For many companies, workforce management is perceived largely as a logistics operation. While it’s an essential function of any successful organization, the execution often lacks a human touch.
Many top enterprises have realized this is a mistake. For example, the founders of Home Depot live by the mantra, “If we take care of our associates, they’ll take care of our customers, and everything else will take care of itself.” With timely, responsive, and empathic mobile workforce management, you can develop an engaged staff that improves customer service interactions, and ultimately the bottom line.
Improve Engagement
One of the keys to increasing engagement via workforce management is with consistent, responsive communication. Effective internal communication, whether it involves scheduling, benefits, payroll, or training, allows your employees to have peace of mind when they’re on the floor.
They’re also likely to feel more involved with their team and believe in your company’s mission, which bleeds into the way they treat customers.
Another key is regular staff recognition. Showing individual employees you appreciate their efforts and communicating that to their coworkers is an effective way to increase morale in the ranks and incentivize performance.
Additionally, showing your colleagues you care about their lives outside your store is a great way to ensure they’ll give their best in your store. This means using the latest technology to ensure vacation and sick time is handled properly, while allowing for flexibility in scheduling.
Increase Efficiency
The best way to implement these practices today is with mobile communication tools. According to Field Technologies Magazine, 49% of companies say their primary form of communication is via smartphone.
This number is expected to grow in the coming years as smartphones become ubiquitous and employers become more comfortable with workers using their phones for internal communication.
For example, companies can give their employees the freedom to submit sick days and vacation requests through their smartphones and manage schedules more effectively during the busiest shifts.
Even more, team members can communicate instantaneously on the floor, enabling them to relieve bottlenecks at registers and better assist customers in the aisles. Human resources tasks like onboarding, training, and benefits election can be done more efficiently and with less paperwork.
The future is in mobile workforce management, with a recent survey finding that 38% of employees say the use of mobile phones at work has contributed to their increased efficiency. In the past, face-to-face meetings were necessary for individual managers to act as a sounding board for the staff and to communicate company strategy.
With new mobile communications tools, employees can communicate across teams and management, ensuring everyone is on the same page and every voice is heard. This internal content strategy is essential in an industry where employees’ most important task is communicating with customers.
Communicate in Real Time
Mobile technology lets employers connect all their coworkers so they can access essential information anywhere and seamlessly communicate with coworkers and management. Bottom-up communication that required workers to leave the floor for a face-to-face conversation can now be done simply through mobile, allowing management to get instant feedback and put out fires faster than ever before.
Important sales updates and training can also be be distributed with speed and ease, allowing a more knowledgeable and nimble staff to excel. Mobile communication can also increase employee health and safety.
Forward thinking corporations have embraced technology in many ways that have improved the customer experience — now there’s an opportunity transform the way organizations manage their teams.
If businesses embrace new opportunities in mobile workforce management, they can develop engaged, high-performing employees that transform not only their company culture, but their bottom line.
