Field Workforce Management
Table of Contents
Field workforce management is the process where management takes care of workers or employees who carry out their work from any location other than an established office environment. Such groups of field workers can include field sales personnel, service people, delivery personnel, maintenance workers, among others.
Simply stated, it enables the organization to know the person, the location where he works, his assigned task, whether he reported at the right time and how well his work is being followed up.
Field workforce management goes hand-in-hand with workforce management, which essentially includes such functions as scheduling, attendance monitoring, resource allocation and productivity management. Workforce management refers to the practice of managing people and resources by employers, while ensuring that the organizational activities adhere to all workplace regulations and laws.
Why field workforce management is difficult
Field management of employees is not the same as office management of staff. Attendance, supervision and reporting can be more easily verified in an office setting or in a factory. Field staff operate in locations ranging from customer sites to branches, routes, construction sites, warehouses or remote sites.
Typical issues faced can range from poor attendance, late task updates, poor location monitoring, manual reporting systems, unscheduled absences, delayed routes, to difficulties in verifying whether a job was really done. Such situations make it difficult for human resource departments to ensure accurate attendance logs, payroll input, expenses and productivity reports.
This is made more complicated for organizations operating in many cities in India. Such businesses have thousands of employees on the ground but no real-time control over the movement and availability of the employees.
What field workforce management usually covers
A field workforce management process may include:
- Mobile attendance or location-based check-in
- Shift or duty allocation
- Task assignment and status updates
- Route or site visit tracking
- Leave and absence tracking
- Overtime and working hour visibility
- Expense or travel claim support
- Supervisor approvals
- Field productivity reports
The aim is not to monitor employees unnecessarily. The aim is to create a reliable system where field work, attendance and approvals are recorded properly.
HR and payroll impact
Field worker data can be entered into the payroll and compliance systems. If attendance isn’t recorded properly, the payroll department might have problems with salary entries, leave adjustments, overtime verification or contractor payments.
For instance, when a maintenance staff member punches attendance at the customer site, there could be a need to check on the details like the exact location, time spent on duty, approvals and any additional hours. This information can make month-end settlement challenging if it is still in WhatsApp chat, Excel sheets or manually recorded.
That’s when there is a seamless connection between Field Workforce Management and Time & Attendance Management. When data from field attendance, shifts and approvals is recorded properly, the HR department is better prepared to close the payroll process.
Key takeaway
The field workforce management can enable organizations to manage their personnel working outside the corporate office premises. This technology will allow enhanced monitoring on the areas such as attendance, location, progress of assigned tasks and employee availability. For companies whose workforce is mainly based in the field, this is quite important.
Explore how Eilisys helps enterprise teams manage HR, payroll, compliance, and workforce processes in one system
