HR &
Payroll
WORKFORCE
VISIBILITY:
INSIGHT NOT INTUITION
Executive
1 | Workforce visibility: Guide
insight not intuition
Contents
3 Introduction
Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
4 Employee engagement
Understanding your employees is crucial to creating a highly engaged workforce
7 Company culture
A strong culture within your team is at the heart of business success
10 Operational efficiency
Spending less time on admin, more time on your people
13 Social technology
Embracing social enhances recruitment, employee learning and engagement
16 Summary
The insight to motivate and engage your people
2 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
Introduction
Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
You probably know a great deal about your And it’s your job to keep them engaged and
clients or customers – their purchasing productive. To do this effectively, you need a
behavior or the way they prefer to use your consistent and accurate view of your employee
services. And that’s great for business. information, otherwise strategic decisions will
be based on intuition rather than insight.
But what about your own employees?
Do you know which department has the Workforce visibility gives you that insight.
highest turnover or what motivates your star
In this guide, we look at four areas where
performers? How long does your recruitment
workforce visibility and analytics help
process take? If you can’t answer these
HR people deliver a more strategic and
questions quickly, you’re losing sight of a vital
impactful role in business strategy: employee
business asset: your people.
engagement, company culture, social
However, you’re not alone, many organizations technology and operational efficiency.
find it hard to maintain an accurate view of
With cloud-based, integrated solutions, your
employee information. Keeping pace with
people management departments can play a
the modern workforce is a challenge. It’s
significant role in motivating, developing and
made up of people of widely different ages,
retaining your people – now and for future
experiences and skill sets. In turn, they work
business success.
flexibly, part-time, freelance and full-time – from
locations around the world. They’re motivated
by success and compensation, but also value
purposeful work and personal development.
You need a consistent
and accurate view of your
employee information,
otherwise strategic decisions
will be based on intuition
rather than insight
3 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
1 Employee engagement
Understanding what inspires and motivates
your diverse, multigenerational employees is
crucial to creating a highly engaged workforce.
For the first time, millennials now make up retail vouchers, or even access to physical
more than half the workforce. And with baby and/or emotional wellbeing benefits, each
boomers working into their 70s, it will be employee will value rewards differently.
increasingly common for some companies to
Instant recognition
have employees where the age difference is
Many companies are moving toward an
more than 50 years. Add Gen Xers to the mix
instant gratification model by rewarding their
and you’re faced with a diverse range of people.
employees with on-site perks and gifts for
A survey by Great Places to Work/Fortune1 doing a good job.
discovered that employees of all ages are
Bain & Company, Facebook, LinkedIn, Boston
looking for similar things in a great workplace:
Consulting Group, Google, and World Wide
a company they can be proud of, a sense of
Technology were just a few companies named
community with their colleagues, and honest,
the best places to work in 2017 by Glassdoor
ethical leaders.
for their increased transparency from senior
Although employees may have similar views leadership and employee engagement.
about what they want from work, keeping
Recent research from Glassdoor found that
them engaged will require a range of factors
more than half (57%) of people said benefits
such as benefits, training and wellbeing
and perks are among their top considerations
programs that suit people at different stages in
before accepting a job, and four in five workers
their career. For that to succeed, you need to
say they would prefer new benefits over a
know your workforce.
pay raise2.
According to Gallup3, companies with highly
Engagement factors
engaged workforces outperform their peers by
Work-life balance, for example, will mean
147 percent in earnings per share. Surprisingly,
something different for each employee. With
employee engagement has become an
a better understanding of your people and
important issue for business leaders. In the
what makes them tick, you’ll know how they
Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report,
prefer to be recognized and rewarded at work.
85 percent ranked engaging their people as a
Whether that’s more vacation, perks such as
top priority.4
Sources: 1 How to Create a Culture that Works for All Ages, Great Place to Work
2 There Were Some Surprising Changes In The Best Places To Work This Year
3 The Engaged Workplace, Gallup
4 Global Human Capital Trends 2016
5 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
How workforce visibility
influences employee engagement
• One of the most effective drivers of • Health and well-being programs and flexible
employee engagement is training and work arrangements can be tailored to suit
personal development. With accurate, up- the employee. Rather than one-size-fits-all,
to-date data about your people, you can programs can be created that support
plan individual training programs across individual circumstances – such as being
your diverse workforce as well as track a new parent.
certification and skill sets.
• With benefits such as healthcare, you can
• With a cloud-based solution, employees determine the most popular programs
on the move can use social technology by tracking what is most selected by
to access formal and informal learning employees during open enrolment. With
programs, such as online tutorials, an integrated HR solution, you can then
e-learning and library materials. generate reports about the cost trends of
your benefits programs based on current,
• Analytics could also show if you’re
historical, and projected benefits data.
underutilizing a person in terms of skills.
