Workforce Management Featured Article
Bringing Workforce Management Out of the HR Department
Many industries use workforce management today, but few are using it to its full potential. While its core function – determining who needs to be working (and when and where) – remains its most important one, it offers a number of other benefits to companies looking to boost efficiency and save on labor costs.
At a recent meeting of the Society for Human Resources Management in India, HR expert and author Jason Averbook told Press Trust of India (PTI) wire that the human resources (HR) function should harness the power of rapidly evolving technology for every aspect of workforce management, instead of limiting it to just maintaining payrolls.
"Technology is available with the vendors in India. However, most organizations limit the usage of technology in HR only to payroll related activities," he said.
As workforce management becomes more flexible (largely thanks to cloud-based solutions) and feature-rich, it can offer contact center companies in particular a way to build an integrated, omnichannel and collaborative work environment that becomes smarter, faster and more nimble. While workforce management is widely used in North America and Europe, some companies in Asia have been slow to implement the technology. India is sometimes called the world’s call center today, and companies investing in third-party relationships with outsourced contact centers should ensure that their partners’ technology platforms can take advantage of workforce management and its sister technology, quality management. Together, these workforce optimization solutions create a performance analysis strategy that is interactive, engaging and simple.
"There is an opportunity for companies in India to do things differently by redesigning the entire process. They should first think what they want to achieve and then find the technology. Companies should not copy but think differently to leapfrog," said Averbrook.
Human resources, where workforce management is largely confined to in many Asian contact centers, needs to be directly connected to contact center workforce management. SHRM CEO Achal Khanna told PTI wire that while Indian companies are using technology in HR, the question is how productive they are.
"Through technology, data is available, but how it is used or interpreted by the companies is the issue," she said, adding that technology should be customized to suit the needs of different companies.
Instead of relying on workforce management to keep track of what’s already happened in the contact center, organizations should be investing in newer technology solutions that provide actionable intelligence so managers can continually refine contact center labor and resources. By efficiently managing their workforces using modern solutions, companies can curb issues like shrinkage, over staffing and poor schedule adherence. They can offer also flexibility to workers with features like automated time-off approvals and scheduling swapping among agents. It takes pressure off managers and automates formerly inefficient and time-consuming processes, ensuring that customers’ needs are being met while at the same time providing agents with a feeling of control over their work schedules.
Be sure to look for a customizable solution, as one software will never fit all. The more intuitive and personalized it feels to workers, the more likely they are to take full advantage of all workforce management has to offer them.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi