The business face of the UK has been changing for some time. According to data gathered by the FSB, small businesses accounted for 99.3% of all private sector companies in the UK in 2016 and 99.9% were recognised as small or medium-sized (SMEs). Running a small business is no easy task. With reference to an article published by Startups, some of the greatest challenges facing the small business owner in the UK at present include starting from scratch, raising finance, achieving a work/life balance and expansion.
As the person in charge, we are responsible for dealing with all these challenges and we need to find ways of minimising additional stress. We need ways of ensuring that administrative tasks, like workforce management, run as smoothly as possible. Indeed, there are a number of reasons why the small-to-medium UK business owner will benefit from an investment in workforce management software, with four of the key positives to be gained outlined below.
1. Better prepared for expansion and growth
Whether planning to increase the number of staff or extend business operations to other locations, complications in workforce management can arise. Businesses that are not properly prepared for expansion may begin suffering from an increase in payroll errors, reduced productivity and low staff morale.
It may also become difficult to meet the demands of clients and customers if your business expands at a rate that you weren’t prepared for. Workforce management software, sometimes referred to as human capital management system, can mean the difference between make or break for a business in expansion.
2. Increased efficiency of administrative tasks
The main focus of workforce management software is to make administrative processes more efficient. With increased efficiency comes smooth HR management, flawless payroll procedures and happy staff. The less time you have to spend on administrative tasks, the more time you’ll have to actually run your business, make future plans, improve services or products and, hopefully, increase financial gain.
3. Valuable employee retention
Some workforce management systems give employees the opportunity to make requests to management, swap shifts easily, sign up to training programs and give potential employees the chance to talk with existing employees; a great way of giving them an insight into what work culture is like at your company. These positive features empower members of staff, they help them to feel like they have more control over their working environment and they keep productivity on a high. When the working environment is positive, fewer employees think about moving on and the company’s retention figures improve.
4. Improved management of complex schedules
Even small businesses sometimes suffer from complex schedules; schedules that can prove far too time-consuming for a HR employee to order, but that workforce management systems are designed to solve in just a few clicks of the mouse button. Commonly referred to as rostering software, small businesses can create schedules for a couple of employees, a single section, or the entire company. Schedule creation can also be made semi-automated so that the system itself offers recommendations on how best to cover staff absence and overtime costs.