Workforce Management Survey On November 26 th, 2010 over 50 HR professionals attended Atomic Recruitments Seminar Series: Workforce Management Transforming HR Strategies with guest presenter David Mitchell, General Manager, Kronos. The following are the results of a survey form completed by 40 participating companies representing basic workforce management practices concerning calculating labor hours, overtime, key issues HR leaders currently face and IT system challenges HR shared services face. Thank you to guest that attended the seminar and participated in our survey. We hope the results will give you a benchmark with your peers and insight on how to better improve your workforce management practices. Atomic is an Australian based recruitment firm with offices in Shanghai since 2005. We have over 30 staff with consultants from 5 different nations. We focus on industrial manufacturing across all core functions. For inquiries contact Mr. Jeff Hu, 6288 4900 x 37 or jhu@atomic.com.cn
Q1: How many employees are in your company? The majority of participant companies come from relatively large employee bases with 60% over 1,000 employees. The most highly represented area, 32%, was with companies with over 5,000 employees. 24% of participants came from organization with between 200-499 employees reflecting corporate entities versus manufacturing entities. 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Number of Employees <200 200-499 500-999 1k-3k 3k-5k >5k a b c d e f <200 200-499 500-999 1k-3k 3k-5k >5k 4% 24% 12% 24% 4% 32%
Q2: How does your company calculate labor hours? Traditionally companies in manufacturing industry tend to adopt comprehensive working hours and non-fixed working hours to calculate their labor hour rules. This is to balance the fluctuation of business demand such as peak season labor spikes and low season over staffing and to control labor cost especially OT costs. Calculating Labor Hours? 37% c 50% a 13% b What method do you apply to calculate labor hours? A. Standard labor hour (50%) B. Comprehensive working hours (13%) C. Non-fixed working hours (37%) a b c 15 4 11 30 50% 13% 37% 100%
Q2b: What method do you apply to calculate labor hours? Majority of companies currently utilize software supported applications to calculate labor hours. This trend will only increase to improve efficiency, accuracy and proper analysis of labor metrics. Workforce management systems offers complete automation from timekeeping to payroll. This will bring accuracy, higher efficiency for HR and maintaining proper records to minimize any compliance risk. Manually vs. Software 29% a 71% b How does your company calculate labor hours? a b 29% 71% A. Manually B. Software Supported
Q3: What's the % of OT payroll in total payroll? Market averages of OT cost is 15% of total payroll cost, this is not a small portion and can t be neglected. Majority of participants are within this range however over 23% are exceeding this benchmark. Companies should find effective way to better align their labor to demand and create better scheduling. What's the % of OT payroll in total payroll? A. <10% B. 10%~20% C. 20%~30% D. >30% a b c d 36% 41% 18% 5% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% % of Overtime / Total Payroll a b c d
Q4: What major workforce management challenges do you currently face? Attracting and retaining key staff was biggest challenge facing HR. Rising wages a very close 2 nd is on a trend for the next 5 to 10 years to only increase. Therefore it is not feasible to control labor cost by reducing staff. From Mr. Mitchell s speech we know the most effective short-term lever is, #4, to improve efficiency and better manage your workforce. Only in improved efficiency can we make the most impact. #1 Attract & Retain Skilled Labor #2 Rising Wages #3 Labor Compliance Risks #4 Improve Workforce Efficiency #5 Employee Satisfaction What major workforce management challenges do you currently face? By importance A. Rising wages D. Employee satisfaction a b c d e 26% 23% 17% 12% 22% #2 #1 #3 #5 #4 B. Attract and Retain skilled labor E. Improve workforce efficiency C. Labor Compliance Risks
Q5: Which aspects of workforce management are most important to you? Centralization and standardization of workforce management was by far the most important aspect especially for HR shared service centers shared by participants. Workforce management will help SSC to set up centralized and standardized platform, to get real-time visibility, improve efficiency and minimize compliance risk. #1 Centralization & standardization of workforce management #2 Automated time, attendance & payroll #3 High quality, timely labor reports for decision makers #4 Employee Self-Service Which aspects of workforce management are most important to you? By importance a b c d 39% 22% 22% 17% #1 #2 #3 #4 A. Centralization and standardization of workforce management B. Automated time and attendance and payroll C. High quality, timely labor reports for decision makers D. Employee Self-Service
Q6: Current Status of HR Shared Service Center: In Mr. Mitchell s speech there are 4 major stages that HR development has experienced. Shared service center is on the third stage for streamlining and standardizing the whole process. As we can see large majority of participants, 61%, already have shared services while an additional 13% have plans to create one. Current status of HR Shared Service Center: at your firm: a b c 26% 13% 61% A. No Plan B. Has Plan C. Already Built HR Shared Service Frequency 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% a b c
Q6b: Which IT systems were purchased? IT systems purchased and implemented are quite evenly spread. However, most widely used were HRMS, Payroll and Time & Attendance solutions. Which IT systems were purchased? A. HRMS D. Training Management B. Payroll Processing E. Performance Management C. Time & Attendance F. Recruitment/Hiring Management a b c d e f 24% 20% 18% 13% 14% 11% IT Systems Utilized 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% a b c d e f
Q7: Which requirements are not well supported by current IT system? The results reflect that the current IT systems that most respondents are using don t match well with their requirements on complex shifts and shifts adjustment. HR needs more flexible and automated systems to meet their workforce management requirements. Needs More IT Support Which requirements are not well supported by current IT system? a b c d 24% 30% 24% 21% A. The timely and accurate T&A report B. Complex shifts and shifts adjustment C. Configure, compute and control OT rules D. Easy and flexible statistic analysis
Q8: Timing of next workforce management system implementation? From Q7 we understand that there is a lot of demand for optimization to participant IT systems in managing workforce management. However, majority of participants do not have a clear timeframe or plan to make such changes. Timing of next workforce management system implementation? A. Within 3 months B. Within 6 months C. Within 1 year D. Not clear now a b c d 10% 10% 14% 67% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% HR Shared Service Frequency a b c d
Contact Us Jeff Hu, Business Director T: +86-21 6288 4900*37 E: jhu@atomic.com.cn Learn More: www.atomic.com.cn David Mitchell, General Manager T: +86-01 6270 5006 E: David.Mitchell@Kronos.com Learn More: www.kronos.com