As digital transformation continues to transform businesses, it’s also changing how companies look at their workforces and how to optimise your workforce through strategies. A recent report from World Wide Worx found that almost half (44%) of all company leaders consider workforce optimisation a key priority this year, a significant increase from last year (36%).
Companies now see the value in automating and streamlining processes to allow employees to focus on tasks requiring more critical thinking and creative input. However, it’s more complex than hiring an HR consultant or outsourcing HR services. To optimise your workforce, you need a comprehensive plan involving HR, IT, and every department that touches employee performance in some capacity.
8 Easy Ways To Properly Optimise Your Workforce
Start with scheduling – schedule around your best employees.
One of the easiest ways to optimise your workforce is with scheduling. Scheduling employees based on availability and expertise can reduce employee bottlenecks and help employees with overlapping skill sets to build relationships and learn from each other. Good workforce scheduling optimization can also help employees who need to attend appointments or have limited availability due to caretaking responsibilities not to feel overworked and stressed out.
If you need help figuring out where to start, look at employee data to see who works well together, has the most availability, and has the least amount of availability due to other commitments.
One of the best ways to optimise your workforce is by scheduling employees based on their strengths and expertise. For example, if one person is better at creating content for your website and another is better at managing social media, try pairing the two up so both employees can do what they do best.
While this may be obvious to some managers, many others are guilty of trying to fit square pegs into round holes, which can cause frustration, dissatisfaction, and poor performance.
Delegate tasks to employees’ strengths
Another important aspect of scheduling is delegation. Assigning tasks to employees based on their strengths will help them become more engaged in their work and allow you to see their strengths. You will see if an employee has an aptitude for a specific type of work or is well-suited for a different position within the company.
To gauge an employee’s interest in specific tasks have them take the DiSC assessment online and then start assigning them to projects they’re interested in based on these results. Let them try something new, especially if they’re interested in expanding their skill set. If they’re thriving in that position, it’s a good indication that they’d be a vital asset. If they’re not quite as engaged, you’ll know they are most likely more suited for a different type of work.
Consider creating an employee-shared services centre to outsource repetitive tasks, like data entry or invoicing, to other departments or third-party vendors. In other cases, hiring a consultant for a short-term project or hiring permanent staff with the right skills might make sense.
None of these options is one size fits all, so make sure to look at your business and the needs of your departments and see what makes the most sense.
Offer an increased work-life balance.
As part of your employee engagement strategy, you should also consider increasing work-life balance – ensuring employees get the right amount of time for personal growth, wellness, and family. One way to do this is to offer flexible working hours. While some companies see this as a negative, it actually increases employee engagement by 22%, according to the same report.
At the same time, you’ll want to ensure your employees are excelling in other areas of their work and life, specifically in communication.
Implement effective management-employee communication
Another way to optimise your workforce is by improving management-employee communication. Gone are the days of the micromanaged manager who knows every task and excels in dictating every project. While some industries may require more controlled communication, most companies today are more effective and agile, so communication should be two-way.
This means managers should communicate their project goals and priorities, work with their employees on tasks, and provide real-time feedback. The best way to do this is by implementing a digital transformation incorporating tools like chatbots and workflow automation. Use a tool like Slack to provide real-time feedback on projects, make announcements, and serve as a central hub for company news and information.
You can also use Slack to host group discussions or even create smaller groups to address specific topics or departments. Make sure to update your employees on project statuses and upcoming conferences regularly, and share company goals and priorities.
Automate as much as possible
If you think your employees are already overworked, try adding more tasks and responsibilities to their plates. While it is tempting to try to increase revenue by bringing on new customers or investing in new projects, doing so without adding resources to your current workload could have the opposite effect – it could result in decreased revenue and decreased employee engagement.
Instead, use automation to help reduce some of your employees’ workloads. Invest in the latest tech to help you reduce manual tasks and errors. And if you can, invest in AI and machine learning tools that will help employees focus on the tasks that require creativity and critical thinking. One of the most significant ways businesses can benefit from automation is by having smart scheduling tools.
Offer flexible working when possible.
Hopefully, by now, you’ve reduced some of your employees’ workloads, but maybe you need to reduce everyone’s hours. Or you may want to offer something more than just reduced hours. If so, then you’ll need to look at other options. When it comes to flexible working options, there are a few things to consider: – Who will qualify for these positions? – How much will these positions cost your business? – What type of benefits can you offer employees in these positions?
Don’t micromanage
Another way to optimise your workforce is by avoiding micromanagement. This isn’t to say managers should be hands-off and uninvolved, but they should trust their employees to complete projects and work autonomously. This can be more difficult in specific industries, such as healthcare and finance, but there are ways to get around micromanagement.
For example, if you manage a team that needs to submit reports and metrics regularly, consider setting up automated reports and metrics so employees can submit them once without having to send periodic updates. This helps eliminate micromanagement while still providing managers with the necessary information to make critical decisions and course corrections.
Micromanagement can also signify a manager struggling to keep up with work and being unable to prioritise. If this is the case, consider speaking with the manager about their workload or offering to help with major projects.
Be agile
Another way to optimise your workforce is by being agile and adapting to change. In today’s ever-changing business landscape, it is essential to be agile and flexible and make changes when needed. While this is true for all organisations, it is crucial when managing a digital transformation. If something isn’t working or you find a better way to do things, you need to be agile and adapt quickly.
This doesn’t mean you should make changes haphazardly, but you need to be open to change. It also means you should have a culture of constructive feedback where employees feel comfortable giving feedback and speaking up if something isn’t working or if there is a better way to do something.
Conclusion
While workforce optimization strategies may vary slightly from organisation to organisation, they all have a few things in common:
- They focus on improving employee engagement.
- They reduce employee workloads.
- They use technology to streamline processes.
If your company is struggling with employee engagement metrics or you want to prepare for future hiring challenges, implementing these strategies could be the key to success.
