The Future of Workforce Management
Published: 23/09/2024
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In this article, we will be covering the current trends in workforce management and our predictions of its future. We will also explore the role of time tracking in it and how you can best adapt moving forward.
The workplace as we know it has undergone many changes in recent years. While the pandemic was a major catalyst of it, even with the restrictions lifted, the way we work continues to evolve. This means the companies are in a semi-limbo state where they need to adjust fast as the changes are still ongoing. The good news is that there already are certain trends emerging that allow us to predict the future. As well as tools that will serve you no matter the direction the changes go.
In this article, we will be talking about the current state of the workplace and where we predict it’s heading. Additionally, we will share our tips on how to easily adapt as you go and what you need to be successful in that. Namely, the purpose of this article is to help you prepare for the future, even if the future is uncertain.
The short answer is that the very landscape of working has changed. To remain relevant, productive and attractive to new employees, you need to change how you manage your workforce. Here are some additional reasons to change your approach:
Hybrid working proved to be more efficient from a productivity standpoint;
The rise of remote working opened the door to a bigger talent pool;
Employee well-being is more important than ever;
The market is filled with tools that drive collaborations, efficiency and insights crucial for improvements;
Worker retention and company loyalty are on a decline;
Inability to adjust to workplace trends hinders your progress and makes you less attractive to potential candidates;
The costs of running a hybrid or a fully remote office are significantly less.
The reason the changes stuck and are prevailing is because they proved to be beneficial to companies. Now is the best time to tap into them, to both pave the path as an early adopter and to truly bring out your team’s potential.
To kickstart the conversation, let’s first explore the current state of affairs and where we see it going. From having a deeper look at the changes that have occurred up to this point, we can deduce the potential direction of upcoming changes as well as utilise the emerging patterns.
The two years spent with the whole world in a lockdown has fully reshaped how we work. Previously, remote working was akin to a work perk, but the demand to stay at home turned it into a default work model. With the physical offices starting to open up in limited capacity, a brand new work arrangement has emerged - hybrid. The simplest way to explain it is that it’s a combination of the team working both remotely and on-site, interchangeably. Regardless of where the workers are located, they can still easily collaborate, communicate and function as a team. Although born out of necessity, the hybrid model remains one of the most used setups even now that the pandemic is but a distant memory.
As with everything, the more it is utilised, the more optimised and efficient-driving the setup becomes. Namely, to ensure the teams aren’t constricted by the workers being in separated by physical distance, companies need to invest in tools. Let alone the general rules such as outlining how many days a week employees should be present in person, security measures like the use of VPN and many more. Moving forward, we predict workforce management will still be focused on the hybrid as this setting is proving to be more efficient than a traditional 9-to-5. And thus more and more companies favour it to remain.
The topic of nurturing employee wellness within the workplace was increasingly popular before the pandemic. Then, it really took off during the years of forced remote working. Namely, most employers finally saw the direct link between a healthy work-life balance and employee engagement. Having gone through the troubles of defining lines to keep productivity at its peak, most companies are now strongly focused on ensuring employee well-being.
However, as discussed above, the working world isn’t likely to move away from the hybrid setup, and to drive employee engagement in this new environment, a new approach is needed. Workforce management may appear complex when your team is scattered, but with the right solutions, it shouldn’t pose an issue. Luckily, the market is very generous with what it has to offer. To help your employees to better manage their time, you will first need to raise their awareness of whether they’re overworking themselves. And there is no better solution for that than a time tracker.
One tool you can adopt now and depend on moving forward is a digital time tracking solution. Workforce management heavily relies on distributing your team’s time in the most efficient way. The starting point is understanding where the time goes.
The key to keeping your teams aligned in the hybrid environment is to keep them informed of what everyone else is doing. In other words, you need to have open communication channels and a transparent centralised view accessible to all. Whether your teams work across different locations or tailor their days utilising flexitime, time tracking can serve the role of keeping them informed on each other’s progress. Seeing how much each member is spending on allocated tasks can help the rest of the team tailor their workflows accordingly.
Additionally, this may nurture better teamwork practices. When it becomes apparent someone is struggling with their respective tasks, it opens an opportunity for their colleagues to jump in to provide assistance. A centralised view created through time tracking takes a lot of workforce management worries off your shoulders as it creates premises for the teams to manage themselves. Not to mention, frequent collaborations get your workers better accustomed to each other, which in turn leads to smoother working together moving forward.
Not only does time tracking hand the reign of workforce management to the workforce itself, but it is also vital in enhancing your team’s productivity. The more a digital timesheet solutions is used, the more data it records. The key advantage of SaaS platforms is their ability to turn the said data into comprehensible dashboards and in-depth reports, both of which are the cornerstone of success.
Dashboards give you an instant view of the key metrics, empowering educated decisions such as resource allocation on the go. You see your progress in real-time, meaning you can spot inefficiencies fast and fix them on the go. Reports, more granular in their findings, highlight bigger issues such as gaps in the strategy. They also point out opportunities to grow. Both enable you to optimise how your team runs, enhance forecast and continuously improve the quality of services you provide.
As we’ve mentioned in the starting paragraph and explored a little further, digitisation is key to embracing the future of workforce management. What’s more, on top of helping you adjust, it’s designed to grow and evolve alongside the landscape.
Or, to sound more professional - integrate and customise. The best way of taking over your workforce management with vigour and an efficiency-oriented plan is to start with creating a digital toolbox. Most SaaS solutions can be connected to each other via integrations, which unlocks additional features and deeper insights. Both are vital to decision-making and optimisation moving forward.
The ability to customise allows you to adjust every platform you use to address your specific requirements, therefore overall offering a better level of service. Naturally, when there is a custom setup, the way the integration itself works will be different too. The reason both factors, customisation and integration, are so important is that they allow you to tailor your processes in line with your values and goals. After all, there is no one-for-all solution. If you want to stand out, you need to do things your way.
Having adopted hybrid working during the times of the pandemic, we aren’t likely going back. However, while it brought many benefits, from improved productivity to rising conversation and care regarding employee wellbeing, it also requires changes in workforce management. Namely, to truly harness it under the new normal, you will need digital tools. The best one to start with is a time tracking solution for it allows you to evaluate your current standing and to easily plan ahead.
Not only does digital time tracking support flexible work arrangements, but it’s also supplying you with all kinds of data that can help improve your team’s productivity. From quick responses to real-time changes to addressing potentially bigger issues within the whole strategy, time tracking enhances your workforce management efforts. What’s more, you can often integrate the right solution with your existing tools, such as accounting packages. Which, in turn, opens further automation and optimisation options.
So, why not test what we have to offer? Let us aid you.