When you manage a workforce, much of your time is going to be spent "putting out fires" and dealing with small issues that can quickly compound. Many issues can be resolved proactively, if you use the right kind of software and program it effectively. Particularly when it comes to avoiding legal problems and working people to a reasonable extent, workforce management software is massively effective.
Time On
When an employee works, they need their pay to be effective. Since every hour an employee is on the clock slightly impacts their efficiency, each hour needs to be documented properly and paid. As well, since there are laws that regulate how often employees need to be off and what constitutes full time versus part time work, documenting time on the clock effectively is a major component of avoiding errors. Since management used to devote a large portion of its time to the pursuit of chronicling employee time working, workforce management software is a massive boon to your efforts. Keeping up with times on the clock should not be the bulk of the activities you work on as a manager.
Time Off
There are relevant laws concerning time off, and how much time off you need to provide. Traditionally, much of your job as a manager is spent keeping track of when people are supposed to be off of work. Having to doubly pay someone because you have required time off to pay while you accidentally pay them to work is a large additional expense. As well, getting in trouble with the law can be costly in the form of fees charged. As well, overworking people tends to result in lowered morale, which tends to also result in a higher level of worker turnover. Training new people due to turnover is also expensive.
Ensuring Clocking
One of your most major operations as a manager is to ensure that everyone is clocked in, clocked out and paid effectively for the time that they work. When you have a shift full of workers, ensuring that everyone's times are right is important. Moreover, since some people often forget to clock in or out, ensuring that they have done so is a potentially major stressor. When you ensure clocking with workforce management software and its reminders, you can be certain that people's pay will be right. Every day that is wrong can result in several days of resentment on the part of a worker. You can spare yourself this problem by avoiding it altogether.
Clocking Anywhere
One of the major wrinkles in your scheduling is when you have workers who travel, such as a sales force. This kind of group involves clocking in and out in several different locations, potentially far away from the regular office location. When you have the right kind of workforce management software, you can let the system do most of the leg work keeping track of everyone. With a small amount of following up, you can ensure efficacy across as many locations as you need to track.
Ensuring Pay Efficacy
Pay efficacy is vital to running your company effectively, and keeping track of a large number of workers can be challenging. When everyone's hours are easy to view at a glance and modify if necessary, you can review everyone's hours with them and ensure that everyone is paid what they should be. Once pay becomes accurate on a regular basis, your entire group's morale tends to rise. Later, if there ends up being an error, being able to correct it quickly also says good things about your abilities as a manager.