With so much activity going in offices these days, workforce management apps are essential. It’s an effective way to stay on top of company goals and progress toward objectives while balancing the needs of employees, too. If you’re still on the fence, rest assured – it’s not too late to jump on board. In fact, now is the perfect time to put in place a workforce management app; they’ve come a long way! Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know:
An Essential Tool
It’s easy to think you don’t need a workforce management app. But you might be surprised at how bundling processes can improve efficiency and cut costs. Streamline project management, employee scheduling, skills training, billing, time reporting, and more. No need to worry about overlooked or half-completed tasks and missed deadlines. Cut down on the chance that important tasks fall through the cracks. Workforce management apps keep departments on-task and focused on working toward goals.
Customized For Your Business
Today’s industry-specific apps provide services and features tailored to your field. Finding the right one can improve your chances of a successful roll-out. These modules offer greater real-time accessibility and decision-making abilities.
For example, Housecall Pro has a service orientation. Customers can book appointments online. and service techs can log calls and hours. Similar apps allow supervisors to see where techs are in real-time and what kind of backlog there might be. This allows them to make on-the-fly decisions to best manage service calls.
Project management apps let managers view employees’ tasks and progress made over time. This can be useful in catching small delays before they become major problems that hold up a project.
Human resources departments have their hands full in keeping track of employee development and retention while balancing recruitment and onboarding. An app like BambooHR can automate some of the new hire processes, and also alert managers when performance appraisals are due.
Speed, Accuracy, Accountability, and Cost Savings
Use metrics obtained from the app to better match available human resources with business needs. Reduce hands-on staff time required for recruiting, hiring, and onboarding processes like orientation and training. For example, new hires can complete new employee paperwork remotely and be ready to start on Day One. Allow employees to access benefits administration and schedules.
Provide an impartial time-off request and shift scheduling module that alleviates the hours busy managers spend on scheduling. Automate time and attendance to minimize time theft and buddy punches. Get automatic reminders of employee evaluations/appraisals. Give managers the tools to review group goals and progress, and then drill down to employee level to ensure each member of the team is pulling their weight.
Effective Planning
With workforce management apps, you can reduce some of the uncertainty that commonly plagues small businesses. Make more informed labor projections and streamline employee lifecycle management. Use the human resources modules to support objective talent management, leadership selection, and succession planning. Carry out equitable employee development and retention.
Use customer feedback and service tech logs to consider the viability of new products or services before making a significant investment of time or money. Project management tools provide a higher level of accountability and oversight. Go beyond what’s shared in department meetings or email groups and get the unvarnished view of a project’s status.
Improve Customer Relations
Interact with clients, and strengthen customer relationships. Service-oriented apps send customers alerts and notifications like, “The tech will arrive in 30 minutes“. Some modules offer payment functions to reduce tech’s cash handling. Cut down on lost checks or credit card readers and charge slips. Business clients can view the progress of projects and communicate concerns before things go off-track.
Tech Advancements Mean the Time is Now
Mobile and cloud accessibility allows for widespread and easy use. With scalability, the workforce management app can grow with your business. The ability to add or change modules as your business needs change (e.g., payroll) has also become simple. Besides canned reports, many workforce management apps allow for custom reporting. The metrics provided by the app become even more insightful.
It’s time to consider how a workforce management app can benefit your organization. With the number of choices available, there’s a customized solution designed to provide the big picture and detailed information that improves strategic planning and resource allocation for small businesses.
Author: Benjamin Shepardson founder of NoStop Ghostwriting. As the company’s leader, Ben brings to the table an innate ability to help small businesses compete with larger competitors through content strategies and SEO.
