Workforce design is not just about hiring staff, it is a strategic approach to help a company grow and adapt to market changes. Companies that know how to plan their workforce effectively can reduce costs, increase productivity and ensure that the right people are in the right place at the right time.
What is workforce design and why is it important?
Workforce design is a holistic approach that aims to optimise a company’s work organisation and workforce allocation to support business growth. It involves strategic planning that takes into account the skills of the workforce, technological capabilities and changing market demand.
Workforce design helps answer the following critical questions:
- How to strike a balance between permanent and temporary workers?
- What data can be used to forecast labour needs and avoid labour shortages?
- How can you use technological tools to plan your workforce more effectively?
Many companies take a reactive approach to workforce management – dealing with problems only when they arise. Successful organisations, on the other hand, proactively apply workforce design to create systems that support growth, reduce risk and enable rapid adaptation to market changes.
Here are three key ways in which workforce design can help accelerate business growth.
1. Flexible workforce model – fast response to market changes
A flexible workforce model allows companies to respond quickly to market demand and reduce fixed costs. Rather than keeping a large permanent workforce or, conversely, overburdening a smaller workforce with overtime, companies can use a blended model where the core team works with a flexible and project-based workforce.
💡 Read more: Flexible workforce: why is it essential for businesses?
For example, if a retail business has peak seasons (e.g. Christmas), workforce design can help to identify which roles need seasonal reinforcement and find flexible workforce solutions without unduly increasing the burden on permanent staff.
💡 A technological solution: use workforce management platforms to quickly find temporary or flexible* workers and manage schedules.
2. Data-driven workforce design – optimise labour costs and productivity
Today’s HR management solutions offer the opportunity to use a data-driven approach to better understand how to use the workforce and optimise costs.
For example, companies in the service sector can analyse customer flows and adjust working schedules to demand, avoiding situations where either too few or too many people are at work.
💡 Technological solution: use AI-based workforce planning tools that can predict workforce needs, analyse historical data and recommend optimal work schedules. Such solutions can help reduce the risks of over- and under-working and ensure smooth workflow.
3. Workforce design motivates and supports staff development
Employee motivation is directly linked to how their roles and work organisation are designed. When people feel that they have the opportunity to develop and that their skills are being used to the maximum, they are more productive.
For example, manufacturing companies could implement cross-training to ensure that a number of workers can perform different roles. This reduces the risk of a person with critical skills leaving and creating a backlog in the work process.
💡 Technological solution: use digital training platforms to help employees quickly acquire new skills and ensure internal continuity.
How can you assess whether your company’s workforce design needs updating?
- Does your workforce strategy support the growth of your business or is it simply reactive?
- Do you use analytics and data-driven management?
- Are your staff development opportunities linked to business objectives?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, it’s time to review and optimise your workforce design. GoWorkaBit helps companies create flexible and strategic workforce solutions that support growth and efficiency.
*Flexible workforce – an extended team of employees who join the company on a permanent but irregular basis depending on the needs of the company (e.g. peak periods) and the wishes of the employee (e.g. to earn extra money). This is a longer-term employment relationship and therefore the employee is familiar with the workplace and processes, trained where necessary, but is not employed on a permanent salaried basis.
On the GoWorkaBit platform, you can put such a team together under the Hub service, where you can put together an extended team of people you know and work with, conveniently put up schedules for them to sign up to. GoWorkaBit takes care of the administrative tasks (e.g. POR entries, payroll, etc.) and provides you with a simple invoice at the end.