¶ Intro / Opening
Welcome to HRpreneur. I'm Jim Duffy. From Main Street to Your Street, the HRpreneur podcast is centered around helping small businesses like yours gain the knowledge you seek, from HR, payroll, and hiring, to time, taxes, benefits, and insurance. Today, with our guest, Dan Hennes, we're exploring what workforce management technology is and how it can revolutionize productivity in the workplace. We'll break down this topic to help you understand and implement these practices in your own business.
Dan, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks, Jim. Really happy to be here today. So, as background, Dan is the Vice President of Product Management for ADP's Workforce Management Product Suite. Prior to this role, Dan has worked in various positions at ADP on the product side.
¶ What is workforce management technology
So, let's kick things off, Dan. Would you please explain what workforce management technology is and how it contributes to productivity?
Absolutely. Workforce management technology encompasses various tools employers can use to save time and to optimize employee performance. We're talking about things like timekeeping, employee scheduling, and even time off and leave management. Now these tools can help automate processes, facilitate easier communication, and really provide those proactive insights that are key for every business.
And some of the benefits for the users are increased efficiency, having information to make better decisions and faster, And ultimately putting people in a position to produce better outcomes. According to a recent study by ADP, nine out of 10 organizations between 25 and 49 employees agree that having an automated time solution can save managers time.
¶ Using process automation to make things efficient
So let's talk a little bit more about automation. How does the process automation make things more efficient? Sure, process automation reduces the administrative burden by handling repetitive tasks. Things like timekeeping, scheduling, and managing paid time off or PTO requests. Businesses estimate that automating PTO requests and approvals alone can save managers around three hours a week.
Automation also helps flag things that need immediate attention, like correcting a missed punch or approving a shift swap. And by streamlining these workflows, administrators can spend more time on their core responsibilities.
¶ Improving communication and collaboration
So communication is vital in any business. How can workforce management technology make communication and collaboration more efficient?
Workforce management solutions are now more mobile friendly, allowing managers and employees to have access to the important information on their mobile devices at any time, from anywhere. And this ease of access keeps everyone informed and coordinated, especially regarding schedules and task management. It ensures the team remains productive, even when they're on the go. And businesses have reported saving almost three hours a week for managers by using mobile devices for managerial tasks.
So Dan, how can this increase in communication and collaboration boost productivity?
So let's look at scheduling. For example, employees can communicate their availability in advance before those schedules are made. And then they can request shift swaps and even claim an open shift or drop a shift using their mobile device. And all the manager needs to do is approve those changes and the schedule is updated automatically. An automated scheduling system saves managers an average of four hours a week. And having the right staff in the right place at the right time is crucial.
And improved communication around those employee schedules helps ensure the business is well staffed during the peak times, without being overstaffed during the slow periods. Ultimately, it's about optimizing labor costs while maximizing results, everything from sales and customer satisfaction to safety and product quality.
¶ How technology can help managers make better decisions
So Dan, how can this technology help managers make better decisions?
Yeah. So these systems offer proactive insights that help managers make informed decisions. For example, they can use overtime or absence analytics to identify patterns in employees performance and they can pinpoint operational inefficiencies. And this foresight allows the businesses to address issues before they escalate and maintain the higher productivity levels.
¶ Workforce management technology & benefits to small businesses
So, Dan, all of these things sound great for large businesses with many employees. How can workforce management technology benefit us in the small business space?
Yeah, you're right, Jim. Workforce management technologies can be very sophisticated and scale to handle the largest organizations in the world. So, it's a common misconception that only large businesses can benefit. In reality, businesses of all sizes can see significant productivity improvements. The key is choosing a solution that fits with your business needs.
So for a small business, that may be the basics, such as timekeeping, which is part of your payroll system with basic PTO and schedule automation. Or it may include more advanced scheduling tools and policy management.
So Dan, thank you very much for these insights. Great, great speaking with you today. It's clear that workforce management technology can be a game changer for improving productivity for businesses, both large and small. We greatly appreciate you sharing your expertise with us today. So this brings us to the end of this episode. Thank you again, Dan, for joining us.
Presented by ADP, HRpreneur focuses on the entrepreneurs and business drivers who are shaping the growth of their companies and positively impacting the lives of their employees. With each episode, we'll bring the experts to you, answer your questions, and help you think beyond today so you can discover more success tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to HRpreneur. Be well, and we hope you'll join us again soon.