly with one another. But when official communication is unstructured and random, it can detract from the employee/manager relationship. WFO tools that tie communication directly to specific tasks help streamline discussions while also moving the work forward.

Successfully implemented, communication techniques in WFO allow everyone involved to see at a glance the status of individual projects, who is contributing, and what next steps are needed, while also being able to review any discussion surrounding the task. This not only improves employee performance, but also makes it easier to measure output. Perhaps best of all, it ensures that employees and managers are on the same page regarding project updates.

Employees are not machines; they have times of increased productivity and reduced productivity, and may be more effective at tackling certain assignments than others. Task tracking capabilities in WFO help organizations better understand productivity on an individual-employee level. Managers can identify the circumstances in which an employee is most productive, and then make changes to help promote those circumstances. And, if someone is struggling to complete their tasks, managers have the information they need to identify and create solutions for these issues before they become major problems.

Task tracking can be just as useful for employees. Task tracking prioritizes projects, duties, and jobs, and offers a complete view of what needs to be done and when. This approach ensures that no responsibilities fall through the cracks.

Successfully managing an hourly workforce is dependent on a company’s ability to schedule employee shifts effectively and efficiently. Having more employees on the clock than needed leads to overstaffing and overtime expenses, while having too few can mean unhappy customers and burnt-out staff. WFO solutions include scheduling software to help reduce employee overlap, track time-off requests, and automate various aspects of scheduling.

Scheduling should go beyond management and make the employees themselves active contributors. Employee scheduling portals make it easy for staff to set their availability, request vacation time, and check up on their hours and assignments.

There are only so many work hours in a day, which is why it’s imperative that organizations track their employees’ hours down to the second. If employees are arriving early, falsifying timesheets, leaving late, or otherwise not adhering to the schedule, it can create an imbalance between cost and revenue. Making time management and tracking a part of workforce optimization uncovers vital details about employee attendance.

Taking a step back, time management solutions also provide key decision makers with big-picture views on scheduling. Identifying trends and considering important insights, managers can apply WFO to match the right staffing assignments to any day on the calendar.

Improved tracking and reporting can sometimes get managers overly excited about hitting goals. But no team is 100%, especially when it comes to adhering to schedules or hitting deadlines. Instead, allow for some breathing room, and focus on the measurable metrics that relate directly to established business objectives.

The right scheduling software makes it easy to set employee schedules many months in advance. But things like employee availability and customer volume tend to fluctuate, and premade schedules may not remain up to date for long. Limit scheduling to a week or two in advance—this will give employees enough time to make changes to their availability and allow managers to compensate for changing circumstances without the need to constantly reschedule.

Employees crave the flexibility to work when they choose. And although some businesses have stricter hours of operation than others, it’s advisable to allow for flexible scheduling wherever possible. If employees understand that their managers are willing to meet them halfway in terms of scheduling flexibility, they’ll be more engaged and productive when they’re on the clock.

Workforce optimization applies data analytics and tracking to help optimize how employees approach their responsibilities. By integrating WFO with other internal systems and tools, organizations can further streamline their approach, and gain additional data insights into how their staff is performing.

Goals shouldn’t be static; they should evolve and change along with the needs of the business. By regularly reviewing their approach to workforce optimization, identifying any areas that might need to be revised, and updating strategies to take these factors into account, companies ensure that their WFO solution remains relevant and effective.

On-premises WFO solutions have been available in one form or another for decades. In this deployment model, companies field their own hardware, and the WFO software operates on a closed system. The company maintains full control over the infrastructure and can secure their data any way they like. The downside is that any maintenance or equipment costs are the responsibility of the organization.

Cloud-based WFO deployment is the most widely embraced option. In this deployment model, WFO tools are maintained offsite by third-party providers. The Organization accesses these tools over secure internet connections, allowing for optimal accessibility. At the same time, the cloud provider takes full responsibility for maintaining, updating, and repairing the software.

Hybrid-deployment options take a middle-ground approach to WFO, retaining and managing a portion of the infrastructure on-site while much of the software remains accessible over the internet. This may be a better option for businesses that have stricter data-security requirements, but still want additional vendor support.