Inefficient scheduling could be costing businesses up to 40% of income, international report finds

Introducing an AI-driven workforce management solution into business operations could recover up to 40% of much-needed lost income for cash-strapped UK companies, one international study has shown.

In its ‘Cost of Poor Scheduling’ report, Quinyx found that companies not utilising AI-fuelled workforce management software, on average overspent by 25% on salary costs and lost up to 15% revenue, due to ineffective schedules.
 
Polling global operation executives across the logistics, healthcare, retail and restaurant sectors, in the UK, US, The Netherlands, Germany and the Nordics, the report findings were stark.
 
Daniel Holmberg country manager for Quinyx UK, explains: “We spoke with senior personnel to discover their biggest challenges and top priorities in scheduling a deskless workforce.
 
“Companies with legacy or no software in place during the pandemic faced major operational challenges. Lacking the agility to meet the frequent shifts in public health regulations, compounded by workplace sickness and extra hygiene protocols, those without an AI-driven workforce management tool lost up to 15% revenue and overspent up to 25% on salary costs.
 
“With operational leaders pulled in all directions by the pandemic, 25% of the polled execs were crying out for software that simplified their scheduling process while 30% wanted scheduling that automatically optimised according to business needs.”
 
Relating to more than 2.7 billion of the world's employees not typically performing their roles at a desk, deskless workers comprise approximately 80% of the global workforce. Unable to pivot to remote working in the way many desk-based companies have, some deskless employers are facing major challenges in scheduling, communicating, and managing their workforce as the most damaging health and economic crisis in recent history continues to wreak havoc.
 
Alongside the executives polled, 450,000 schedules were examined by Quinyx, one of the global leaders in Workforce Management (WFM) solutions. Schedules made without the benefit of AI-driven scheduling software caused an average of three to eight personnel law violations per week, resulting in thousands of fines for businesses already feeling the squeeze from COVID-19.
 
Daniel concluded: “30% of the executives said they faced too many scheduling variables for their current software to handle, while 40% said outdated technology was their main constraint. The manual workarounds and legacy software were delivering a mere 70% scheduling accuracy versus the near-perfect accuracy AI-driven software offers.”