Creating innovative HR technology that empowers employees while also saving organizations time and money is an accomplishment to be applauded.
So when the founders of Workforce.com initially developed a highly advanced time-and-attendance platform in their native Brisbane, Australia, in 2014, it was only natural that the four friends were ready to take it to a global stage. After international wins in tech hot spots such as the United Kingdom, Israel and Asia, unleashing their product on the hyper-competitive shores of North America is now a success story that’s ready to be told.
From those early days with just the first four employees, Workforce.com now boasts dozens of employees who diligently serve businesses nationwide and across the globe. With a commitment to success and a reputation for achievement, Workforce.com’s talented and diverse team is building a strong tradition of delivering excellence by customizing its offerings to their client’s evolving business needs, be it large or small, simple or complex.
Such keen devotion to its clients doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Workforce.com’s team provides on-demand insights and market-ready expertise to boost employee engagement while helping organizations trim labor costs and meet complex compliance requirements.
Among those dedicated to superior customer service is Chicago-based Workforce.com software engineer Leon Pearce, who has maintained a commitment to promoting the product’s ease of use.
“People are the most significant competitive advantage any business can get, so they need to be truly engaged for long-term success,” Pearce said. “We want to help tackle these complex problems and streamline those processes so they can focus on the essentials of managing their workforce: worker happiness, welfare and efficiency.”
Considering that human resources practitioners must be all things to all people, the sheer volume of work they perform to keep a business functioning smoothly can be overlooked and underappreciated by organizational leaders and employees. Workforce.com technology supports their efforts and provides them with the opportunity to become strategic business partners, Pearce said.
“In essence, we build the software with the purpose of improving workforce compliance, automation, engagement and productivity,” he said. “This helps HR stay compliant with ever-changing labor regulations, automate administrative processes, build trust with front-line staff and improve business productivity.”
That said, software and technology isn’t very effective if not used properly. As an example, Pearce evoked the tool wielded by the Marvel Comics’ God of Thunder.
“You could own Thor’s hammer but that’s not very useful if nobody can lift it,” he said.
Software fundamentally changes business operations, which means it’s also important to make sure the partner you choose aligns with the vision you have for your teams.
“With the emergence of Software as a Service as the future of technology adoption, you are not necessarily buying into what it is today, but its ability to improve and help your company reach its potential in the future,” Pearce said.
Ask multiple questions of the software provider, Pearce added, such as:
- How many features did they release in the last 12 months?
- Who is your chief technology officer?
- Do you understand the future of work and what’s your product road map for the future?
- What improvements to the user experience have been made recently?
- What percentage of revenue do you commit to new research and development compared to supporting old infrastructure?
- Are you going to grow and improve your product as we grow and improve our business?
When it comes to implementation, a common complaint about HR software is when it purely serves management and not the rank-and-file employee.
Ask to see it live in a demo and test the software by placing it in the hands of the end user and get their honest feedback, Pearce said. And there are numerous techniques to understand if users like a product.
Yet, he pointed out, many of these techniques are flawed.
“You can compare companies based on revenue, but then are you evaluating how good the product is or how slick the salespeople are?” he said.
App store ratings give a voice to the people who actually use the software. Since users didn’t choose it, they will be honest with their opinion.
“The biggest mistake we see is when software is chosen because it ticks the boxes of a proposal and not how it works and is used by the front-line employees,” Pearce said. “Is it intuitive and easy to learn? I’d always make sure to evaluate whether it enhances or detracts from the employee experience.”
Pearce said that Workforce.com’s technology fits seamlessly into the big picture of people management, helping guide where the world of work is heading and providing a path for HR to be there alongside it.
“Technology is changing how people approach their work and their relationship with work, so we’re engineering to build a future where teams can perform better through improved workflow and feel empowered with the right technology,” Pearce explained.
For employees that means intuitive mobile apps to see future work hours, swap shifts, provide company feedback and apply for time off and schedule unavailability. For managers, it’s being able to easily build, send and optimize schedules against forecasted demand while tracking actual hours worked.
“And for HR and workforce professionals it means being able to manage and oversee this in one place that they can customize perfectly to their way of doing things and integrate with their existing payroll and technology stack,” Pearce said. “On the whole it means building a platform that leverages the very best technology to help the workforce win and reach its potential.”
Competitive advantage is key to any software platform. Finding what separates one product from another doesn’t necessarily take a publicity-hungry influencer. The benchmark for software in this space would be a solution that can follow best practices for each particular industry and help teams get to where they want to be, while being easy to use.
“Create a solution that supports an organization while they find their way forward and enables them to operate in ways that create new competitive advantages,” Pearce said. “Our strategy is to build our software like a platform that provides adopters with a starting point of industry best practices, but is also flexible enough to evolve with them. Stagnation always ends in failure, which is why enabling our users to keep tweaking their functions and improving the way they operate is so important to us.”
While many see software — any type of software — as a tool, a thing to use merely to accomplish a task, Pearce fancies a more cultured approach.
“It’s like art. Seeing people use the software I helped build definitely gives me pride, but I think more to the point is the knowledge that I was involved in hopefully making people’s lives just a little better,” he said. “I thank our customers every day for giving me that opportunity.”
Don’t take our word for it. There’s a lot that goes into making time and attendance software simple to use and hassle free. Try Workforce.com’s multifaceted time and attendance software and you’ll be lifting Thor’s hammer in no time.
