Ventana Research Launches Market Research into Workforce Management for Human Capital Management

    BEND, OR, April 22, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Ventana Research today launched its latest market research study, designed to examine how organizations' are advancing workforce management and the ways in which they are embracing talent management practices to effectively recruit, engage and retain workers.

As workforces become younger, more diverse and more globally situated, workforce management is being transformed. Employers are finding they must adapt how they schedule workers for shifts and accommodate their demands for the flexibility to accommodate today's lifestyles and personal needs. The changes extend from how they punch in and out of the workplace to how they access employment-related information including payroll, benefits, time off, company policies and even learning.

To meet these challenges, forward-looking organizations around the world are turning to a new generation of workforce management software that can help them engage workers and provide information using collaboration tools, mobile devices and social learning. Organizations also are taking steps to integrate workforce management (of hourly employees and contingent workers) with the HR systems that act as the master systems of record for employees. The resulting comprehensive approach to human capital management has the potential to heighten confidence in an organization's human capital management as managers see better returns on investments in people and workers see their contributions noticed, better understood and recognized.

This new generation of workforce management software can extend management controls across today's sprawling enterprise workforce, which includes full- and part-time, salaried and hourly and union and nonunion employees, contractors and consultants as well as strategic partner and outsourced contingent labor. It assists organizations challenged by the complexity of managing workforces worldwide on a local basis as well as the increasing numbers of those who work seasonally or virtually, with flexibility to address the diversity of each country's workplace culture, time zone and attendance processes, payroll and benefits requirements, and compliance and regulatory policies.

"Historically workforce management has been centered on tracking time and attendance, absence and leave and interfacing with payroll processing, but these tactical functions are insufficient for the next decade," said Mark Smith, CEO and chief research officer. "This benchmark research will sharpen our understanding of the extent to which management may not be paying sufficient attention to the worker experience - a failing that can degrade employees' sense of accomplishment and commitment and in some situations lead to a degradation of the customer experience. Younger workers are comfortable collaborating in ways facilitated by social technology such as messaging, forums and open threaded dialogue on topics. The onus therefore is increasingly on employers to learn to interact with them accordingly to retain that talent; at the same time, these methods provide an opportunity to further optimize workforce management by engaging workers in new ways."

This Ventana Research Workforce Management for Human Capital Management benchmark research is designed to yield a broad-based, authoritative analysis of the use of and interest in more effective workforce management systems. Worker effectiveness is essential to optimizing the customer experience, and this research will examine all phases of the workforce management process from both worker and manager perspectives: recruitment, onboarding, training and learning, scheduling, time tracking and attendance, absence and time off, pay and collaboration. It will assess how well organizations understand what capabilities are currently available and which of them they perceive as valuable to include in their workforce management roadmap. It will also examine differences in responses by industry, by company, and revenue size.

Those interested in learning more about or participating in this benchmark research can do so at http://www.ventanaresearch.com/WFMforHCM2016/. Ventana Research provides qualified research participants with an incentive and complimentary report of the research findings as well as access to a free educational webcast on best practices from the benchmark research. ADP, Ceridian and FinancialForce are sponsors of this research.

About Ventana Research
Ventana Research is the most authoritative and respected benchmark business technology research and advisory services firm. We provide insight and expert guidance on mainstream and disruptive technologies through a unique set of research-based offerings including benchmark research and technology evaluation assessments, education workshops and our research and advisory services, Ventana On-Demand. Our unparalleled understanding of the role of technology in optimizing business processes and performance and our best practices guidance are rooted in our rigorous research-based benchmarking of people, processes, information and technology across business and IT functions in every industry. This benchmark research plus our market coverage and in-depth knowledge of hundreds of technology providers means we can deliver education and expertise to our clients to increase the value they derive from technology investments while reducing time, cost and risk.

Ventana Research provides the most comprehensive analyst and research coverage in the industry; business and IT professionals worldwide are members of our community and benefit from Ventana Research's insights, as do highly regarded media and association partners around the globe. Our views and analyses are distributed daily through blogs and social media channels including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. To learn how Ventana Research advances the maturity of organizations' use of information and technology through benchmark research, education and advisory services, visit www.ventanaresearch.com.

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