Why Australian Organisations must have a Modern Workforce Management Solution.

Replace your legacy WFM solution not because it cannot perform workforce management, but because a modern, lower-complexity platform may reduce operating costs, improve employee experience, accelerate change, and provide a more flexible foundation for future workforce transformation.

If you are using a legacy workforce management solution, such as Kronos or Preceda, you are probably not looking for more workforce management functionality—you most likely already have it. But with these products slated for retirement and many being complex rebuilds, not simple migrations, there is an opportunity to look at potential alternatives. Maybe you are looking to reduce complexity, improve employee experience, and modernise workforce operations.

Worse, you might be relying on MS Excel for some functionality. Frequent complaints by workforce managers say their legacy systems are:

• Slow, complicated processes. Every configuration step is like solving a jigsaw puzzle without the picture, its almost impossible, takes an eternity.

• Poor usability. The system isn’t intuitive for resource analysts, supervisors or employees and scheduling and pay run mistakes are frequent. Costly vendor support is often required to correct issues.

• Limited support. Once the system was finally configured, we were essentially left on our own with no help from the Vendor.

• Low/No User change capability – to make any system configuration changes, such as changes to EBA’s, required an expensive vendor support crew to do the backend coding. Time to code, test and deploy was very lengthy.

In many Australian organisations, Workforce Management is evolving from an administrative function into a strategic capability that directly impacts profitability, customer service, and organisational performance

At Optko, we see an opportunity to transition to a modern AI-driven, intelligent scheduling and attendance workforce solution. One that offers an open integration approach enabling you to have a more agile workforce. Adopting WorkAxle, is one such platform.

WFM replacements are large change-management projects involving nearly every employee, making governance and phased implementation critical, so it is important that the project is managed from start to end.

So why do you need a modern WFM Solution?

A modern Workforce Management (WFM) solution overcomes the high manual traditional rostering, timekeeping, and payroll processes that struggle to meet today's operational, regulatory, and workforce challenges.

1. Manage Labour Costs More Effectively

Modern WFM platforms help organisations to optimise rosters based on demand. Using demand forecasting and optimisation to reduce unnecessary overtime and agency labour and improving productivity through better workforce allocation.

2. Navigate Complex Australian Employment Rules

Australian businesses must comply with, Modern Awards, Enterprise Agreements, Shift penalties and loadings, Overtime rules and Fatigue management requirements. A modern WFM solution can have user managed rules to automate these calculations, reducing payroll errors and compliance risk.

3. Improve Employee Experience

Employees increasingly expect the same digital experience at work that they receive as consumers. Modern platforms provide mobile access to rosters, shift swapping and bidding and availability management. They enable employees to manage leave requests and approvals and to access timesheets from their mobile devices, receiving real-time notifications on shift changes.

4. Support Workforce Flexibility

Hybrid work, casual workforces, and fluctuating demand require organisations to adapt quickly. Modern WFM systems enable, dynamic scheduling across a multi-site workforce and can accommodate rapid response to operational changes and assign the right person, to the right location and the right time.

5. Better Decision Making Through Data

Instead of relying on spreadsheets or manual data entry or as we have seen on many occasions, post it notes with special instruction stuck on screens, a WFM system should ingest data from other business systems to enable managers to make evidence-based decisions by having accurate data, real-time reporting and full auditability.

6. Integrate Strategy with Operations

Leading organisations want to ensure day-to-day work aligns with business priorities. Modern WFM solutions help connect, Workforce planning, Operational execution so that they effectively manage what works get done and by whom, allowing then to adjust work assignments as needed to deliver greater organisational agility.

7. Reduce Administrative Burden

Automation reduces manual work for HR, payroll, and operations teams by eliminating duplicate data entry, automating award interpretation, streamlining approvals for leave, shifts and time-approvals and Integrating with payroll and HR systems, like Workday, SAP, Oracle, or Dayforce.

8. Prepare for Future Workforce Challenges

Australia faces ongoing pressures from: skills shortages, and ageing workforce, rising labour costs and increased regulatory complexity, so having a modern WFM technology provides a scalable foundation to manage these challenges.

The Business Case for modern WFM System.

For company executives, a modern WFM solution is not simply a rostering tool. It is a platform that helps they organisation: It can:

• Lower labour costs – Optko’s has seen 12% reduction in labour costs through the introduction of better WFM processes and systems.

• Reduce compliance risk, so that your people are paid correctly, everytime.

• Improve employee engagement, where employees have full transparency and visibility of their work assignments and leave.

• Increase operational efficiency for managers and supervisors by having auto assignments and shift bidding to reduce unfilled shifts and “ring arounds” to get people in attendance.

• Gain better workforce visibility, knowing where your people are, what they are doing and when they start, finish and take breaks.

• Execute business strategy more effectively by having a single view of your WFM activities and resourcing levels.

• Ability to optimise – the holy grail of Workforce utilisation is possible with a modern WFM system, that was previous unattainable.

How Optko can help

We are WFM specialists. We can provide advisory, system and implementation support. We leverage leading WFM products like WorkAxle, which has been selected by Global Organisation, over other legacy solutions to deliver agility, lower overall cost and to better integrate into their incumbent platforms such as Workday and SAP.

Additionally as we run a flat business structure, unlike some partner lead consulting companies, our fees are significantly lower. This gives money back in your pocket to spend on the solution, rather than just learn about the problem.

To learn more about how Optko can assist you in adopting a modern workforce management solution schedule a call with us today.