Glossary of Human Resources Management and Employee Benefit Terms
Contingent workforce management is the process of hiring and managing non-permanent employees. This includes independent contractors, gig workers, those engaged under a statement of work, agency contract labor, and temporary staff. The process involves everything from hiring, assigning tasks, performance management to making payments to them. Contingent workforce management is a strategic approach aimed at sourcing, onboarding, engaging, and retaining the gig workforce during specific projects.
Workforce management is an institutional process that maximizes performance levels and competency for an organization. It 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 software is a suite of tools that helps ensure employees are in the right place, at the right time for maximum productivity. The software allows businesses to manage everything from payroll, benefits, and human resources to recruiting, onboarding, performance, and learning from one location. This helps companies improve employee productivity, minimize errors, decrease labor costs, streamline onboarding, and improve recruiting.
Contingent workforce management is the process of hiring and managing non-permanent employees. This includes independent contractors, gig workers, those engaged under a statement of work, agency contract labor, and temporary staff. The process involves everything from hiring, assigning tasks, performance management to making payments to them. Contingent workforce management is a strategic approach aimed at sourcing, onboarding, engaging, and retaining the gig workforce during specific projects.
Effective workforce management involves various practices aimed at optimizing the productivity, efficiency, and satisfaction of employees while aligning with the organization's goals and objectives. Here are some best practices of an effective workforce management:
Workforce management is crucial in remote working scenarios for several reasons:
Remote work often relies heavily on digital communication and collaboration tools. Effective workforce management ensures that employees have access to the necessary tools and resources to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate effectively despite being physically dispersed.
Monitoring employee performance can be more challenging in remote working scenarios where direct supervision is limited. Workforce management practices such as setting clear performance expectations, tracking key performance indicators, and implementing performance management systems help ensure that employees remain productive and accountable.
Workforce management helps distribute workloads effectively among remote team members, considering their skills, availability, and workload capacity. This ensures that work is allocated fairly, and that no employee becomes overwhelmed or underutilized.
Remote work can blur the boundaries between work and personal life, leading to potential burnout and decreased job satisfaction. Workforce management practices that prioritize work-life balance, such as flexible scheduling and clear expectations around working hours, help prevent employee exhaustion and promote well-being.
Remote work can sometimes lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection from colleagues and the organization. Effective workforce management fosters employee engagement and motivation through regular communication, feedback, recognition, and opportunities for social interaction and team building.
Remote work environments require employees to have strong self-management skills and the ability to adapt to new technologies and ways of working. Workforce management practices that prioritize training and development help remote employees acquire the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their roles and remain competitive in a rapidly changing work landscape.
Yes, there are cost-effective workforce management solutions. Let’s look at some of the best solutions
There are open-source workforce management solutions available that businesses can customize to fit their specific needs. These solutions often offer basic features for scheduling, time tracking, and reporting, making them a cost-effective option for small to medium-sized businesses.
Many cloud-based workforce management platforms offer subscription-based pricing models, making them affordable for businesses of all sizes. These platforms typically provide a range of features, including scheduling, time and attendance tracking, employee self-service portals, and reporting tools, accessible from any internet-enabled device.
Many HRIS (Human Resources Information Systems) providers offer workforce management modules as part of their comprehensive HR solutions. These integrated systems often provide a range of features, including employee data management, payroll processing, benefits administration, and workforce analytics, at a competitive price.
Some workforce management solutions offer self-service mobile apps that allow employees to clock in/out, view schedules, request time off, and communicate with managers, reducing administrative overhead and improving efficiency at a lower cost.
These are short surveys that can be sent frequently to check what your employees think about an issue quickly. The survey comprises fewer questions (not more than 10) to get the information quickly. These can be administered at regular intervals (monthly/weekly/quarterly).
Having periodic, hour-long meetings for an informal chat with every team member is an excellent way to get a true sense of what’s happening with them. Since it is a safe and private conversation, it helps you get better details about an issue.
eNPS (employee Net Promoter score) is one of the simplest yet effective ways to assess your employee's opinion of your company. It includes one intriguing question that gauges loyalty. An example of eNPS questions include: How likely are you to recommend our company to others? Employees respond to the eNPS survey on a scale of 1-10, where 10 denotes they are ‘highly likely’ to recommend the company and 1 signifies they are ‘highly unlikely’ to recommend it.