Workforce Management Software (WMS) is any technology that supports your business in automating, consolidating and streamlining tasks related to managing its workforce. As today, 39% of the U.S. workforce is freelancing, effective Workforce Management Software needs to be aimed at a diverse and contingent workforce, not only traditional employer/employee relationships.
Interested in learning more about Fiverr Enterprise, a single platform for hiring, onboarding, management and paying global freelancers.
When implemented according to your business context, Workforce Management Software can make all the difference to your organization. Here’s what you need to know.
This is part of a series of articles about Workforce Management.
Workforce Management Software: Key Features and Components
There are many different kinds of WMS on the market, so it’s critical to start by understanding what features could be included in your software of choice. In some cases, you’ll have specific requirements related to your business challenges. For example you might be finding it hard to pay freelancers accurately and on time, or you could be struggling with compliance. In other cases, some features could feel unnecessary, or like bells and whistles you could easily do without.
Here are some of the features you might find in Workforce Management Software.
- Time and attendance tracking: If your business relies on many part-time or shift workers, time and attendance can be really important. T&A software allows workers to clock in and out, often verifying their attendance using technology such as facial recognition, monitor tracking, or fingerprint scanning. If you’re paying freelancers or employees by their number of hours, time and attendance tracking is essential.
- Employee scheduling and shift planning: A similar feature is employee scheduling technology. This tech gives workers a way to swap tasks or hours, and helps the business to plan ahead to ensure you have cover for vacations or back ups in place for sick leave. Some WMS will allow you to automatically select staff based on the project, availability, cost, and training level.
- Absence and leave management: When will workers be available, and when are they taking vacation or parental leave for example? Technology can help to keep visibility across your whole staff. When it comes to freelancers, this can be tricky, as they have no set vacation days to keep to, and can be unavailable for large stretches of time.
- Talent management and HR functions: A strong WMS will include sourcing and hiring technology, to speed up time to hire, and get workers onboarded quickly with automated workflows. Once you have a relationship with a freelancer, look for technology that supports building long term relationships, such as a centralized talent pool and strong communication features.
- Compliance and labor law adherence: Compliance is a moving target when working with freelancers, and laws and regulations change depending on the region. WMS can reduce and even eliminate the risk of freelancer misclassification, and automate region-specific compliance behind the scenes so your business is always audit-ready.
- Reporting and analytics: Business intelligence is no longer a nice-to-have. All strong Workforce Management Software will come with some kind of reporting and analytics to show you behind the scenes information on your workforce, such as productivity, efficiency, output, and costs. This data can be used to get buy-in for additional projects or hires.
Benefits of Using WMS
Before Workforce Management Software, many of these tasks were completed manually. With the advent of WMS, businesses are seeing enhanced productivity and efficiency. Let’s take just one example, of system access. Many freelancers will need access to specific technologies and systems to do the task they were hired for. Before technology, this could take days or even weeks as the right signatures and documents were collected and signed, and the correct stakeholder in IT provided log-in credentials. With WMS, this whole workflow can be automated and handled in a matter of minutes.
The benefits are also manifold for the workers themselves. By wasting less time on bureaucracy, they can get on with the job for which they were hired, which boosts their satisfaction. Many WMS include quick and easy payment processes which, for freelancers especially, reduces the chance they will go work for the competition instead.
For Procurement leaders, WMS offers easy cost-savings, as resources are being allocated optimally. At all times, managers can see who is on staff, what they are doing, and whether this is the best use of their skills and time. No need to pay high markups to staffing agencies, as WMS often allows you to source and hire internally on your own terms. With business analytics to hand, you’re making informed decisions with the data to back it up.
How Fiverr Enterprise is the Best Workforce Management Software for Your Business
Fiverr Enterprise is a SaaS solution that gives you full visibility and control over your entire freelance workforce by allowing you to source, hire, onboard, manage and pay, all while ensuring compliance, so your teams can work faster and maximize business growth.
For enterprise companies, working with freelancers can feel like an operational nightmare. Legal concerns, worker misclassification risks, security considerations, and the simple act of getting them paid… the list goes on. And yet, the skills and flexibility of freelancers is impossible to do without.
Fiverr Enterprise provides that one holistic view of freelance operations that allows Procurement leaders to track and reduce costs, ensure all the right documentation is signed, and eliminate misclassification entirely. From onboarding to offboarding, you can automate and customize each and every legal, financial and operational requirement. Features include:
- Expert sourcing: Find the right talent without paying staffing agencies, with our sourcing and vetting service finding bespoke talent in just 48 hours.
- 360° compliance: Automate the collection of all relevant documentation for data privacy and compliance. Continual auditing ensures no misclassification risk.
- Talent pool: When a freelancer is great, you want to work with them again. Make rehiring easier with your own private talent pool, making hiring autonomy simple.
- Enterprise payments: Pay Fiverr Enterprise one monthly invoice, and pay your freelancers according to their requirements. Connect every spend to a PO.
Want to see for yourself how Fiverr Enterprise can fill a critical gap in your software stack? Schedule a 30-min call with one of our workforce experts.
Related content: Read our guide to workforce planning.
Related content: Read our guide to workforce analytics