The struggle is real when it comes to workforce scheduling. It involves juggling many considerations from staff availability, to dealing with last-minute unforeseen circumstances such as sudden illness or shift swap requests, and then there’s the ever-present spectre of labour law compliance to factor in.
As countries are hesitantly re-opening, specific guidelines related to crowd control and hygiene may be implemented to minimize the chance of re-outbreak – adding to already hefty considerations when planning the staff duty roster. Timetabling and timetable-replotting is a nightmare if rotas are done with pen and paper, but a dream when done with the right piece of technology. Our focus today is on just such a platform – workforce management software Quinyx.
“Organizations need to be flexible and adapt to the latest central and local guidelines,” Quinyx CEO and founder Erik Fjellborg told the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK last year. “The most urgent considerations now include keeping staff movement between work sites to a minimum to control the spread of infection, managing higher than normal levels of absenteeism due to illness and self-isolation, complying with maximum capacity, and social distancing rules, and being able to notify staff quickly and effectively. All of this while keeping employees as engaged and happy as possible.”
The web-based workforce management system was born from experience. In summer 2005, Fjellborg was a 17-year-old student working part-time at a McDonald’s in Sweden. He built Quinyx to make doing the rota easier after observing his manager’s difficulty manually constructing employees’ schedules. McDonald’s loved the solution and became Quinyx’s first client in Sweden – and it still is today!
In 2021, the solution is used by more than 900 companies worldwide, including Rituals, Gant, IHG, Benugo, Compass Group, Hilton, London City Airport, Maersk, Parques Reunidos, Sysco, London City Airport, Well and Certitude. Rituals uses Quinyx to schedule and manage its workforce; online through the Quinyx web app and on-the-go using the mobile scheduling tools. Local managers can create efficient schedules for their respective stores easily, and quickly adapt to changes in schedules caused by absence.
In the past, Rituals did not have any real-time data on productivity or personnel costs, waiting until it got those stats from local store managers. As a cloud-based scheduling application, Quinyx has enabled workforce data from local stores to be available to Rituals’ head office in real-time.
With this data, Quinyx has enabled Rituals to ensure the right person with the right skills is present in its stores, at the right time. Thus, the platform helps to create happier customers and employees with smart scheduling.
“Quinyx fits perfectly into that strategy. It is cloud and more than that, they are a pure player in workforce management”, said Nico Wartenberg, CTO at Rituals.
Quinyx puts the mobile-first paradigm into the hands of managers and workers alike – in many industries, it’s that fast-moving staff timetabling capability on a smartphone that makes the real difference in filling shifts and keeping staff feeling informed and valued.
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Quinyx took its Workforce Management (WFM) and Workforce Optimization (WFO) solutions to new heights last year by acquiring Dutch AI optimization leaders Widget Brain, and launching AI optimization for demand forecasting, strategic planning, and labour optimization. These capabilities go beyond scheduling and after-the-fact time reporting and now provide market analysis and predictive insights based on historical data, intelligently interpreted. Demand forecasting allows for better planning and decision-making, and like all AIs, the more it’s used, the smarter it gets.
The solution is a winner for the employees, too. In addition to checking to see what’s available and opting for preferred shifts on mobiles, there are real-time communications with colleagues and bosses, mood check-ins, and reward programmes to further increase employee engagement.
“We are proud to bring to the market new product solutions that will help businesses optimize the way they currently manage their deskless workforce and give them vital tools to be ready and thrive in 2021 and beyond,” Fjellborg said. “Our new solution gives near-perfect scheduling accuracy, optimizes demand forecasting, and ensures compliance.”
That’s in contrast to recent market research, which found non-AI-driven software produced schedules that were sub-optimal. Companies found themselves understaffed 16% or overstaffed 30% of the time! Unsurprisingly, these off-target schedules led to revenue and productivity losses, compliance violations, and poor customer service.
A recent global report said that 2.7 billion people make up the deskless workforce, nearly 80% of the entire global workforce. This refers to sectors as broad as healthcare workers, delivery drivers, and grocery store workers. From a survey of over 10,000 workers across ten countries, the report found inflexible schedules and last-minute changes as major stress factors leading to low job satisfaction. Hence, improving scheduling is imperative for a happy workforce and a happy business. Happy businesses are successful businesses, of course, especially when AI technology is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
“By 2025, 45% of large enterprises with hourly-paid workers and variable demand for labor will use automation to drive workforce scheduling decisions,” said Gartner Market Guide for Workforce Management Applications, which recognized Quinyx as a representative vendor for four years in a row, 2017-2021.
Quinyx supports multiple languages – Chinese (Simplified), Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish – making for greater accessibility for a diverse workplace. It also works with a network of partners, including ADP, Kega, Cornerstone, EduMe, Sage, and others. Its solutions, be it only for time and attendance or the whole platform, are easily integrated with a company’s existing systems.
“Good schedules are like good motor oil. When they work well, they keep everything running smoothly, helping your business control labour costs, provide a better service to customers and keep your staff happy,” Fjellborg said.
Click here to find more about Quinyx’s powerful AI solutions to drive business optimization, scheduling, and employee engagement.
