Workforce Management Blog

In recent years, enhanced by the economic crisis, we have seen a growing awareness of the need to better manage labor costs, and in service oriented industries improve customer service, as a mean to expand organizational profitability. Time and Attendance solutions represent one way of addressing the concerns of the organization about the productivity and efficiency of their workforce. Automating workforce management represents the leap that organizations are required to make to gain more control over their labor costs.

Benefits of an automated solution:

Reduce payroll error rate and processing time

Automated data collection and processes, interfacing to other software packages such as ERP and Pay systems, reduces the need to establish and maintain employee information within different organizational systems. As a result the amount of human error that can increase payroll costs is eliminated. With the elimination of manual intervention, organizations can move towards more an administrator-rule environment to create consistency between union agreements, as well as federal, provincial/state, and local regulations and different types of payment for employee work categories. Data automated transfer between employees, managers and payroll administrators increase accuracy, reduces re-work and reduces payroll overpayments.

Reduced overtime
Minimizing overtime is crucial to controlling work costs, which must be taken into consideration when allocating work or shift time to an employee. With reporting capabilities of automated time and attendance, solution managers are able to assign work more cost-effectively, based on who is least likely to incur overtime rates. A rules-based solution governing work agreements and regulations assures that payments will be made according to employee schedules, preventing unnecessary payments of overtime due to unauthorized early arrivals and late departures.

Eliminate costs of time sheet and time cards:

Savings are gained in any organization based on paper elimination by reducing storing, archiving and restoring of time sheets and time cards. Significant savings occur in organizations with more than once-a-month pay periods.  Gartner offers a calculation of $0.03 savings per time sheet, multiplied by the number of employees and pay periods. There is also less of an opportunity for these records to be lost, damaged or destroyed.

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Calculating an organization’s payroll may seem like a relatively simple task:

-  Take each employee, identify the number of hours worked in a pay period, multiply by the hourly wage and then pay that amount.

This would be correct in an ideal world however in the real world things are a lot more complicated and so a lot of errors are made in determining payroll. In addition to identifying the specific wage each employee makes and identifying the number of hours worked for each employee, organizations must also take into account:

-          Sick days

-          Vacation days

-          Overtime

-          Statutory holidays

-          Provincial/State tax deductions

-          Federal tax deductions

-          Benefits

-          Retirement Plans

-          Unemployment insurance

-          Etc

Statistics have shown that 33% of employers have made payroll errors which have a variety of impacts such as legal implications, unhappy employees, lost revenue, etc. Studies have also shown that many organizations overpay employees as a result of human calculation errors. Even if organizations discover this overpayment recouping the payment can become a long process which will negatively impact morale in the company.

What can you do to avoid payroll errors?

A great solution to avoiding payroll errors and the negative impacts associated with them would be to automate your organization’s time and attendance using workforce management software. In an automated system, employees can sign in and out of work using a time clock which lets employers know exactly when their employees came into work and when they left. The time clocks in combination with the software calculates the exact amount to pay an employee based on their hours worked, wage and the various other considerations mentioned above (taxes, benefits, etc).

For more information on payroll and workforce management please visit our website

What is a workforce management system?

A workforce management system is a comprehensive tool which seeks to automate, regulate and centralize the process of workforce management. Scheduling, time and attendance, managing employee requests and absence management all represent different aspects of workforce management.  Clearly managing a workforce without an actual workforce management system would be a highly involved task that would eat up a lot of resources.

Why invest in a workforce management system?

-          Saves Money

• A workforce management system has been proven to save organizations of all different sizes money in a variety of ways. For example a WFM system automatically calculates the exact amount to be paid to employees based on the number of hours worked. The alternative to a WFM system is manual payroll calculation which is prone to human calculation errors.

-          Improves morale in the company

• Occasionally employees will have their friends punch them in for work if they are running late or punch them out on time if they leave early. This process is known as “buddy punching”.  Buddy punching hurts the morale of the employees who work their entire scheduled shift because they are being paid the exact same amount as those employees who are showing up late or leaving early. As a result more and more employees will begin to engage in this behavior creating a toxic environment.

-          Improves productivity

• Managers often spend a great amount of time dealing with administrative tasks such as approving employee absence request, creating schedules, generating workforce reports, etc. However workforce management solutions automate all of these processes resulting in more available time for managers to focus on other tasks.

-          Optimizes your workforce

• Workforce management systems have built in tools which allow managers to develop schedules based on reoccurring patterns to meet the needs of their clients while also taking into account labor laws, union rules, vacation days and sick days of employees.

To get more information on workforce management and to see how a workforce management system could benefit your company please visit our website.

No matter what industry you are in, companies know that every dollar counts. So why wouldn’t you want a solution that can help save your organization money while improving operational efficiency?

By implementing an automated time and attendance system, you can save your company 2-5% of your annual payroll expenses. This could amount to thousands or even millions of dollars a year. With time and attendance systems, companies of all sizes are able to realize a significant return on investment.

How does automating your time and attendance save you money?

-Decrease in payroll errors

-Decreasing total payroll processing time

-Decreasing unauthorized leave time

-Improving labor reporting

-Eliminating costs associated with paper timecards

-Eliminating the risks of employee buddy punching or time fraud

-And much more…

What should you consider when choosing a time and attendance system vendor?

-Have a few companies present their solution so you can get a complete picture of what a time and attendance              solution can do for your organization

-Consider the level of support you will be receiving from the vendor if any issues arise with the system

-Speak to the company’s current customers to see if they are happy with the solution, the support, etc

-Do not focus too much on the price tag as a low cost solution may not have the capabilities that your organization will require to get a significant return on investment

For more information on Time and Attendance along with Workforce Management visit our website

To anyone who does not have experience in the workforce management industry, the components of WFM and why it is so important to any company is a mystery. We’ve put together a WFM Wheel, to help explain Workforce Management in a simple and clear manner:

The centre of the wheel is the key to any workforce management system. Accurate payroll records and employee profiles are essential to effectively managing any workforce.

In order to maintain a strong record of this information, data collection and self-service capabilities are utilized. There are a number of data collection alternatives available to companies. For example, when focusing specifically on employee time and attendance, organizations can use badge readers, swipe cards, fingerprint scanners or hand geometry units to track working hours. Employee and manager self-service capabilities are commonly seen through the web. These individuals can log in to an online portal to access and update data, view time cards, and request or approve time off.

Time & Attendance Management, Labour Allocation & Costing, Absence Management and Scheduling are essentially the four major components of workforce management solutions. Capturing and tracking employee time and attendance is the core of any WFM system, and involves monitoring employee hours through punch in/punch out machines. Labour allocation and costing allows companies to capture time against work orders or jobs, and track specific costs back to employees or jobs. An effective workforce management solution will leverage technology to decrease and manage employee absences. Finally, smart and dynamic modules can allow for optimized scheduling processes.

The outer ring of the wheel represents the end results or ultimate benefits of successfully implementing a workforce management system. Companies will witness an increased efficiency in the organizational processes, and total compliance with labour laws and regulations, as well as employee or union contracts. Furthermore, the return on their investment will be evident soon after installation. Organizations will see a drop in labour costs, payroll expenses, and increased control of the workforce through a centralized database of information. Finally, business intelligence capabilities will allow companies to analyze their workforce, monitor trends, and take corrective action where necessary.

This wheel outlines the basics of workforce management, and is a great tool for understanding the components of WFM!

Visit our website for more information on workforce management systems for your company.

Special thanks to Paolo Gilfillan (Director of Sales & Marketing, Synerion), for the breakdown of the WFM Wheel!