What is the most important and expensive asset in your organisation? Your employees.
With the increasing social care and healthcare demands, many organisations have been forced to adapt to the changing workforce dynamics. Care home managers spend most of their time on various administrative tasks such as employee scheduling, attendance tracking, payroll processing and more.
Admittedly, relying on traditional manual processes can be inefficient, time-consuming and expensive. The need to work more efficiently and effectively in this industry is continuous, and managers in the care home sector tend to operate differently than managers in similar organisations, dealing with both employees and residents. As a result, in comparison to other organisations, staff management becomes far more difficult. And that is why these care homes and nursing homes should have a flexible software solution that can accommodate the needs of the business as well as the needs of the employees.
A workforce management software helps care home managers in resource planning, ensuring legal compliance and evaluating human capital effectiveness. And with the increasing demand for workforce management solutions, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of solution providers in the market. This makes it difficult for the care homes or any other healthcare organisation to find the right solution that works best for them.
If you are wondering how to make the right pick, then we can offer you guidance. In this blog post, we have compiled a list of key factors that care home managers should consider before making a decision.
1. Ease of use
When it comes to managing your workforce through a software solution, it is important to ensure that it features a user-friendly design. Moreover, it is also essential to check the mobile compatibility of the software. Some of the major workforce management solutions providers even offer mobile applications along with the software, which could be beneficial. JMS One is a case in point. Having a mobile helps both the employees and care home managers to view their work alerts and schedules on the go.
The WFM solution should be easy to use with an intuitive user interface and navigation. Make sure to find a software platform that is easier to learn and use so that you don’t have to spend hours on training your staff.
2. Automated reporting
A good workforce management software eliminates the time and effort required for manual procedures and paperwork. The system should be able to generate different types of reports according to the provided information. Do consider software that features accurate, real-time reporting.
3. Analytics and Insights
A WFM system should help the management in making informed decisions. For example, a care home manager may need to know the pattern of employee absence or time off. Check whether the software captures any type of data and provide detailed insights. Real-time insights and analytics would help the managers and supervisors to understand the trends and recurring patterns of employee behaviour, which may affect their performance and productivity.
4. Self-service features
A workforce management solution is not only beneficial to management, but also to employees. That is why it is important to check whether the software has self-service capabilities. Your employees should be able to view and update their work schedule, request leave, view their timesheet and track their compliance documents with ease. Providing your employees more control over their work schedules and reporting would boost their work morale and confidence.
5. Integration
A care home or a nursing home needs a diverse range of services and a WFM solution cannot provide all of them. However, it should be able to integrate other technology solutions in facilitating the operations. For example, WFM management can help your care home with rota planning and scheduling, but it cant help you with patient or inventory management. Thus, you need to ensure that the software you choose for workforce management will integrate with other programs seamlessly.
6. Communication
Efficient communication is a key component that determines the success of any organisation. Workforce management software for your care home should have a notification system that would alert your employees on shift changes, absences, time-off requests and more. If the WFM system has a mobile app, then it would be an added bonus as it would help both the employer and employees to keep track of their operations anywhere, anytime.
7. Tech support
You need to look for a reputed software solutions provider who can offer you the best quality technical support services. While working with a technology solution, it is quite common to experience a few glitches or issues along the way. If you are unable to resolve it on your own, it is good to seek the assistance of your software’s customer support team. Hence, before you sign the deal with a software solutions provider, make sure to look into the type of support services they offer. Do you have to pay additional costs for support services? Are they available 24/7? Do they have a dedicated customer support team? Make it a point to enquire about it in detail.
Now you are ready for your purchase!
Finding the right workforce management solution for your care home may seem like a challenging task. However, if you are clear about your requirements, then it won’t be as troublesome as you think.
Do keep the above-listed factors in mind while narrowing down your list of prospective software vendors. Once you have found the right WFM and experienced how it benefits your care home, you will soon realize that the time and efforts you invested into researching were worth it.