Suitable intervention shows that you
recognize their value. Re-energized, they
are more likely to stay with the company.
6 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
2 Company culture
Your company’s culture isn’t just a mission statement in the
company handbook. It reflects the vision, values, and behaviors
of everyone in your company.
7 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
Team building, workplace events, and respect Rand Fishkin, co-founder of software company
between employees and management set the MOZ, is another strong believer in company
tone for the workplace environment. When culture. The company’s core values are
companies build a great culture, the rewards embedded in its TAGFEE code – transparent,
have a positive impact on productivity and authentic, generous, fun, empathetic and
customer service. exceptional (TAGFEE). The company lives by an
open, transparent culture and everything MOZ
In Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital
creates and cultivates lives up to the code.
Trends1, 82 percent of respondents said that
culture is a potential competitive advantage.
However, only 28 percent believed they Your people as brand ambassadors
understood their culture well.1 A great workplace culture encourages its
people to become company ambassadors,
Look at any list of the great places to work
which is a key factor in driving employee
and corporate culture will score highly. It’s a
engagement.
complex process and will continually evolve,
but is a key factor in driving engagement and Vincit, a software company, has a policy
well-being with employees. of posting every new job internally and
encouraging employees to inform their
own networks. Every person who seems
Valued and appreciated
like a potential ‘Vincitizen’ gets invited to an
Each year at Detroit-based Quicken Loans,
interview, regardless if there’s an open project
CEO Bill Emerson updates a book that
or not. The company doesn’t hire people based
describes all of the organization’s values and
on project needs, but based on if they fit in the
the principles that inform every decision.
culture of the organization. They believe that if
Wanting all of his people to feel valued and
a person is a good fit for Vincit, they will find a
appreciated, Emerson personally facilitates
good career path inside the company.
orientation for all new employees and gives his
cell phone number to every team member.
“Customers will never
love a company until the
employees love it first”
Simon Sinek
Sources: 1 2016 Global Human Capital Trends, Deloitte
8 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
How workforce visibility
influences company culture
• With all of your people information in one • Encourage employee feedback on
place, you can engage your employees Glassdoor and LinkedIn – and act
through your company-branded self-service on suggestions.
portal. This way, you can create experiences
• Keep people fully informed with the
that are bespoke and personal.
latest messages and tasks regarding
• Post the latest corporate videos, news, compliance or training requirements,
company social feeds, company images, corporate social responsibility updates,
awards, and company social news. and company surveys.
9 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
3 Operational efficiency
With an integrated, end-to-end HR solution, you can
spend less time on admin, more time on people.
10 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
To make informed decisions and provide Consistent, accurate, up-to-date data is
effective guidance to the entire organization, essential for an agile business. Managers
people managers need consistent, accurate and need answers quickly. With workforce visibility,
up-to-date visibility into the entire workforce. information can be collated and reports
produced in seconds rather than days.
But it’s not always easy.
Providing insight into an organization’s
As companies expand to work from different
workforce will improve strategic planning
offices, regions and countries, the task of
and recruiting methods. This will also help
keeping accurate employee records becomes
influence hiring decisions and keep the best
even more important.
workers with the company and determine
skills gaps.
Tap into talent
With the continued rise of the contingent
On-demand resource modeling
workforce and the gig economy, managers
Visual reports and charts help management
will need to create and tap into talent pools
identify superstar performers, determine
and networks to access necessary skills.
what employees need to best perform, and
This change is happening fast. Having all your
what they value. These can be produced
employee data on a spreadsheet is not going
automatically and distributed to a specific
to cut it when you need to reposition your
managerial network, or modified using
team quickly to respond to a challenge.
drag and drop functions to undertake
Companies also have a diverse range of “what-if” analysis.
workers in the mix: full- and part-time people,
Charts are a quick way to consume data,
those working at home, workers employed
freeing up valuable time, which can be better
from agencies. Creating an inclusive,
spent developing your organization and
collaborative environment is a significant
its talent.
challenge without an HR solution that provides
an accurate view of all your people.
One of the most seemingly straightforward Companies that take a
people and payroll processes that needs
technology support is the updating of
more strategic approach
personnel details. A report by Fairsail found to talent management
that 76 percent of respondents required their
employees to fill in a form or email changes for see a 38 percent higher
HR to update them. Without functional self-
service tools for employees, HR professionals engagement and 40 percent
say they spend half their time on administrative
tasks. This is not a good use of their talent.
lower turnover
Sage, ROEI white paper.
Transform workforce experience
If your business is growing at a rapid pace, you
haven’t got time to be re-entering personal
data across multiple systems. From finding
new talent to recruiting to onboarding, you
need a solution that automatically integrates
the process end-to-end. It’s not only quicker
and more cost-effective, it creates a great
experience both for the candidate and those
who manage the process.
