Quinyx steps up to support ECEC with talent forecasting as “Great Resignation” bites

Jason Roberts

Nov 30, 2021

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Workforce management software provider Quinyx has seen interest in its strategic planning and forecasting solution jump as early childhood education and care (ECEC) providers struggle to manage the fall out from what has come to be known as the “Great Resignation.”

“The last three months have been very difficult for many of our customers from a talent retention perspective here in Australia,” Vihan Patel, Quinyx Country Manager Australia said.

“Resignations are spiking higher and employers are facing real challenges in finding new team members to replace them.”

“As a leading provider of workforce solutions that support forecasting, shift creation and longer-term capacity planning underpinned by unique A.I. driven algorithms, we are in a strong position to help.”

“That being said, it is our longer term capacity planning solution that is generating the most interest right now, as it is helping providers prepare for shifting workforce patterns on a twelve month view in a strategic way, that will help mitigate some of the problems being experienced today.”

Strategic planning helps mitigate impact of “Great Resignation” type events

Called strategic planning, Quinyx’s capacity planning solution utilises a specialist algorithm that builds on its demand forecasting and auto scheduling smarts already embedded in the workforce planning solution.

The key output is a set of staffing recommendations provided well in advance plus additional details on workforce volume breakdowns and the total cost of labour.

“By combining the outputs from our forecasting and shift creation algorithms for a centre and then inputting them into our strategic planning algorithm, we are able to get a detailed picture of workforce requirements as much as twelve months into the future,” Mr Patel said.

The level of insight not only provides operators with a significant head start when it comes to planning for team turnover events before they have even started but also in creating realistic, contextually appropriate budgets for the coming twelve months.

“Too often in larger organisations labour budgets are produced using a top-down approach, with uniform target KPIs given to centres regardless of whether the centre is small and regional, or large and metropolitan,” Mr Patel added.

“By generating rosters for each week of the upcoming twelve month period, a bottom-up labour budget that sets realistic targets for each individual centre and takes into account their specific context is created automatically.”

When combined with engagement strategies, strategic planning secures your workforce

Although longer term capacity planning is an essential tool in an organisation's broader efforts to stay ahead of its talent acquisition needs, it is also important for organisations to work hard to retain existing team members, Toma Pagojute, Chief HR Officer at Quinyx explained.

“Talent retention should be a key focus in every organisation right now,” she added, stressing that engagement, flexibility and planning are the key to success.

“In my experience, one of the most common reasons staff leave a business is because they don’t feel valued or listened to. So, make internal communications a priority but be sure that communications are consistent and each and every query is taken seriously and promptly addressed,” she added.

“And another key reason is about perceptions around shift allocation flexibility and fairness which is particularly relevant in a sector like ECEC.”

“We recommend taking the emotion out of the process and introducing a tool or system that is unbiased and equal for all and that can enable team members to select and swap their own shifts at the touch of a button,” Ms Pagojute outlined.

“These types of processes, combined with Quinyx’s long term planning tool, are ideal for supporting providers during this challenging workforce retention and acquisition period.”

To learn more about how Quinyx works, please click here.

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