How to Leverage Data to Improve Workforce Management

As a business owner, your workforce is one of your most valuable assets. Managing your workforce effectively can make a huge difference in the success of your company. One of the best ways to improve workforce management is by leveraging data. By collecting and analyzing data on your employees, you can gain insights into a wide range important factors. These include employee productivity, attendance, and scheduling needs, among other things. In this post, we’ll explore some of the ways you can leverage data to improve workforce management today.

Organizations that make data-driven decisions are three times more likely to report significant improvements in decision-making compared to those who rely less on data.

PWC Survey

Collecting Data

The first step in being able to leverage data in order to improve workforce management is to collect it! There are a few different types of data that can be useful for this purpose:

1) Employee Time & Attendance Data:

Time and attendance data is very important for all employers, particularly those with irregular shift patterns. This data tracks when employees clock in and out of work, as well as their attendance record. Leveraging this data can help you identify trends in attendance, such as employees who frequently arrive late or leave early. Ideally, collecting this data should be an automated process. With Celayix, employees can clock in/out for work through the Celayix Mobile App on their smartphone. The system tracks this data so that it can be used later to generate reports or match records for payroll/billing.

2) Employee Productivity Data:

This data measures the output of your employees. Depending on the industry or business, this will look different for most employers. You might look at figures including the number of sales made, the number of customer calls taken, or the number of projects completed. Leveraging this data can help you identify top performers and areas where employees may need additional training. Analyzing this data manually can be time-consuming and prone to errors, especially in larger organizations with vast amounts of information to process. This is where advanced technological solutions come into play. AI analytics software for team management offers a powerful tool for interpreting employee productivity data. By utilizing advanced algorithms and machine learning, these systems can provide insights into patterns and trends that may not be immediately obvious. This can help managers make informed decisions about resource allocation, identify potential bottlenecks, and tailor training programs to address specific needs, ultimately enhancing overall team performance.

3) Employee Scheduling Data:

This data tracks employee scheduling trends and information, including shift times and days off. Being able to leverage data like this can help you identify scheduling conflicts and ensure that you have adequate coverage during busy periods. Again, being able to automate the collection of this data should be automated. If you schedule on paper, it can be hard to spot patterns or problems. With Celayix, you can access all of your historical employee scheduling data and use different views so that you can easily manage the data.

Analyzing Data

Once you’ve collected data on your employees, the next step is to analyze it. There are a few different ways to do this:

1) Identify Trends:

Look for patterns in the data, such as employees who frequently arrive late or leave early, or employees who consistently have lower productivity than their peers. These trends can help you identify areas where you may need to take action, such as providing additional training or re-assigning tasks. It can also help you understand other important workforce management issues such as absenteeism and overtime.

2) Track Metrics:

Set benchmarks for key metrics, such as attendance rates or productivity levels, and track these metrics over time. This can help you identify areas of improvement and measure the effectiveness of any changes you make. Being able to leverage the data is one thing, but measuring the effects of the changes you make is also very important.

3) Predict Future Needs:

Use your workforce management data to predict future needs, such as staffing levels during peak periods or anticipated employee turnover. This can help you plan ahead and ensure that you have the right resources in place. Effective workforce management can be the difference in you meeting your business goals or not.

Making Changes

Once you’ve analyzed the data, the final step is leverage the data to make changes based on your findings. There are a few different types of changes you can make:

1. Schedule Optimization: Use employee scheduling data to optimize employee schedules, ensuring that you have adequate coverage during peak periods and that employees are not overworked or underutilized. Here at Celayix, we provide aritificial intelligence tools that can help you automate this entire process. The tool will offer suggestions for schedule improvements which schedulers can implement as needed.
2. Employee Training and Development: Use productivity data to identify areas where employees may need additional training or development, and provide them with the resources they need to improve their skills. This can also help you identify opportunities for cross training which is great for workforce management.
3. Performance Management: Use productivity data to manage employee performance, set clear expectations and hold employees accountable for meeting their goals.
4. Employee Retention: Use your data to identify employees who are at risk of leaving and take steps to retain them, such as offering additional training or development opportunities, or adjusting their schedules to better meet their needs. Even if you’re unsuccessful in retaining your talent, seeing turnover issues develop early can help you manage the changeover more effectively.

Benefits of Leveraging Data

It’s easy to under-estimate the value in your own workforce management data. According to a survey of more than 1,000 senior executives, organizations that make data-driven decisions are three times more likely to report significant improvements in decision-making compared to those who rely less on data. Leveraging data to improve workforce management can provide a number of benefits, including:

1. Improved Productivity: By identifying areas where employees may need additional training or development, you can help them improve their skills and become more productive.
2. Reduced Costs: By optimizing schedules and identifying areas where employees may be overworked or underutilized, you can reduce labor costs and improve efficiency.
3. Better Employee Satisfaction: By adjusting schedules to better meet the needs of your employees, you can improve their satisfaction and reduce turnover.
4. Improved Business Performance: By managing your workforce more effectively, you can improve overall business performance and achieve your goals more efficiently. This is proven in the research referenced earlier that was carried out by PWC.

Are you ready to start leveraging your data?

So, leveraging data to improve workforce management can provide a number of benefits for large businesses. By collecting and analyzing data on your employees, you can identify trends, track metrics, and predict future needs. This information can then be used to optimize schedules, provide training and development opportunities, manage employee performance, and improve employee retention. All of this tied together can totally transform a business for the better.

The key to successful data-driven workforce management is to use the data to make informed decisions. This requires not only collecting and analyzing the data, but also having the tools and processes in place to act on the insights gained from the data. Celayix can help you do this by generating reports based on your actual employee scheduling history. We even utilise this historic scheduling data to drive our AI-powered scheduling tools.

By leveraging data to improve workforce management, you can create a more efficient and effective workplace that is better equipped to meet the needs of your customers and achieve your business goals. So if you haven’t already started collecting and analyzing data on your employees, now is the time to start. With the right approach and the right tools, you can take your workforce management to the next level and create a more successful business. If you’d like to learn more about how Celayix can help you improve your workforce management, talk to a solutions advisor today!