Traditionally, the public sector has been resistant to change. From working with limited resources, dealing with time constraints and managing large volumes of work, it’s no easy feat to effectively run an organisation in the public sector.
When it comes to using technology to work and perform better, the private sector leads the way. They’ve been swift to embrace technology to help them work differently, more productively and more efficiently. Due to highly bureaucratic organisations, drawn out consultation processes and a historic resistance to change, it’s much more difficult for the public sector to follow suit.
However, the face of the public sector is changing and brings with it the opportunity to do things differently. According to a report from Deloitte, “Senior public sector technology workers are leaving and younger employees with new skills are taking their places. This changing landscape is forcing technology leaders to rethink their approach to talent management. Public sector leaders who are moving forward with transformative technologies are also turning their attention to the workforce that will be expected to deliver value from these investments.”
The report further states that the use of digital technology, the cloud, analytics and the changing role of IT within enterprise are transforming the business world and public sector alike, driving innovation and giving rise to new business models.
Public sector organisations are in prime position to benefit from adopting new technologies, something we see frequently with workforce management software. A good workforce management solution will be cloud-based software that helps organisations dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to carry out many of the fundamental processes the organisation needs to run. Think of it as being a way to optimise these process so they are quicker, more effective and add greater value to your organisation.
This is how the public sector can benefit from better workforce management:
More effective use of resources
Every government organisation has a responsibility to the citizens they serve to do the best job they can. That’s why, when resources are stretched, it makes sense to use them in the best possible way. With Quinyx you get an instant overview of exactly how much a schedule will cost in terms of money and time. You’ll know at a glance if you can afford to schedule another person for a shift.
We usually find highly-skilled, expensive employees are the ones who spend weeks of their time creating schedules. Quinyx does this automatically while at the same time managing all shift changes. This means the highly-skilled employee can spend less time scheduling and more time doing what they are best at.
Unprecedented control
We know most public sector rely on Excel, a pen and paper or a homemade programme to create their schedules. These methods are time intensive, inaccurate and inefficient. The hours your staff can work and their rest between shifts are often dictated by their union contracts and if calculating these hours is done after each scheduling period, it’s only then that any errors become apparent.
With Quinyx you get automated warnings if you try to schedule someone over the hours they are contracted to work, no matter their position. It is easy to implement and greatly reduces the risk of being fined for breaking contracts.
Furthermore, It’s very common to find scheduling has no connection to budget and the true cost of the schedule is only apparent after the hours have been worked and payroll is run. We know there’s often a big difference between the projected hours worked and the actual hours worked which can end up in the organisation bearing an unnecessary cost.
With manual control of how the schedule matches with the budget there are no warnings if you’re going to go over budget and there is a high risk of human error. Quinyx gives its users a real-time, dynamic overview of the amount of hours worked in any given period and the cost of those hours.
Cloud-based simplicity
Quinyx is a SaaS solution meaning the implementation costs are significantly less and there are regular updates to enhance features of the software. Not only this, but by being able to control time and attendance, scheduling, budgeting and forecasting from one hub, public sector leaders are able to make better decision based upon data and save huge amounts of time on core organisational tasks.
Enjoying work shouldn’t just be something that belongs to startups, fast growth companies and the disruptors. The more traditional businesses and the public sector can drastically improve the way they operate by better use of technology and through this enjoy work more. This improves the performance of the organisation and ultimately results in a better service for citizens the public sector is there to serve.