Workforce Management Featured Article
Quick Win or Sustainable Success -the Key Workforce Management Question
The concept of productivity and optimization can often elude even the best managers in customer service. The failure is not so much in a lack of understanding, but rather a lack of the right tools to drive workforce management. When upper management doesn’t understand the importance of this concept and what it means for the bottom line, it’s harder to meet strategic initiatives.
Still, there are companies performing today that not only understand workforce management, they implement it as a key focus in their organizations. In fact, according to a recent Dataquest piece, the manufacturing and service sectors in India have some of the largest and best run companies due to understanding the value that workforce management can bring to their productivity.
Interestingly enough, there are companies that have been able to drive significant cost savings from the implementation of workforce management solutions, but have failed to realize true value from an increase in productivity. This often happens when companies automate through a replication of office practices instead of leveraging the capabilities of the workforce management solution. In the end, they wind up with systems that are out of date, unyielding and create more problems than the value they were designed to deliver.
The implementation of workforce management does not automatically guarantee improvements. In fact, it is driving change and change is hard for any organization. To drive true optimization from this kind of change, it’s important to understand that the work doesn’t stop when the solution goes live. Instead, it has to be an ongoing focus where employee engagement is the primary outcome. This means you have to begin optimization upon implementation, as waiting for a triggered event means you’ll be waiting until it’s too late.
It’s also important to remember there is a subtle difference between measuring performance and measuring success. The long-lasting success of an ongoing project is pretty easy to ascertain. A gain of any kind can render the project a success. However, without a focus on measuring performance according to expectations, it’s easy to assume there aren’t problems where they actually exist. Identifying and measuring performance is key to ensuring all activities are working toward a positive outcome and true, long-lasting success.
The ultimate goal should be to drive employee engagement in such a way that it produces optimization. To do so, you need a strategy and you need a robust workforce management platform. Pay attention to the details and remember that it’s a marathon and not a race. Don’t look for the quick win, but instead the sustainable improvement.
Edited by Alicia Young