Workforce Management Software Facilitating Flexible Working

Enjoy the perks of flexible working and leave the disadvantages of it for workforce management software to eliminate.

We live in a fast paced world where the standard 9 to 5 jobs are a thing of the past.

Now, employees and companies are aiming for flexible working arrangements. The goal is to achieve maximum productivity while providing freedom and flexibility to the employees. This not only boosts the quality of work but also helps companies cut down on the cost of operation.

But nothing comes without disadvantages. For example, employees might feel they are working longer hours, whereas the managers might feel the opposite. This happens due to blurred boundaries and unclear management. Therefore, invest in workforce management software to avoid confusion and churn out better results and flexible working policies.

What is Flexible Working?

Flexible working entails giving employees more opportunities and flexibility to complete their jobs and tasks.

Employees enjoy a lot of flexibility in terms of time, location, and how to do their tasks and jobs. For example, employees can complete their tasks from anywhere worldwide as long as it is done. They don’t necessarily have to visit the office to work.

The flexible working culture has gained popularity globally. Even after the end of the lockdown, companies still prefer flexible working for employees because of the monetary benefits and time saving benefits.

What are the Different Types of Flexible Working?

Because of the pandemic flexible work options have become common, though some companies have started returning to the office full time.

Flexible working is not restricted just to working from home. Rather it comes in multiple forms. It depends on the organization and the employee’s mutual understanding and the nature of the work.

• Hybrid Work Arrangement: In this, the employees can choose to work for a few days on-site or office and a few days remotely. This generally depends on the employee’s nature of work and the company’s policies.
• Remote/Field Work: In this, the employees work away from the office permanently. The employees can work and live anywhere in the world as long as they complete the tasks and meet the goals on time. As for field employees, they need not visit the office unless necessary and can provide the service to customers remotely.
• Flexi Hours: Flexi time allows employees to choose when they want to begin and finish their workday. The company might set aside specific working hours, but the work schedule is still extremely flexible. As long as their weekly or monthly contracted hours are met. For example, the employee might work more one day and less the next day.

What Are The Pros and Cons of Flexible Working?

Pros

Flexible working schedules allow employees to meet personal life commitments and bring a work-life balance. Not only for employees but also for companies, it offers monetary relief and a more productive workforce.

Freedom Boosts Productivity

Liberty to decide the time and method to complete their tasks and jobs definitely affects the productivity of the employees, especially field agents. For example, if the employee is a morning person, getting started early will help them complete their goals in the most productive hours of the day.

A Reduction in Overhead

Working from home or a co-working space can help employees and the organization save a lot of costs and commuting time. In addition, when given flexibility, employees can choose to travel out of peak hours to save time. This can even help to prevent stress and unpunctuality.

A Better Work Quality

Because of flexible working arrangements, employees’ morale is boosted, and there are fewer chances of stress. All this leads to them being dedicated to their work, resulting in superior quality work. Different working hours and the use of technology like workforce management software also allow your employees to offer extended hours of service to a varied range of customers.

Flexible Working Increases Employee Loyalty

It’s not easy to be a star performer for employees, which is why more companies nowadays are developing flexible working policies. By providing employees with flexible work arrangements, you trust their judgment and how they will do their tasks. Overall this shows them that the company believes in them, which helps to strengthen the loyalty they have towards their work and organizations.

Reduced Absenteeism

A benefit of a flexible working environment is a reduction in absenteeism of employees, like sick leaves. Since the employees work according to their time preference, they won’t have to take leave for personal matters. This proves that flexi-time not only decreases absenteeism but also improves employee retention.

A Better Client Rapport

Since flexible time allows its employees to work hours that they find suitable for themselves, this has greatly benefited the industries serving the clients and customers. After task allocation, field technicians can choose to service clients and customers in the preferred order unless the task is marked priority.

Work-Life Balance

Flexi Time arrangement empowers employees to prioritize and manage their personal life better. This enables them to focus on their professional life without being distracted by personal matters.

Cons

The grass might seem green when talking about flexible work arrangements. But even the limitations and disadvantages cannot diminish the shine of the grass.

Blurred Boundary

This is a drawback for both managers and employees. Employees might feel that they are always working without a proper boundary about working hours. Managers might feel that the employees are not working at all as their work timeline is different.

