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Workforce management efficiency

We have seen a renewed interest the past 18 months in the area of efficient workforce management. Since the term workforce management seems to have fallen in to the trap of becoming a common buzzword, a clear definition is needed.

In essence, it is a solution that:

* Enables planning and rostering of required staff,

* Ensures the correct rank and skill level is deployed,

* Provides real-time updates of the current status of your different sites or locations to assist with operational management, and

* Limits overtime and wage cost to achieve optimal profitability.

It is our belief that the reason for this renewed interest can be attributed to the economic situation. Companies need to ensure that employees are at work when they claim they are. This goes hand in hand with overtime claimed where work has not actually been performed, as well as the issues around ghost employees.

Aside from these obvious reasons, companies also need to ensure they can secure clients and that the client gets what he pays for. Tenders are price-sensitive and therefore suppliers need to price for the correct amount of employees in order to fulfil requirements.

With outsourced services such as cleaning and guarding services, we find that service level agreements (SLAs) are becoming stricter. Penalties inflicted when companies do not provide the correct staff required for a job have a negative financial and reputational effect on companies that do not comply.

Workforce management is not a new concept, but the tools available to do this effectively, most of the time, rely on planning and recording systems that are only as reliable and authentic as the staff providing the input. As with most companies that need to count every penny, so too do individuals. Unfortunately, some of these individuals will find any means possible to get as much out of the system as possible in their fight for survival. Most of them do not understand the negative impact on their employer’s profit, their ability to expand business and to provide jobs. Manual timesheets, telephonic check-in of remote staff and trust are tools that are inefficient for today’s businesses.

neaMetrics has concentrated its efforts on a solution that can fit into the required parameters for delivering accurate and efficient workforce management. This entails integration with EasyRoster to enable more accurate time and attendance (T&A) details via biometric technologies. EasyRoster has been involved in optimising workforce management since 1996. The company has 530 installations in 24 countries, with a strong focus on the manned guarding, cleaning and labour broking industries.

Although the initial product development focused mainly on the guarding environment, some other areas of interest are also apparent. Attraction from large retail environments that carefully need to plan their staff deployment is one. Another one is property investment companies that utilise third parties to service their investments.

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