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As a human resource or planning manager, chances are high that you are up in arms regarding the seemingly endless pain points from workforce management. Yet, your stakeholders do not seem to be budging to adopt new solutions to address these challenges.
Here are 4 common myths on workforce optimizers debunked for you and your stakeholders.
Myth: Workforce optimizers are only useful for scheduling.
Reality: Beyond scheduling, the systems can integrate other functions such as time and attendance and payroll processes.
Workforce optimizers are not just singular modules that specialize in scheduling and thus only useful for organizations that rely heavily on a shift-work workforce. On the contrary, optimizers are often an incorporation of other workforce management functions such as attendance tracking and payroll generation.
The beauty behind the software is its ability to integrate all these functions into a singular platform, which allows not just human resource team and schedule planning team, but also everyone in the organization to work using the same system. This would greatly reduce room of errors or the unnecessary duplication of work.
Myth: Workforce optimizers are unworthy investments since it does not bring in profits.
Reality: Such systems provide high Return on Investments (ROIs) through significant costs savings and higher work efficiency.
At first glance, it may seem that workforce optimizers are all but a sunk cost with no direct relation to bringing in any tangible profits. However, it is premature to dismiss the importance and benefits that it may have to offer in the long run.
By replacing manually-intensive processes of scheduling and payroll generation with an automated process for example, significant man-hours will be saved on a regular basis. Not only do these savings translate into significant savings on labour costs, it has an additional benefit of increasing employee satisfaction with more efficient workforce practices. Hence, whilst not immediately visible on financial reports or reflected in profit numbers, these intangible savings still add up to significant ROIs that would be beneficial for any organization.
Myth: Workforce optimizers will take up a lot of time to implement and it is going to be difficult to train my employees to adapt to the new system.
Reality: Systems are intuitive and user-friendly. Schedule for onboarding by experts shortens the implementation timeline.
As with any new system, a stage-based implementation plan should be set in place to ensure the most efficient and seamless transition for all employees within the organization. This plan should be carefully discussed and crafted with system experts based on the dynamic needs of your organization.
This would ensure least disruption to any existing workforce practices. After all, it would go against the very grain of the software should any of such systems increase current time taken by employees to complete these tasks. Furthermore, given that the software has the capability to integrate certain existing human resource systems, this would also help to ease potential transition bumps.
Myth: Workforce optimizers are static systems that cannot cater to the complex needs of my workforce.
Reality: These systems are very dynamic in nature and can be programmed to suit and cater to a diverse range of requests across the workforce.
This cannot be further from the truth since workforce optimizer software is designed to cater to a diverse range of requests and requirements of every organizations. In fact, it is one of the fundamental propositions that the whole software was built upon; to be able to drive an automated generation of rostering based on wide-ranging staff-specific requirements at the highest accuracy (i.e. driving down potential for errors and biasness). Hence, it can be said that few organizations are too complex, nor too demanding for the system.
With all these common misconceptions debunked, you are now all set to convince your stakeholders on making this invaluable business decision to optimize your workforce.
Disclaimer: This article is written as an overview of the software and technology behind workforce optimizers and does not claim to be representative of all workforce optimizer software providers available in the market.
