With nearly three-quarters of UK businesses citing rising running costs as a major challenge in 2025, aligning staffing, demand and operations has never been more vital. Organisations everywhere are under pressure to run leaner operations while still delivering great service. Yet the most powerful lever for improvement isn’t always new technology, bigger budgets or major restructuring, it’s the way people are planned, scheduled and supported every day.
In our recent webinar, “Unlimit Your Teams,” Leigh Joynson, Principal Product Manager at Zellis, explored how modern Workforce Management (WFM) can help organisations create stability, reduce complexity and unlock productivity by getting the fundamentals right.
Why workforce management matters
Every business understands the challenge of maintaining the right staffing levels. If there aren’t enough people, teams become overstretched and service starts to slip. If there are too many, costs rise without any gain in output. The “sweet spot” in the middle, where people are supported, customers are served and labour costs make sense, is surprisingly difficult to hit consistently.
A good workforce management system provides the framework to achieve this balance. It brings together all the factors that shape the working day, from rules and demand patterns to qualifications, workloads and more. Most importantly, it helps managers make decisions based on evidence rather than instinct. When these elements work in sync, organisations can run more smoothly while giving employees a clearer, fairer working experience.
The core principle: Right people, right qualities, right place, right time
This idea ran throughout the webinar and sums up what effective WFM aims to achieve. But turning this principle into everyday reality is a challenge. People have different skills, availability and contractual constraints. Demand fluctuates. Absence happens. Compliance rules evolve.
A WFM platform sits at the centre of this complexity, helping organisations align their workforce with real business needs. Rather than relying on disconnected spreadsheets, emails or manual schedules, managers gain a consistent, real-time view of who is needed, where they are needed, and when.
Where businesses typically struggle
Many organisations wrestle with similar pain points. Schedules may be created in spreadsheets, making them prone to errors and almost impossible to update quickly when things change. Managers spend time reacting to problems instead of anticipating them, because they lack the visibility needed to make informed decisions. And without clear oversight of costs, labour overspend can creep in unnoticed until it becomes a habit rather than an exception.
These issues are rarely caused by people. They stem from processes and tools that simply can’t keep up with the pace and complexity of modern operations in fast-paced industries with frontline workers. That’s where a structured, data-driven WFM approach becomes transformative.
How Zellis’ WFM helps bring clarity
Zellis’ WFM aims to simplify this complexity by combining forecasting, scheduling, time capture and real-time insights into a single coherent system.
A major strength is its ability to forecast labour demand. Rather than guessing how many people are required next week or next month, the system learns from historical patterns, “shape of day” data and even seasonal fluctuations. This creates a view of demand that is grounded in evidence. For managers, it means they can build schedules that reflect what is actually likely to happen, rather than what they hope will happen.
Once this demand picture is established, the platform supports optimised scheduling. It considers employee availability, skills, qualifications and contractual requirements, ensuring that teams are not only staffed but staffed appropriately. This reduces last-minute reshuffling, and it also helps ensure compliance with working-time regulations and internal policies.
The time and attendance component plays an equally important role. Zellis supports multiple capture methods – from mobile app clocking with geofencing, to web-based clocks, to traditional wall-mounted devices – ensuring that every organisation can record time in the way that best fits its operations. This flexibility helps ensure start times, breaks, overtime and absences are captured accurately and consistently. As a result, managers have a reliable view of what actually happened versus what was planned, and the uncertainty that often leads to disputes or payroll queries is significantly reduced.
Meanwhile, real-time reporting and dashboards help managers see patterns emerge early. If a shift becomes unexpectedly busy, coverage issues appear or costs begin to drift, the system makes these trends visible before they turn into bigger problems. This creates a more proactive management culture.
Putting employee wellbeing at the heart of it
During the webinar, Leigh explored a simple but powerful concept: the relationship between staffing levels, stress and slack. Under-resourcing often means people have to work harder, potentially feeling stretched, fatigued or unable to give their best. At the same time, over-resourcing can create idle time or uncertainty about how to fill it meaningfully.
What really matters is how staff feel and how supported they are. After all, 79% of UK employees report moderate-to-high levels of stress at work. And in 2022-23 alone, an estimated 17.1 million working days were lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
The goal is to build a system where every person is clear about the work, supported in their role, and part of a process that respects their time and contribution. With better data, better planning and better flexibility, organisations can help their teams feel supported rather than stretched, valued rather than idle.
Turning insight into action
A recurring theme in the session was the importance of labour reporting. Many organisations have plenty of data but little guidance on how to use it. Zellis’ WFM turns raw information, planned hours, actual hours, variances, overtime, absence, into clear insights that managers can act on.
For example, understanding whether additional hours are genuinely required or simply habitual helps leaders make more balanced decisions. Comparing actual workload to forecasted demand reveals where schedules may need rethinking. Identifying patterns in lateness or qualification gaps can improve workforce planning over time. Rather than being a retrospective exercise, reporting becomes a forward-looking management tool.
What the demos revealed
The demos in the webinar highlighted how the system supports different roles in the business.
For managers: They can see their team’s availability, review forecasted demand, approve shift changes and respond quickly to real-time issues such as late arrivals or unplanned absence. The interface is designed to reduce the mental load that often comes with juggling these tasks.
For operations leaders: They gain a broader perspective across multiple sites. They can track performance, identify emerging trends or risks, and understand where demand and cost aren’t aligned. This makes it easier to challenge assumptions, replicate successful patterns and drive more consistent performance across the organisation.
For employees: Self-service tools give people more control over their working lives. Employees can view their schedules, request changes, swap shifts, and access information without needing to go through a manager each time. This not only reduces administrative burden but also helps create a more transparent, flexible and predictable working experience.
Bringing it all together
The overarching message of the webinar was that effective WFM supports both operational performance and employee wellbeing.
Businesses that adopt this approach find they spend less time firefighting and more time supporting their teams. Labour becomes easier to manage and employees have a smoother experience. By removing unnecessary complexity and giving people the tools they need to do their jobs well, organisations truly begin to unlimit their teams.
See Zellis’ WFM in action.
