26 / 32
26
/ Canadian Government Executive
// October 2016
Strategy
Tech-savvy millen-
nials are entering
the workforce, and
this new group of
workers is seeking to
take advantage of
technology to work
remotely.
Spiros
Paleologos
ImprovingWorkforce
Management:
T
he Conference Board of Cana-
da recently published a report
titled
Leveraging Today’s Tech-
nology: Connecting Operations to
Corporate Workforce Planning in the Public
Sector.
The report found that one of the
biggest challenges facing many of today’s
public sector organizations is that they
are utilizing out-of-date decision-making
processes and technologies. It is a com-
bination that creates gaps and minimizes
the overall visibility into an organization’s
workforce.
The report, which includes research
from different business units in federal
departments and municipalities across
the country, found that public sector orga-
nizations are at varying stages of upgrad-
ing their aging technology infrastructures.
Some are still using 20-year-old systems,
while others are beginning to transition to
newer systems as part of a technology re-
fresh in order to create better efficiencies.
The introduction and adoption of new
technologies in the workforce have drasti-
cally changed the way we work. Employ-
ees are more mobile than ever before and
are no longer confined to work within the
four walls of an organization. This, com-
bined with a desire to maintain a healthy
work-life balance has also introduced new
challenges for managers and HR to effec-
tively manage and have visibility and in-
telligence into their workforce.
In the public sector, for example, work-
force management is vitally important in
critical areas where employees work on
shifts and where certain levels of staffing
are necessary in order to meet service and
legislative requirements. Not having proper
around-the-clock shift coverage could ulti-
mately influence a life or death situation.
Technology plays an important role when
it comes to workforce management, which
can be defined as the integration of busi-
ness and HR data and processes that allows
organizations to make the best use of their
employees on an individual, departmental
and entity-wide level. By providing leaders
with information and analytics related to
an organization’s workforce, decision-mak-
ers can more easily make faster and tactical
business decisions.
How the Regional
Municipality of Niagara
Upgraded
The Regional Municipality of Niagara,
which comprises twelve municipalities
across Southern Ontario (and which pro-
vides services that range from garbage and
recycling to public health and safety, tran-
sit, long-term care, water, and everything
in between) realized a technology update
was needed in order to gain better vis-
ibility and management of its workforce.
Workforce coverage and attendance are of
the utmost importance.
The Case of the Regional Municipality of Niagara