Employee Experience has taken on a new level of importance as employees expect more from their employers. These expectations include more control over work-life balance, increased scheduling flexibility, more training and enablement, more weight given to their perspectives, and doing more meaningful work overall. The search for an organization that meets those new expectations has led many workers to seek new roles in new companies recently. This has been called The Great Resignation, and it has enhanced the focus of business leaders on talent retention and talent acquisition.  In our latest research on CIO priorities, retention and training both took massive year-over-year jumps in importance. Hiring and retention were cited as a top challenge for 40% of technology leaders, up from 24% a year ago. Training was cited as a top challenge by just 4% of respondents in 2021, but that rose to 27% this year. The human experience has taken on greater importance for SAPinsiders.  SAPinsider discussed the role that Modern Workforce Management plays in building better employee experiences with Joe Ross, Chief Product Officer at WorkForce Software, an industry leader in the cloud workforce management space. 

Delivering on the Promise of Better Employee Experience 

If an employee has a bad work experience, that can have a real negative impact on their productivity and the business. Our research shows the top aim of organizations when making efforts to improve employee experience is to increase employee productivity. Employees with unpleasant work experiences are more likely to be disengaged, become demotivated, and are more prone to turnover.  “In the modern workplace, the employee-employer relationship needs to be symbiotic,” says Ross. “There needs to be a common value proposition—the best-run organization's balance benefit to employee and employer.”  Ross adds that one area of employees that are often left behind in the discussion of experience is deskless shift workers, and he notes those workers make up 80% of the workforce. Any employee experience strategy that leaves out most employees is bound to fail, and he says typically just 1% of IT spending focuses on meeting the needs of the deskless workforce.  Global enterprises struggle to engage deskless workers largely because of a lack of effective communication, he explains. These employees rarely have access to email or the corporate intranet.  Without functionality that supports their needs, deskless employees aren’t likely to adopt a new communications platform.  “CEOs will have trouble if they don’t honor the promise of better employee experience for all employees,” says Ross. “If they don’t do that, the productivity goals the organization desires can’t really be met.”  So, how do companies bridge that experience gap to the needs of the 80% of workers that have been left behind? They need to offer user experiences that are accessible to all employees, and a workforce management tool can be a key part of that. 

Modern Workforce Management’s Impact on Employee Experience 

Ross says WorkForce Software is improving the employee experience and driving employee engagement with its Modern Workforce Management solution through two key factors: 

• Mobile capabilities are grounded in a seamless experience—communication and workforce management functionality in the same place. 

• Smart communications in real-time, within the context of work. 

The goal of modern workforce management is to be inclusive to all employees in all work environments, he explains. This is done through a workforce management application that offers the same experience to any employee, whether they work at a desk or not.  Companies attempting to deliver on the promise of improved employee experience talk of taking an employee-first approach. Backing up talk of employee-first culture can be shown through actions and tools designed to empower employees and ensuring access to all employees does just that. 

The Business Requirements Met by Modern Workforce Management 

Employee experience is a key factor in assessing the value of modern workforce management tools such as Workforce Software’s offering, but Ross says that it is not the only requirement that the tool helps businesses meet.  Adoption of workforce management tools is important because it provides vital information for companies, even beyond just recording when employees are at work. Businesses are also looking to workforce management tools to sustain agility to meet complex pay and scheduling rules through a flexible rules engine.  There is the element of employee engagement that was already discussed, but that engagement leaves to strategic data that helps Workforce Software customers measure and manage critical business goals, Ross explains.  Compliance with statutory or local union requirements is also important, especially for deskless workers, and workforce management tools help simplify and automate that compliance.  WorkForce Software also integrates with SAP ERP HCM, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Payroll, and other operational systems to optimize data integration. That allows companies to analyze their workforce management data alongside their talent management and other important employee data. 

The Value: Reduced Costs, Mitigated Risks, Increased Productivity 

How do customers measure their success with Modern Workforce Management? If adoption happens as expected, there are traditional operational benefits such as overtime savings and mitigation compliance risks.  “Our customers are also seeing an increase in productivity due to engaged employees. That is a byproduct of improved employee experience,” says Ross, “That culminates in a high rate of employee retention.”  Finally, Ross says one key lessons learned is that driving great employee experience through Modern Workforce Management brings more roles to the table than traditional workforce management. He says that in the past, operational roles and employee-focused roles functioned separately.  “We are pulling in non-traditional workforce management personas,” explains Ross. “We are connecting dots and seeing partnerships between operations and roles such as Chief People Officer and employee experience teams.  That highlights the collaboration it takes to provide improved employee experiences, and to ensure those experiences reach all workers. Experience is strictly an HR function; it touches all areas of the business. 

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SAPINSIDERS? 

Companies looking to improve employee experiences and modernize workforce management should consider the following:  • Consider your entire workforce when building out improved employee experiences. Deskless workers are likely to have different requirements than those that work in the office. Mobile and consumer-grade applications help promote engagement for all workers.  • Identify how employee engagement impacts your business. Are your employees disengaged? Is this leading to productivity drops or high rates of turnover? Figuring out the problems you need to solve will help you identify how improved employee experience in solutions such as Modern Workforce Management can provide value. basis.  • Take stock of your employee communication strategy and technology. Evaluate if it effectively reaches your employees, and if important messages are getting to workers at the right time in the right context.