Workforce management

Workforce management is an institutional process that maximizes performance levels and competency for an organization. The process includes all the activities needed to maintain a productive workforce, such as field service management, human resource management, performance and training management, data collection, recruiting, budgeting, forecasting, scheduling and analytics.

Workforce management provides a common set of performance-based tools and software to support corporate management, front-line supervisors, store managers and workers across manufacturing, distribution, transportation, and retail operations. It is sometimes referred to as HRMS systems, or Workforce asset management, or part of ERP systems.

As workforce management has developed from a traditional approach of staff scheduling to improve time management, it has become more integrated and demand-oriented to optimise the scheduling of staff. Besides the two core aspects of demand-orientation and optimisation, workforce management may also incorporate:

The starting point is a clear definition of the work required through engineered standards and optimal methods for performing each task as efficiently and safely as possible. Based on this foundation and demand-based forecasts, workers are scheduled, tasks assigned, performance is measured, feedback is provided and incentives are computed and paid. In addition, online training is provided along with supervisor-based coaching to bring all workers up to required levels of proficiency. Workforce management is a complete approach designed to make a workforce as productive as possible, reduce labor costs, and improve customer service.

Workforce management also uses the process of field service management in order to have oversight of company's resources not used on company property. Examples include:

In the 1980s and 1990s, entrepreneurs focused on topics such as supply chain management, production planning systems or enterprise resource planning. As cost pressures have increased, managers have turned their attention to human resources issues. In all personnel-intensive industries, workforce management has become an important strategic element in corporate management. The process has experienced growth in all sectors, including healthcare.

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