Workforce Software: Boston-based consultancy Aberdeen Group reports that
“employee turnover and the pressure to reduce payroll costs” are motivating more
and more top retailers to implement automated workforce management technologies.
These companies are nearly three times as likely to assess staffing needs,
skills gaps and talent development as retailers that don’t use automated
systems, and 40 percent are more likely to use established guidelines for
workforce processes and product training, according to the research. Having such
capability enables top-performing retailers to “improve scheduling, labor
management, employee training and task management” when compared with
competitors.
Even so, automation has yet to fully penetrate all aspects of the human
resources field. A survey by software maker SumTotal Systems Inc., headquartered
in Mountain View, California, found that roughly 47 percent of HR and training
professionals keep tabs on workplace performance with paper, computer
spreadsheets or word-processing programs. Nearly 40 percent cite lack of time
and resources as the main reason they have not implemented sophisticated
performance management technologies. Things may be about to change, though, with
30 percent of companies in the U.S. and Europe planning to investigate such
purchases this year.
—Garry
Kranz
= Member Only
