Workforce management (WFM) software was developed in the 1970s. It grew from a mainframe product into computer software and eventually became a cloud service.
Over the past 50 years we improved features, streamlined functionality, and perfected the user interface, but it always kept that same old name, and that naming convention comes with some baggage.
1. We’re not the kind of managers you think we are.
Workforce Management can include running forecasts, generating schedules, and tracking real-time adherence, but those roles manage data and people’s time, not the people themselves. Unless we also happen to be managing other Workforce Managers, but that’s an entirely different skill set and should be reserved for “WFMMs.”
2. We have limited control over resources.
The impressive title implies responsibility not just for managing a workforce but also for controlling the results produced by that workforce, including service goals. Yet we’re not given full control of hiring, firing, or salaries.
Even WFM software vendors and industry experts have a hard time being consistent with this nomenclature.
3. We’re not getting manager-level paychecks.
We seldom earn management-scale pay grades. You are more likely to find us in the analyst and operations range, which makes sense, because we are there to help and support, not to control.
4. The term is problematic for job hunters.
Using “workforce management” as the keyword search produces irrelevant results, finding matches in benefits, payroll, or human resources. (Pro tip: add a software name [e.g., NICE, Verint, Genesys] to help narrow it down.)
5. WFM isn’t easily defined.
Even WFM software vendors and industry experts have a hard time being consistent with this nomenclature. Conference organizers like to merge WFM content into operations or generic technology. It’s also found hiding in Workforce Optimization (WFO), which seems like it would be a better choice, except WFO is a blanket phrase that includes a whole slew of other contact center disciplines like call routing, CX, quality, etc. Workforce Managers are not the misfits of the contact center - we are the unicorns!
6. Planning is really what this job is all about.
It’s instantly misunderstood because of that word “manage,” when these are not traditional manager positions. Vicki Herrell got it right when she named her organization SWPP (Society of Workforce Planning Professionals): because planning is the core value of this job.
7. The acronym belongs to a larger club.
Contact centers do not corner the market on the WFM acronym: Wi-Fi Module, Wave Form Monitor, Whole Foods Market, or Works For Me (chat lingo). And for whatever reason, the internet assigned WFM to also mean “working from home” at some point and it just stuck (for another inexplicable trend, see “pwned”).
How many of your friends can say they have a job that boosts brain power, increases morale, and helps others by solving puzzles and meeting challenges?
8. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
Saying the acronym [ duhb-uhl-yoo-ef-em] as a substitute for Workforce Management doesn’t save time. It’s shorter to write, but they’re both five syllables long.
9. The WFM acronym isn’t even technically correct.
It’s Workforce Management, not Work Force Management.
10. That name conceals how much fun this job is.
Workforce Management sounds like it would be hard, menial, and dull work, but in reality, generating a multi-layered forecast can be as satisfying as finishing a hexadecimal Sudoku. And building a complex scheduling solution that literally makes agents happier is an amazing feeling.
How many of your friends can say they have a job that boosts brain power, increases morale, and helps others by solving puzzles and meeting challenges? It truly deserves a name that reflects all the wonderful qualities of WFM.