How To Make The Most Of Your Workforce Optimization Efforts

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What does productivity mean to you? Does it mean how fast you can get through the never-ending emails? Does it mean being prompt to every meeting? Or is it about how good you are at multi-tasking? Those factors may be a part of it, but there is a larger picture to be considered for executives in today’s business reality.

Labor costs are typically the highest expense on any financial report. Studies show the largest investment, people, has a direct correlation to customer satisfaction, quality, and revenue. It’s no wonder that knowing how to optimize the workforce is a compelling quest and in particularly in high service centered organizations.

The challenge

It is easy to get a little lost in the concept of workforce optimization. This is due largely with not really understanding how workforce optimization works. Leaders chasing the notion without true understanding, tend to spend a lot of time chasing a metric or spending time figuring out how to encourage employees to work harder but find that they are only spinning their wheels with no traction. Workforce optimization goes beyond just productivity metrics. Highly productive organizations have learned that true workforce optimization is a sustained focus on multiple fronts.

Understanding workforce optimization

Workforce optimization is the overall approach that is focused on balancing customer satisfaction, service levels, workforce scheduling, operational costs in order to get the maximum benefit from employees at any given time. It’s not just about efficiency. It’s about effectiveness too. It’s the right resource, at the right time, at the right cost, yielding the right results.

Now let’s launch into unveiling making the most of workforce optimization efforts:

Define your value

If your only goal is to determine staffing levels and save money, then I recommend you revisit the definition of workforce optimization above. I know that market pressures give rise to an urgent need to reduce labor expense. But the definition of value is service at the lowest cost for the highest of quality. True workforce optimization is a vehicle towards that end. It is more than just about efficiency, it’s about effectiveness too. If the customer is left out of the effort, then you’ve lost the game from the beginning.

Customers come first

Take a customer first approach. Analyze and identify where there are breakdowns to providing optimal customer service. From there look at staffing levels, time wasted on non-value-added activities, that do not benefit the customer.

For example, a healthcare organization could study non-value-added activities that prevent nurses from spending time with patients. This may mean that you will have to re-engineer care delivery, business processes, and scheduling practices to ensure the right result is happening. Remember, true workforce optimization would impact that reality and ensure the right staff, in the right place, with the right results is occurring, every time, every day.

Leverage labor effectiveness

The question isn’t just about do we have the right number of FTEs and if we are spending too much on overtime. It’s also about determining if we have the right kind of FTEs to perform the work necessary. Here are questions to ask yourself about labor effectiveness.

How are the scheduling practices throughout the system? Are scheduling standards clearly defined and communicated? Or is it anything goes?
Do you have the right skill and job mix performing the right tasks?
Do you have the right amount of full time, part time and per diem staff for the volume?
Do you have the right span of control and management scope?

Engage your employees

Include monitoring employee engagement levels as part of your workforce optimization efforts. Evaluate your employee engagement levels. According to Gallup, “Highly satisfied employees often exhibit above-average levels of the following characteristics”:

Customer loyalty (56 percent)
Productivity (50 percent)
Employee retention (50 percent)
Safety records (50 percent)
Profitability (33 percent)
Sustain the Gain

Continuously monitor progress. Don't fall into the trap of taking your eye off the ball when immediate goals are met. Things like "FTE creep" can happen if agreed upon standards are not enforced over time which can lead to disaster for the organization.

How To Make The Most Of Your Workforce Optimization EffortsBy implementing the "work smarter and not harder" concept employees will be able to endure the “doing more with less” and burnout will be less likely. When considering productivity and human resources, look beyond the question of how fast we can get through emails. Evaluate productivity at a higher level, so that true customer, employee and financial gains can be realized.

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Tresha Moreland

Tresha Moreland is a 30-year organizational effectiveness and strategic workforce planning expert. She partners with business leaders to develop workplace strategies that achieve best-in-class results. She has held key organizational leadership roles in multiple industries such as manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality, and healthcare. Tresha is the founder and principal consultant of HR C-Suite, LLC (www.hrcsuite.com). HR C-Suite is a results-based HR strategy resource dedicated to connecting HR with business results. She has received a master’s degree in human resource management (MS) and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA). She has also earned a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), Six Sigma Black Belt Professional (SSBBP) Certification. She is also recognized as a Fellow with the American College Healthcare Executives with a FACHE designation.