Insights: The SmartTask Blog for Security Matters (Part 3)

The importance of an engaged workforce cannot be stressed enough because motivated employees are what makes a business successful. Research indicates that highly engaged staff realise a 40% reduction in absenteeism and a circa 60% reduction when it comes to employee turnover.

Engaged employees show up every day with enthusiasm and purpose. They tend to work harder, treat customers well (leading to more business) and are more likely to remain with the company.

What makes an engaged employee? 

Employee engagement is determined by factors such as feeling clear about your role at work and having the right tools to enable you to do your job to the best of your ability. Being recognised for hard work and diligence is also a key factor.

When conducted well, workforce management can make a significant difference to all of these factors, and therefore help to foster an engaged workforce, which is ultimately good for business.

How workforce management helps 

In a world where almost everyone carries a smart phone, people are quite used to the idea of constant connectivity. This can be harnessed to enable security businesses to run more smoothly and efficiently, in turn benefiting everyone. 

Being able to prove that a contracted service has been delivered is not only good for customer service and invoicing, but it also provides recognition for hardworking staff.

Employees benefit

(1) Work/life balance and flexibility 

While we all know that contracts are contracts and security businesses must deliver, replacing paper-based systems with an electronic workforce management solution can provide additional flexibility for workers by actively supporting the work/life balance. Shifts and rosters, which can be designed in a fraction of the time with a purpose-built solution, can be published further in advance, giving people enough notice of work patterns such that they can plan their lives around their shifts.

Employees are more easily able to swap shifts or sign up for additional work, while the Control Room team still has oversight to see exactly who’s working where and when.

(2) Duty of Care

Using an app to deliver work schedules and assignment instructions provides your employees with the tools and information they need to do their job. Task lists for completion while on-site sent directly to their mobile device is convenient for all, and helps to prove compliance with any regulatory requirements (including Duty of Care).

Further, check calls can be built into the employee’s actions for the day/shift, with an automated prompt to make the call.

(3) Payroll visibility for staff 

With an online time and attendance solution where people clock in and out electronically, they are able to check their hours accrued and see what their salary will be.

Workforce management: return on investment

The benefits to the business of a workforce management solution are many and include saving time on back office processes such as designing rosters, managing shifts/attendance/service delivery, holidays and absence. Reducing the reliance on manual systems and keeping electronic records provides audit trails, proves compliance and streamlines invoices for all of the work completed.

Having detailed records also means better analysis of the business. Managing rosters and schedules is one thing, but ensuring that every shift is profitable is a much more complex matter. With electronic workforce management all the variables, fixed costs, recurring costs, salaried individuals, hourly staff and the cost of equipment required that go into costing a shift can be analysed to ensure that every shift is profitable.

Paul Ridden is CEO of SmartTask (www.smarttask.co.uk)

Paul Ridden has spent most of his working life in the computer industry. For the last decade, he has focused on software solutions for the security, cleaning, FM and logistics sectors. One key element of Paul’s role as CEO is to use his passion and entrepreneurial approach to build a team that can develop and deliver affordable software solutions that take advantage of the very latest technologies and deliver value for all SmartTask end users

*For more information about professional business systems designed by UK-based SmartTask specifically for security sector businesses, visit the company’s website at www.smarttask.co.uk or send an e-mail to tellmemore@smarttask.co.uk