The world is moving into an era where the expectations of customer satisfaction, service delivery, and excellence rise, businesses need to consider how does the workforce respond to this need. Consequently, workforce optimization (WFO) is the answer.
Workforce optimization is a set of strategies and practices that aim to improve employee and organizational efficiency and decrease operational costs through using data. The overall goal is to achieve organizational success.
In general, the potential benefits of workforce optimization include, but not limited to:
- Increased efficiency and productivity
Size does matter. The right number of employees at all times. WFO enables organizations to understand if they need to hire temp staff or introduce technology that could help them deal with the new work demand.
- Lower costs and increased savings
Organizations can avoid overstaffing but also understaffing where they would lose money on bad customer service. Not only does it lower costs, but it also creates opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling. WFO that introduces automation into the business provides real-time guidance and actionable insights for revenue opportunities.
- Improved customer service and retention
The result of customers get help, and their queries are resolved quickly and efficiently is a good customer experience. Sufficient employees could enables an organization to respond to customer complaints faster, act faster and thus improve customer satisfaction. A happy customer is most likely a returning customer.
- New opportunities
WFO creates internal career movement as new opportunities and products are developed. It allows employees to perform at their optimal level, therefore increasing the likelihood of vertical or horizontal movement within the organization. As employee satisfaction increases, so does customer satisfaction.
Data and Workforce optimization
Data plays a key role in supporting organization to achieve WFO in various ways, including:
- Scheduling
Data can help organization to tracks attendance, performance data, and other metrics to put together an employee schedule. Not only are organizations able to manage overtime and burnout, but organizations also analyze if they need to actually hire additional staff. This is closely linked to temp workers as well, as the workflow can determine workload. Having a complete picture of employee attendance and overall time can help organizations to manage customer demands
In addition, data helps organizations analyze communication with customers, understand the root causes of customer behavior, and implement strategies to retain customers. Data allows organizations to gain deeper insights into their customer’s habits and their ability to service their needs.
- Time tracking
Time tracking or attendance software allows organizations to understand what’s going on at all times. It answers questions such as whether employees are checking in late or early. Or whether there are ‘false clock-ins’ – employees clocking in for their friends. But it is not a punitive measure. Rather, it allows an organization to look at scheduling and ensure they are covered for all times, across all geographies, business hours, peak hours, and public holidays/weekends.
- Performance management
WFO is often also used for performance management to optimize employee performance and ensure they are best positioned to perform well at their jobs. Using a task tracking platform such as Data is often a valuable tool when tracking and aiding performance. On an individual level, it helps manage tasks. Organizationally, it helps shift work in the right and most optimal direction.