It’s Not For Everyone

Working from home or flexible working is not suitable for every employee or manager. Some find it more comfortable to work from their couches, whereas others might feel too distracted or lazy in the same environment. On the other hand, some people feel they work best in the office environment in the standard 9 to 5 jobs.

Management Difficulties

Keeping track of all the employees’ working hours, holding meetings whenever the entire team is available, and task accountability can become too much for the managers. What they need is to streamline the operation, which the workforce management solution can do.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Since the employees are working from home or field, there are chances that their extra efforts might get overlooked during the promotion. Field employees have no other option but to work remotely as they are busy serving customers. Their achievements get missed out, which might make them feel dejected, thus affecting their productivity.

Procrastination

Working from home or co-working space requires a high level of self-motivation. As a result, the workers might struggle to start working and might give in to procrastination. And since no manager is supervising directly, it’s easy for the employees to lag.

Communication Difficulties

Due to mismatched working timelines, communication difficulties arise between managers and employees. This can be a productivity killer, especially for field forces servicing the customers. They require assistance and coordination with other team members to impart accurate information to clients.

How Has Covid-19 Brought a Paradigm Shift In Flexible Working?

Flexible or remote working is the new normal in the covid-19 white collar jobs. Though this concept did exist in the past was not a norm. Hybrid and fully remote work were regarded with suspicion in India until recently. Many companies want their employees to be on the office premise to trust that they are working.

Flexible working arrangements like work from home or hybrid style of working have generated phenomenal results. 82% of employees prefer working from home, and 44% believe that remote work has improved their mental health and career growth.

Witnessing the increase in productivity and demand for remote working, businesses have decided to adopt this form of working post-pandemic. But to execute it successfully, they must move their operation to a workforce management platform.

Where Does Workforce Management Software Come Into This?

You need to invest in employee tracking software to make your switch to flexible working seamless and negate its disadvantages. Through it, remote employee management will become efficient.

Attendance Management

Managers, through this solution, manage the timesheet easily as they can view the location from where the attendance was marked. Additionally, due to geocoded attendance, there is no scope for data manipulation through buddy punching.

Task Management

Due to the working timeline difference, task management can be challenging for managers when done manually. But the workforce management software’s task management solution can automate task allocation. Managers can upload a month’s worth of tasks and shifts in advance. The jobs will be visible to the employees daily. This helps to save a lot of extra effort and time.

Additionally, managers can even track the real time status of the tasks at all times.

Live Location Tracking

Keeping tabs on the remotely working employees is necessary. Through employee monitoring software, managers can accurately track the real time location of the field employees. This makes it easier for managers to assist. It also helps to enhance the visibility and accountability of the remote working force.

Digital Documentation

Working from home or anywhere makes it impossible for employees and managers to share paperwork and data manually. To make it easier, we offer cloud storage where high-quality media and documents can all be stored.

The data is accessible to everyone unless restricted. Field employees benefit from it as they can easily download or upload data remotely.

In Built Chat Box

We offer an inbuilt chat box to prevent isolation and promote lucrative communication between managers and other remotely working employees. Videos, voice notes, and media can be shared along with messages for better clarification. Also, this helps to prevent the usage of multiple platforms for working.

Productivity Reports

To prevent overlooking the contribution of each flexible working employee, the employee monitoring software offers automated reports. These reports are super detailed and accurate. As a result, managers can precisely measure the productivity, performance quality, sales made, etc, of each employee. This helps to maintain supervision over the remotes and prevents the disadvantages of flexible working from seeping in.

Leave Management

Working remotely restricts the interaction between employees and managers, making informing about leaves difficult. Even managers might not know who is on leave and who is working because of WFH. So the software offers a leave management solution where the employees can apply for leave remotely.

Managers through an informative dashboard to see each employee’s past leave requests. They can take action accordingly.

Manage Flexible Working Like a Pro With TrackoField

When a company offers flexible working to its employees, it counts the advantages they can gain, like a productive workforce, satisfied customers, cutting costs, etc. Many fail to take into account the disadvantages like mismanagement, lack of communication, and procrastination that come along with it. If you don’t want to be hackled down by them, we suggest you invest in efficient workforce management software.

TrackoField is a top-notch employee management software that will help you work remotely and efficiently through its equally A Grade solutions.