Essential Workforce Planning Tools, Tips & Tricks
Today’s technology provides ample opportunity to improve efficiencies for your organization. Workforce planning tools use powerful software to provide valuable insights that improve efficiencies and reduce attrition. Here we look at eight must-have workforce planning tools for your organization.
1. Tax Planning Software
Accurate, timely tax filing ensures you remain compliant with state and federal tax laws. Payroll tax compliance software reduces the hours required to manage tax filing. Tax planning software actively audits your filings to catch issues before your filing reaches the IRS. It ensures you remain compliant with up-to-date, state-authorized e-filing software, so you save time worrying about common payroll challenges.
Your team remains focused on high-value tasks, clearly understanding current withholding laws to avoid penalties or underpayments. As a result, you can plan payroll or accounting activities to improve efficiencies with more free time available at each pay cycle.
2. Time and Attendance Software
To accurately predict and plan workforce scheduling, you need a way to track employee time, attendance, and activity. This data is crucial to reduce labor hours yet ensuring all tasks are managed without sacrificing the quality of work or customer service. State-of-the-art time and attendance software solutions provide the information required using shift-related reporting.
As a result, you become more proficient in job costing to optimize your labor budget. You avoid over and understaffed situations while also freeing up time wasted on correcting mistakes caused by time attendance inaccuracies. You’ll have access to accurate information to make data-based decisions. You’ll reduce unnecessary hours, save on payroll, and mitigate the risk of fraudulent time claims common with manual spreadsheets.
3. HR Planning Software
HR software tools provide data, metrics, and KPIs critical to improving employee management. It streamlines operations for each HR function, including talent planning. Through talent planning, you ensure you have the right team to meet productivity demands through the entire lifecycle of new hires. You can also track each employee to identify opportunities for promotion and set career paths that align with the future needs of managers.
By planning, you maintain a happy, effective workforce so your organization remains scalable. Your proactive approach to talent acquisition improves with goal setting based on supply and demand for each department. Valuable reporting tools empower managers to make smarter decisions that positively impact productivity while avoiding the high cost of last-minute talent searches.
4. Talent Management Tools
A talent management system transforms your talent recruitment and retention methods. Your HR planning software allows you to adapt effective succession planning and skills gap strategies. As a result, you ensure each role has the proper training protocols and a method to keep employees moving forward. You improve retention by planning employee careers not just to suit the organization’s needs but to help employees meet their career goals.
You have vital reporting tools related to role-based productivity and learning outcomes. Now you can develop succession plans based on performance and skills while ensuring long-term employees are compensated for their contributions and years of service. You also leverage the skills of qualified hires to improve their experience and encourage longevity to reduce the costs associated with recruitment.
5. Workflow Optimization Tools
With an effective Workflow Optimization solution, manual tasks are automated, and processes are streamlined. You become more effective at scaling departments, so each manager is better prepared to take on challenges. Planning is about identifying inefficiencies so you are ready to make improvements, whether in the skill levels sought to fill new roles, poor scheduling that impacts sales or reduces efficiencies, or time wasted on manual payroll and tax filing. Workflow optimization allows your organization to constantly find better ways to operate, reducing costs and increasing the value of each task your departments perform.
6. Performance Management Software
Performance management software is a manager’s right-hand person. It is the tool that ensures each employee’s skills are optimized and developed. Performance management solutions also help establish career paths to improve retention and reduce the impact attrition has on each department. Many systems offer self-service features allowing employees to control their careers and participate in learning opportunities to enhance their ability to grow in their roles.
Managers understand employees’ goals and keep them on track with performance reviews to track progress. In the case of underperformers, a record is established to support decisions to offboard the employee and plan for their replacement. Managers also share company objectives, so employees participate in helping the organization meet those goals.
7. HR Analytics Software
HR analytics software assesses workforce productivity. HR can use important metrics to take a proactive approach based on workplace trends. They can identify cost-saving opportunities while anticipating employee and departmental needs. Complete visibility for everything from upcoming performance reviews to possible overtime issues and skills gaps to productivity inefficiencies ensures nothing is missed.
8. Time Tracking
An employee time tracking system provides real-time updates on an employee’s status. You’ll know when they arrive, take lunch and check out to ensure their payroll is based on their actual time on the job. Time tracking assists with the following:
- Understanding how payroll affects margins
- Reduced error correction and reconciliation
- Improved compliance and reduced penalties
- Proper compensation for employees
- Tracking productivity based on the number of people working
- Improved prediction of labor needs
Through time tracking, you can avoid unplanned overtime and always maintain the ideal staffing level at any given time.
Workforce planning tools equip your managers with the information and automation they need to help your organization achieve its goals.
About the Author
Kayla is the Marketing Manager at Paypro Corporation overseeing all inbound and outbound marketing and sales efforts. She has 7+ years of experience working within the B2B and SaaS based solutions space and thrives on creating messaging and campaigns that introduce products and services to those who need them most.