Workforce Analytics: How To Boost Productivity & Reduce Costs

Last Updated: February 7, 2025
Female experts reviewing reports

Running a business means balancing different activities such as hiring, employee planning and performance tracking.

But how can you be sure you’re doing everything right?

Workforce analytics gives you the information you need to make smarter decisions and move your business forward.

Read on to find out how it works and what the best practices to use are.

Improve your operations with workforce analytics.
Try doForms For Free!

What Is Workforce Analytics?

Workforce analytics is the use of data and analysis to monitor, measure and improve workforce management.

A key part of strategic workforce planning, it can be used by multiple people within a company, including:

  • HR experts, to improve hiring, employee engagement and retention
  • Managers, to track team performance and optimize workforce management
  • Business owners, to match workforce strategy with business objectives
  • Recruiters, to find top talent and improve the hiring process
  • Finance teams, to control labor costs and budget workforce expenses

Benefits Of Workforce Analytics

Workforce analytics isn’t just about numbers — it helps you make better decisions that support your business success.

Improved Productivity

Workforce analytics helps you spot inefficiencies by tracking performance, workload and productivity.

Using this data, you can manage workflows, set goals, match employees to roles that fit their strengths and reduce downtime.

Enhanced Employee Engagement

Workforce analytics allows you to collect employee feedback through various surveys and address concerns proactively.

This helps implement programs that boost employee well-being and motivation and improve workplace culture.

Better Hiring Decisions

Analyzing past hiring data, employee performance trends and candidate assessments allows you to evaluate skills, experience and cultural fit.

This helps you reduce hiring costs and turnover rates by ensuring you select the right candidates from the start.

Workforce analytics helps HR teams stay updated with hiring trends, evaluate candidates and predict turnover, address retention issues before they arise.

Cost Savings

Workforce analytics provide information about labor costs, overtime expenses and budget allocation, allowing you to optimize employee scheduling, reduce unnecessary labor costs and improve financial planning.

A person working on a laptop

Workforce analytics help you improve productivity, reduce labor costs, improve employee engagement and make better hiring decisions

How Workforce Analytics Transform Different Industries

Not sure if analyzing data can be of use to you? Here are unique advantages it can bring to different industries.

Retail

  • Better staff scheduling by analyzing peak shopping hours
  • Improved inventory planning by connecting staff efficiency to sales data
  • Reducing labor costs by tracking overtime and efficiency

Healthcare

  • Improved patient care by monitoring staff performance and training needs
  • Reduced patient wait times by analyzing staff productivity and scheduling gaps
  • Identifying high-risk turnover roles by monitoring job satisfaction and resignation patterns

Hospitality

  • Optimized employee scheduling by tracking peak booking times
  • Improved guest experience by analyzing customer comments
  • Better operational efficiency by tracking housekeeping, front desk and service team productivity

Manufacturing

  • Reduced downtime by forecasting labor shortages
  • Improved safety by identifying workplace hazards and training gaps
  • Reduced labor costs by optimizing shifts and overtime

Workforce Analytics: Best Practices

Not feeling prepared to dive into workforce analytics?

See how to turn data into a strategy for success by checking out the best practices listed below.

  • Define clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs): Set specific objectives and KPIs. Goals can include shortening time-to-hire, lowering labor costs or reducing turnover rates. As KPIs, you can have time and cost per hire, labor cost as a percentage of revenue or employee satisfaction scores.
  • Collect information from several sources: To get a comprehensive view of workforce performance, use data from many platforms, such as HR platforms, payroll systems and employee feedback tools.
  • Make sure your data is accurate and compliant: Inaccurate or incomplete data can mislead you into making poor business decisions such as overstaffing or understaffing during critical periods. Use automated validation checks to ensure data integrity and compliance with labor laws and data security regulations.
  • Promote collaboration: Involve other departments — such as Human Resources, Finance and Operations — to guarantee you a varied and unbiased view of workforce trends.
  • Invest in training: Teach your team the value of analytics and how to read and interpret data.
  • Opt for real-time data collection: Choose solutions that allow you to collect real-time data as this can help you change your workforce management strategies on the go. Mobile forms like doForms are an excellent choice as they allow employees to submit information immediately from any location and mobile device.
Two managers looking a tablet

For the best results, use real-time data collection tools like mobile forms

Optimize Workforce Analytics With doForms

Do you want to maximize the full potential of workforce analytics?

Choose doForms, a powerful mobile forms solution that has helped hundreds of companies boost their productivity.

Whether you are in healthcare, government and education or small and mid-sized businesses, here’s how you can benefit from doForms:

  • Simplified data collection: doForms enables employees to submit work hours, performance evaluations and job reports using digital forms on smartphones and tablets. This eliminates paperwork and reduces manual data entry errors.
  • Real-time insights: doForms allows HR and management teams to access workforce data in real time, enabling quick decision-making.
  • Integration with HR and payroll systems: You can integrate doForms with existing HR, payroll and workforce management software, ensuring a smooth data flow across platforms without duplication or errors.
  • Improved compliance and security: doForms has built-in compliance features, helping you adhere to labor laws and data privacy regulations. Additionally, secure digital storage guarantees sensitive information is protected at all times.
  • Cost and time savings: Automating data collection and workforce reporting with doForms reduces administrative workload, minimizes errors, helps save on paper and storage space and allows you to focus on more important initiatives to grow your business.

Need workforce analytics?
Try doForms for free!

FAQs About Workforce Analytics

Still unsure how workforce analytics can benefit your business? Learn more about it and the role of mobile forms in the section below.

Can I use workforce analytics for small businesses?

Yes, workforce analytics is beneficial for businesses of all sizes, allowing you to optimize scheduling, reduce labor costs and improve the hiring process.

Can workforce analytics help reduce employee turnover?

Yes, workforce analytics help you analyze employee feedback, job satisfaction and engagement levels. Based on the results, you can identify risk factors and implement strategies for retaining team members.

Can workforce analytics improve employee productivity?

Workforce analytics can improve employee productivity by helping identify bottlenecks, optimize task assignments and ensure employees are working in roles that match their skills.

Can I track employee performance using workforce analytics?

Yes, you can monitor employee productivity, sales performance, and customer satisfaction, gaining insights into employee strengths and areas for improvement.

Can workforce analytics be integrated with existing HR software?

Yes, you can integrate doForms with your existing HR software to collect data from various sources and gain more comprehensive insights.

How can you improve workforce analytics with real-time data collection?

Real-time data collection — like the kind doForms provides — delivers up-to-date information on employee performance and tasks directly into workforce analytics, enabling faster decision-making and resource optimization.

Can project management benefit from workforce analytics?

Yes, tracking staff productivity and workload in real time allows you to better allocate resources, helping you finish projects on time and within budget.

Make your business more efficient!
Book A Demo

 

Are you ready to make your business more efficient?

Do you want to work with doForms?

Sign Up As A Reseller