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We can’t predict what 2023 will bring, but we can speculate — and any speculation must include an objective look at workforce management software. Despite not being able to peer into a crystal ball, we can transfer a lot of knowledge from last year into this year. The next 12 months will help employers confirm a lot of things about the last 12 months.
2022 will be remembered as the year the dust settled. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit society two years before, survival was the only thing on people’s minds. Then, as businesses and the world dealt with the aftermath of 2020 and 2021’s pandemic, 2022 lacked much of that “what do we do now” feeling.
Nonetheless, recent months still presented their share of challenges despite companies generally not being in crisis mode. The old “business as usual” didn’t return to many places — and it may never return. This is due to labor shortages, supply chain issues, so-called quiet quitting, and employees demanding better work-life balance.
Don’t Take Things for Granted: Workforce Management Software
Employers in 2022 often paused to reflect after the worst of the pandemic passed, and much of this reflecting centered around technology, platforms, cloud systems, people, human capital, resources, and workforce management software. When times were tough, many people appreciated health, work, and people they could count on.
Last year was a great reminder to be grateful for a great team. With all the upheaval in the workplace over the past few years, it’s a good habit to always be thankful and appreciative for having a solid team you can count on. You’ll be able to stick with your team through tough times and good times if you show your appreciation.
Respecting and cherishing workers is what many human resources managers and workforce development leaders learned over the past year — and they’re looking to put those principles into play in 2023. Many corporations, small businesses, and public agencies wouldn’t be what they are today without their workers. Listening to employee concerns and valuing their input has taught workforce leaders a lot. Providing a safe and supportive work environment is important, and recognizing workers’ hard work and dedication is crucial. You should do everything you can to make sure your staff is treated fairly.
Direction by Leaders and Workforce Management Software
Leaders who are successful offer guidance and feedback to their employees all the time, and many do this with the help of technologically capable workforce management software. When team members get information like this, they’re confident they’re doing the right things. It’s also a source of constructive criticism too, which helps them get better at their jobs.
Communication can sometimes fall by the wayside when workers aren’t in the office every day. It’s up to managers to make sure this doesn’t happen and strategically fill that communication gap.
Setting clear expectations for remote workers is important in 2023. Orientation processes in the office can teach employees about expectations and how to behave. These details aren’t always clear in a remote environment. The best way to ensure the success of remote teams is to set clear expectations from the beginning.
It’s important that people know what’s expected of them in their roles, what they need to accomplish in their first month, what their key priorities are, how much time they should dedicate to online work, and what their schedule should be. That’s where the right workforce management software becomes essential.
Taking Care of Your Mental Health is Important
Last year contained a lot of problems that could make human resources leaders and their staff feel anxious — everything from pandemic worries to inflation to political divisiveness. For some, it’s hard to do more work with fewer people when you have to also take care of kids or elderly parents in your personal life. Getting burned out is a real problem, and employers can’t just ignore it and tell workers to deal with it.
Mental health is the most important concept many business leaders learned and concentrated on over the past year. Mental health should be taken just as seriously as physical health. The key isn’t just to be happy or have a good attitude. Being mentally healthy means balancing your life and coping with stress. It’s definitely something to prioritize in the coming year, and it can be encouraged and leveraged through the way you utilize and tailor your workforce management software to your employees.
Employers took these steps to improve mental health in 2022 — and they aren’t stopping in 2023:
- Limiting employee contact during non-work hours to respect downtime.
- Better insurance plans for covering mental health.
- On-site relaxation time.
- Work-life balance with flexible schedules.
- Reminding employees to take mental health days and to use vacation time.
- More employees transitioned to unlimited paid time off (PTO).
A lot of employers learned that employees demand self-care and balance. Analytics and feedback from workforce management software displayed how both managers and workers alike said goodbye to “living to work” and said hello to “work-to-live.” In fact, to recruit and retain employees, a work-life balance culture is just as important as fair wages. The lifestyle of top talent has shifted from pre-pandemic to post-pandemic. Job descriptions have been adjusted to reflect culture and what kind of life a worker should expect. Workers aren’t willing to put up with what they had before, so this has been a crucial part of recruitment.
Going into 2023, employees and potential employees are getting more out of life and reducing burnout. Leaders are also waking up to the fact that they need to take care of themselves.
Taking care of your mental health is the most important lesson learned for so many over the past year. It’s a stressful world, and getting caught up in work makes it easy to neglect your personal life. You can make sure you’re focusing on what matters most to you and taking care of yourself — and your employees. Sometimes, knowing that you need help isn’t easy, especially as a leader. Just know that your team will suffer if you don’t take care of yourself too.
Best of Both Worlds in Hybrid Setups
On the topic of hybrid arrangements, some employers learned how to mix onsite and off-site operations — all with the help of workforce management software. Here are some potential advantages:
- Balance your work and life.
- Because employees can work from home without being interrupted, they can focus more on certain tasks.
- Brainstorming, teaching new skills, discussing sensitive topics, and other activities benefit from having everyone together.
- Opportunities to socialize and develop company culture abound.
Despite the pandemic, the past year was the year when human resources and workforce management leaders learned that a hybrid work model was most productive for their teams. In fact, many will keep this model throughout 2023. Having a hybrid work model makes teams happier, more productive, and more free.
The method or the workplace shouldn’t matter, as long as employees get the job done. To give employees what they want, continue adopting a hybrid workplace approach if you can, and make sure you leverage a quality workforce management software solution.
Some people like their work-life balance at home, and others need to be in the office. The best way to get the most out of workers isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. When leaders realize this, they can bring out the best in employees. Don’t put your employees in a box — give them choices.
Working Remotely Isn’t an Experiment Anymore
As a result of the pandemic and innovations in workforce management software, companies sent workers home. Employees felt uncomfortable at first adjusting to this new way of performing, and management was worried about productivity. Despite limited options, what began as a feasible solution has become acceptable now, or even preferred.
Work-from-home is helping many businesses, fields, occupations, and industries stay afloat, as well as strengthening employee benefits. This shift has led some fields to thrive — big time. Many employers have benefited from:
- Employees being happier.
- Elimination of geographical barriers to employment, which expands the pool of job candidates.
- Productivity going up.
- Rent and overhead expenses being reduced.
- Non-standard business hours helping employees cover clients better.
This is something to ponder, especially when a forced experiment over the past two years turned into normal operating procedures. When employees are forced to telecommute, they often get a taste for it, along with the workforce management software you have in place to communicate with them and administer their work status.
Having learned from experience that work-from-home can be highly productive, employers quickly realized that simply eliminating employees who lean this direction could lead to problems. Resignation letters are more common. Recruiters learned that mentioning the possibility of working from home increased interest from job seekers, and going into 2023, the number of applicants for remote and hybrid work is seven times higher than for in-person jobs.
VCS Software
VCS Software is your all-in-one solutions platform for workforce management software whether your business, company, or public agency or department is large, medium, or small. VCS Software provides the right solutions within human resources — and so much more.