11 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
How workforce visibility influences
operational efficiency
• All of your information is in one place, a • Provides accurate workforce data that
single system of record with secure details integrates with your people management
regarding each member of the workforce. systems, saving time from manual inputs
and spreadsheet hell.
• Empowers employees to manage
attendance and absences, as well as • Supports the employment journey, from
keeping their personal information current social recruitment, through acquisition, to
and accurate through a self-service portal. managing people, their performance
and development.
12 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
4 Social technology
We use social media tools to run our lives
and expect to be able to share ideas and
collaborate in the same way at work.
13 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
Be proactive and use social media to start conversations
with potential new talent
Everyone is used to connecting, socializing Development
and communicating from wherever they are. Learning and development is a key factor
Having that same freedom should be true in retaining your best people, and social
of the workplace, too, which is why people technology gives them the opportunity to
management leaders are learning how to blend formal and informal learning. With a
make use of the opportunities that social cloud-based learning platform, you can make
media presents. it easy for everyone to access their training
content whenever and however they want.
Social media channels are now an essential
Online tutorials, webinars, and social media
route for sharing insights and information
technology encourages a more collaborative
throughout an employee’s career.
working environment which creates an
opportunity for employees to network and
Recruitment share knowledge. And rather than arrange
Prospective employees will follow your training to tackle a specific issue, new
company’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, technologies allow you to build continuous
and LinkedIn feeds to see if you’re a good learning into your L&D offering.
company to work for. They’ll also read what
your employees say about you on sites such
Collaboration
as Glassdoor. If it’s poorly managed, you risk
Social collaboration is becoming one of
losing the best candidates without even
the most important forms of engagement.
knowing. Instead, be proactive, and use social
Technology can help an employee be part of
media to start conversations with potential
the team even if they’re hundreds of miles
new talent. By talking about your company
away. Social collaboration lets them find the
culture and providing useful recruitment
right person, learn how to do something, or get
advice, you’ll help them learn more about
an answer to their question faster than before.
your organization.
Minimizing travel and time spent in physical
meetings delivers cost savings; while an online
Engagement discussion forum can improve productivity by
Communicating your organization’s values, connecting people with the right knowledge
personality and culture as a great place to in real-time.
work are crucial aspects of developing a strong
employer brand. Again, social technologies can
have a significant impact. Your people are more
engaged when information flows freely and
they understand the relevance of activities and
management decisions that affect their jobs.
Providing employees with tools to help them
locate and connect to colleagues, and
to contribute their knowledge creates a
sense of belonging.
14 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
How workforce visibility enhances
social technology
• An integrated people management solution • With new people management systems,
allows you to assess knowledge gaps and employees can personalize the content
training needs throughout the organization that is displayed on their mobile or tablet.
and plan delivery suited to individual needs. Rather than being overwhelmed by
Social tools allow you to monitor access, information, employees can connect with
measure progress and provide assessments. the information they need without wasting
time and productivity.
• Reduce information overload and keep
people in different offices up to date with
the most important company information.
• For employees on the move, cloud-based
By using social technologies,
solutions ensure that collaboration and companies can raise the
business social networking are maintained
wherever they are. productivity of knowledge
• Using social technology, learning and workers by up to 25 percent
development programs become a networking
opportunity as well as a training resource. The social economy: unlocking value and
productivity through social technologies.
McKinsey Global Institute.
15 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
Summary
The insight to motivate and engage your people
Try these examples of basic questions to see how well you know your workforce.
How many people work at your organization?
Which of your people have been recognized by their peers as being the most productive?
How long does it typically take to hire someone?
Whose skills will be in most demand over the next two years?
Which employees are at risk of leaving your organization?
How many people are on vacation next week?
Having consistent, accurate, up-to-date acquisition process, to managing people and
information about your workforce is essential. their performance, developing their skills and
It allows your business to be more efficient, abilities, engaging and communicating with
responsive and effective. In today’s global, the workforce, providing reports, dashboards
24-7 business climate, HR systems can no and analytics, and planning for the future.
longer be simply administrative systems of
Sage can help you effortlessly manage labour-
record. Instead, they have the potential to
intensive processes and keep you up to date,
drive workforce engagement in a way that will
error-free and legally compliant. Whatever the
have an impact that’s far wider than on HR
size of your business, your best asset is your
processes alone.
people. Celebrate them, keep them happy, help
Sage HR solutions support the entire them grow, and your business will reap rich
employment journey, from people marketing rewards.
and social recruitment, through the entire
Discover which Sage HR solution is right for you
16 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
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17 | Workforce visibility: insight not intuition
