When you’re managing mobile workers, there are a number of warning signs that reveal themselves.
It’s similar to that horrible feeling when you’re driving and you realise that… something’s just not right. It could be a faint grinding noise or a misfiring engine or a mysterious warning symbol that lights up on the dash.
It’s the kind of thing that you hope will just go away. But, invariably, it doesn’t. And the next thing you know, you’ll be stood on the side of a motorway, waiting for your vehicle to be towed away.
They are the symptoms that help highlight more fundamental problems with the way your business works. And this is a particular problem for any companies who have not yet switched from traditional paper-based management methods to digital.
Here are the warning signs when managing mobile workers:
Paperwork starts piling up
It’s when simple administrative tasks become a painful slog with backroom staff struggling to keep up with an ever mounting pile of paperwork. It causes stressed workers, an increased likelihood of mistakes and creates a kind of organisational ‘treacle’ which slows down everything.
Increasing complaints and conflict
We live in an increasingly ‘here and now’ society and if your mobile workers aren’t getting to where they should be - you’re going to hear about it. Whether it’s through angry calls or damaging online ratings and reviews. With service expectations so high, there’s nowhere to hide if you’re work processes are misfiring.
Firefighting instead of forward planning
When a long term plan refers to what’s happening at the end of the week - you know you have problems. It’s the kind of organisational myopia that takes hold when you simply don’t have the time to plan too far into the future. You find yourself too busy firefighting everyday problems to worry about what’s happening further ahead.
Safety standards start to drop
A surefire sign of a struggling setup is when health and safety standards begin to slip. It’s under stress and strain that corners are cut and a blind eye is turned to potentially dangerous and risky working practises. It doesn’t just put your workers at risk but the entire company, with the risk of non-compliance prosecution and even jail sentences.
Small changes cause major disruption when managing mobile workers
It’s a seemingly small thing - a client may cancel a job at the last minute or one of your drivers may have to go home sick. But if you have an ineffective management system, this kind of routine disruption can cause organisational chaos as you try to reschedule and manage mobile workers who are out on the road.
If any of these warning signs sound familiar then you need to start identifying the underlying cause. One factor that can cause all of these problems is the inefficiency caused by relying on paper-based management methods,
The reason so many companies are moving over to digital workforce management systems such as MyMobileWorkers is because they are tackling the core problems behind these symptoms.
By virtually eliminating the need for paperwork and managing mobile workers and monitoring them in real-time, it provides a powerful tool to ensure fast, efficient and safe management of fieldworkers.
