Can the company’s headquarters dictate which Workforce Management system to purchase? Can the headquarters force the local branch to use its own WFM system? Can a hotel, as part of an international chain, independently choose its own WFM solution?

Logically, a company’s headquarters should be able to manage all sites in one centralized WFM system. In reality though, some international hotels are independently-owned and some are managed centrally where the headquarters is responsible for making global purchasing decisions, such as Customer Relationship Management or Point of Sale products.

Workforce Management is different.

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.

So can your corporate headquarters dictate what WFM product to use?

In order to have an effective WFM solution, it should support local needs – whether this means legislation or language. That being said, if your company’s headquarters can ensure these needs are met, the answer is yes.

 
However, it is often the case that an organization’s headquarters is located in a different country, or the company has various branches in different geographic regions. In this situation, it is ideal to allow local managers to decide what kind of WFM solution to implement. Allowing them to choose a system on their own not only ensures compliance to local needs, but it builds a sense of loyalty to the solution, capitalizing on the benefits of a WFM system.