Workforce management is one of the many keys to having a healthy business. As a workforce manager, you’re responsible for maintaining a productive workforce. There are countless responsibilities that come with that. Aside from the day-to-day tasks, there are a handful of ways that you can improve your workforce management and make it easier on you. You need to focus on all of the activities that aid a productive, cost-effective and overall happy workforce. Effective workforce management can mean the difference between failure and success. Below, we will dive into 5 ways to make workforce management easier.
Create a positive atmosphere
While creating a positive atmosphere might seem simple, it is often ignored. If your team is happy, they will perform better. If they aren’t happy, they won’t be doing as well as they could be, which will hurt your company. The easiest solution is to ask your team what could be better, and you need to make sure that you know their opinions matter. While not everything can be perfect, being flexible and showing your team that you’re putting in the effort to make their work atmosphere worth working in will go a long way with them.
Keep communication open
Open communication is a big category, but it’s the only way to pass information from person to person. The most efficient way to understand what your team needs is to communicate. This does not just mean a casual conversation during lunch break. You need to have multiple lines of communication open. The easiest way to achieve this is to basically have an open door policy. This lets everyone knows you are there when they need you.
Set attainable goals
As a workforce manager, you need to constantly be looking at the next goal, and encouraging your team to do the same. You can look forward to your goals as a way to see when you’re at the end of a project. With goals, it’s important to set ones that you know everyone on your team can achieve. If you’re creating impossible goals, you’re setting up your team to fail. You can work together with your team to help set these goals. By allowing them to have a part in this process, you will let them know that they do have a voice and that you’re listening to them.
This is even more important now with COVID-19. Many are discouraged and have had a mental toll taken on them due to the stress this pandemic has caused. While goals should be challenging to an extent, you don’t need to continuously knock anyone down.
Know your company
Knowing how your company works and operates is just as important as knowing the same about your team. Creating a strong business plan takes time, and not knowing the ins and outs of your company will only make it harder and take more of your time. You should carefully go over and analyze your company’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. Also, make sure to pay attention to which members of your team excel in certain areas and help them be able to grow with the company. The best way to do this is to look into each area of the company separately and then determine the best method of attack.
Investing in software
As a workforce manager, you have to keep up with all aspects of the company as well as many others tasks as well. The help of software is basically a necessity for your position, and luckily there are many out there to help you. However, choosing one to invest in can be difficult. Below are aspects you should consider looking for when choosing one.
A software that gives you timelines is a great way to stay organized and keep track of what everyone is doing. With timelines, you can add in checkpoints for projects so they are more broken up and easy to narrow down exactly where your team is. This is also something you would want your team members to have access to. This way they can make sure that they are right where they need to be with any assignments they are working on. Timelines and checkpoints also allows you to assess the projects going on and change any plans if needed.
Automated scheduling is also a great software to invest in, and you can schedule just about anything. From social media posts to emails, being able to pre-plan can save you and your team a lot of time and stress. With automated scheduling for social media, you can schedule out posts months in advance and have them post on all your platforms at a set time. Also, with most software platforms, you are also able to easily check the analytics from your posts and emails. This can help you figure out what works best for your company, as well as what you need to improve on.