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In today’s increasingly volatile, uncertain, and complex environment, companies must adapt more rapidly than ever. Coupled with rising employee expectations from current and potential employers, this presents significant challenges for HR departments. Effective workforce management is crucial for addressing these demands. Frank De Weser, Managing Director of Syntegro, understands this all too well. He explains the trends he observes from his vantage point.

Syntegro has become a leading name in Belgium for workforce management solutions. Founded in 2007 by four engineers with entrepreneurial aspirations and backed by an investment firm, the company has experienced rapid growth and established a strong client base both locally and internationally. Syntegro's primary objective is to enhance the efficiency of HR teams through a comprehensive time tracking and workforce planning solution. This goal is particularly relevant given the complex challenges companies face in today’s dynamic environment.

More individualisation in the workplace

The biggest challenge, of course, remains the war for talent and the tight labour market. It is no longer possible to find the right profile for every task, requiring companies to make the best use of their current staff. Frank De Weser also sees increasing individualisation, in terms of working conditions and benefits, for example. "A one-size-fits-all approach in HR no longer works," says Frank De Weser. Recently, Dirk Buyens of Vlerick Business School organised an interactive webinar for Syntegro's clients on hybrid working post-Covid. Many organisations face challenges in finding the right balance, especially given the diverse expectations of employees. "You might expect everyone to be in the office three days a week, but not all employees will be on board with this policy. Some may find three days too frequent, while others may prefer to come in more often," notes Professor Buyens.

“To attract and retain talent, companies must adapt to these evolving preferences. Professor Buyens shared some revealing statistics: since mid-2022, the average number of homeworking days has stabilised at 30%. Additionally, 33% of job seekers have declined job offers in the past year due to insufficient flexibility."

A new organisation model

All these challenges, according to McKinsey & Company, mean that the traditional organisational model in companies is evolving into an agile and employee-driven HR model. Agile to make best use of current capacity and respond efficiently to change. And with a strong focus on employee experience to be an attractive employer for both current and future employees.

Frank De Weser observes this shift towards new organisational models being confirmed through his interactions with Syntegro's clients:

1. Commit to workforce flexibility

An agile model allows you to let your workforce evolve with changing strategies in the organisation. It ensures that an organisation can make good use of current capacity and also reallocate resources. "There is a lot of data in our tool and we find that more and more companies are not using that data purely to track attendance, but are also turning that information into BI applications via our API," says De Weser. "In just about all sectors, our clients measure what employees are doing at what time. That way, they get a better picture of their workforce and can base strategic decisions on it. For example, they’ll use it to monitor capacity utilisation to avoid over- or undercapacity. If you know the competences of your people, you can use technology to be more flexible with the resources within your existing workforce."

2. Focus on efficiency in HR

To optimise resource use, efficiency is crucial. Consequently, HR departments must focus on digitising and automating tasks that are still performed manually. De Weser sees significant potential in self-service solutions in this context. "Previously, digitisation could be challenging for employees due to a lack of appropriate tools. However, today, with smartphones widely available, even blue-collar workers adapt quickly when companies digitise HR services. They are already accustomed to digital and mobile communication in their personal lives."

"Digital workforce management solutions also allow tasks and responsibilities to be delegated to the most relevant people in the organisation. Suppose an employee forgets to register at the beginning of the working day, making it look like that person did not work. It used to be HR's job to check such irregularities. Today, that employee's team leader immediately gets a notification on their phone so they can check what is going on. This delegation goes even down to the level of employees who are allowed to coordinate among themselves via self-rostering to ensure proper staffing or planning."

In addition, according to De Weser, it is crucial that companies choose tools that integrate smoothly with other solutions. "A modern tool should be able to talk easily with other tools in the application landscape. So that efficiency gains are not a sum of separate technologies just working side by side, but based on tools that complement each other and increase your efficiency exponentially."

3. Focus on employee experience

Automation is important not only for efficiency but also for enhancing employee experience. "People today expect to handle everything digitally. No one wants to physically go to the HR department to submit a certificate; instead, they prefer to upload a photo and have the system route the document to the appropriate person," says De Weser.

"Trust in technology is essential for ensuring employee adoption of an application. Therefore, it’s important to select tools that are user-friendly and can be customised to meet the needs of various types of employees."

4. AI as a catalyst for HR efficiency and employee experience

Finally, workforce management and other HR activities will also ride the AI wave, according to De Weser. "AI certainly has the potential to take over complex HR tasks, such as some of the work of the payroll department." Belgium ranks third among countries with the most complex payroll system, according to the 2021 Global Payroll Complexity Index. Flexible working is even leading to creative new labour laws. Payroll is a function within HR that requires a high degree of expertise.

Workforce management software can automate those complex rules and processes, but that doesn't mean employees will stop asking questions. The vast majority of questions from employees have to do with holiday entitlements, maternity leave, parental leave, carrying-over leave to next year, time credit, calculations of holiday pay, recovery days, calculation of overtime, absence in case of marriage, etc.

Posting information - such as employment regulations, FAQ and other documents - online is no longer enough for an employee. For this increasing complexity and shortage of specialised payroll staff, AI may offer a partial solution. Consider an internal chatbot that can answer most questions in real time, without the intervention of an HR officer. "Artificial intelligence is mature enough as a technology today thanks to the Large Language Model. It is a matter of time before employees are helped by a truly smart chatbot," De Weser concludes.