Workbrain Corporation on November 13 announced the results of a survey it conducted during Velocity 2006, its annual client and partner conference. The Velocity 2006 conference is regarded as a leading forum to discuss the unique issues facing organizations with large or complex workforces. Fortune 1000 companies in a variety of industries, collectively employing over 8 million employees, attended the conference and completed a workforce survey, providing valuable insight into their current and future business challenges.
Compliance Top Challenge
When asked to rank their current workforce challenges, respondents pegged compliance with wage and hour regulations as their No. 1 issue. Over 25 percent of respondents ranked compliance higher than other workforce challenges such as improving employee satisfaction, optimizing the use of skilled workers, or attracting and retaining staff.
At the same time, respondents to the Workbrain survey revealed that their organizations face a delicate balancing act to remain competitive. In ranking the challenges they feel are not being properly addressed by their organization, respondents equally ranked staff optimization, attracting and retaining staff, reducing payroll costs, and improving employee satisfaction in their list of other concerns.
Operational Workforce Issues Dominate
Yet respondents did agree that operational workforce issues were the most pressing to address. In identifying their workforce concerns, nearly 75 percent of respondents ranked operational workforce issues as their top three priorities. Respondents listed hour and wage compliance, worker optimization and a reduction of payroll costs as their biggest pain points.
"The survey confirms what we've seen with our clients and prospects; while organizations must balance a number of workforce issues, operational issues that affect workforce performance remain the most pressing," said Tony Marzulli, Workbrain's senior vice president of products and marketing. "Companies continue to be very focused on accelerating the performance of the workforce they have – through optimization, improved regulatory compliance and minimized payroll costs."