Workforce Management (WFM) is a term used to define any technology or business solution designed to help organizations more effectively manage the processes for forecasting, scheduling, tracking, evaluating and compensating the employee workforce. WFM focuses on ensuring that companies have the right people, with the right skills in the right job at the right cost on a consistent basis. Common software include Time and Attendance, Scheduling, Leave Management, Attendance Management, Performance Management and Employee and Manager Self-Service.
For many HR professionals, workforce management is not a new concept - companies have been using transactional, stand-alone systems to automate one or several WFM functions for years. In recent years however, the discipline of Enterprise Workforce Management has evolved to the point where it is now capable of supporting complex processes at a holistic, enterprise level. Done successfully, the benefits of an enterprise WFM solution are significant; the hard cost savings and productivity improvements related to how employees are scheduled, compensated and managed can result in investment paybacks measured in months, not years.