Over the last decade, various aspects of scheduling deskless or hourly workers, and managing their efforts in general, have become increasingly more sophisticated. While this has largely been a result of organizations wanting and needing more precision around deploying workers, scheduling processes are being pulled to even greater levels of sophistication for other reasons of late. The new catalysts are arguably more related to employee-centric considerations such as what employees want and need from these processes, and how their lives at work are impacted by them.
In industries such as manufacturing, retail, hospitality, dining, healthcare, transportation and municipalities, organizations are reaping the benefits of workforce management (WFM) platforms, and specifically, their newer scheduling automation capabilities. Just one example is the way in which third-party tools and flow-of-work collaboration and communication features have been embedded directly into workforce scheduling activities. This has resulted in workers being able to inquire what a certain shift is like or what skills are needed for it, again, with more emphasis being placed on the needs and interests of workers. Beyond the range of key HCM processes to execute well on within the WFM realm, this is really about the quality of the employee experience (EX) more broadly. Indeed, a management focus on the EX has become highly correlated with the ability to attract and retain top talent, not unlike the benefits of delivering a superior customer experience.
