Workforce Management Solutions for Hospitality

While the HR manager is required to be part of the hotel's strategic management team, he or she is also obligated to align workforce needs with the company’s strategic goals. Knowing more about the obstacles for efficient budgeting, and understanding that there are times when actual results vary significantly from the planned ones can help the manager control expenses and achieve excellent operating margins.

Profitability is the outcome of efficient operations that are able to provide the right level of service while still controlling costs. Nevertheless, mainly in Hospitality, profitability lies in the art of scale. You must adjust the workforce to the changes in the demand, whether it is a normal business day, or any day in the peak season.

Controlling these increased outsource expenses has become a challenge for many hotels.  In theory, the HR or Operations department pay for the work that was ordered and delivered. In practice, invoices not once include hours not delivered, or hours performed without pre-approval. Managers commonly report feeling a lack of control, and witnessing negative effects on their budgets. 

Hotel budget deviations usually result in either layoffs or deep cuts in the budget, which in turn damage the service and result in a loss of talent. Constant reality checks of the gaps between budgeted and actual costs offer an outlet – the ability to act upon small deviations because of regular monitoring of labour costs in real-time  eliminates the surprise effect at the end of the month, quarter or year, when it is too late to take corrective action.

The core of Workforce Management is Time and Attendance and Absence Management. Unlike other systems, Workforce Management needs to comply with the local legislation of working hours, overtime, and time-off. This gets even more complicated as legislation often changes, and the system needs to be updated to match these changes. 

In order to provide quality service while maintaining strong profits, you need to guarantee the availability of information about employee productivity, labour costs, hours worked, and absences. This information assures you have the right amount of employees, in the right place at the right time, based on the predicted level of occupancy, considering events happening in the hotel.  

You are probably already familiar with the benefits of WFM and what it can do for your hotel. But when it comes to choosing a WFM solution, how do you select the right WFM system for your hotel?