Energy & Utility Providers Plug into Workforce & Expense Management Technology

Technology that Drives Energy & Utility Provider Performance

Executive Summary

According to the International Energy Agency, total world consumption for marketed energy will increase by 50% through 2030. For energy companies providing electricity, natural gas, oil, water, nuclear or other sources of power, focusing on enhanced operational efficiencies such as workforce optimization and employee expense management is imperative. Facing challenges created by resource, regulatory, service and workforce issues, energy and utility providers need to continually examine all aspects of workforce operations to uncover ways to increase productivity while maximizing operational efficiencies.  

To allow them to generate, transmit and distribute power and related services, the complex infrastructures of energy companies may consist of all or a combination of pipelines, product terminals, refining facilities, contact centers, retail sites and administrative offices. Faced with competitive market conditions and aging infrastructures, energy companies need to provide support for a future workforce that will be able to design, build and maintain the innovations needed to produce and deliver energy products to meet rising consumer demand. 

In addition to administrative and management level employees, utility providers employ specialized technical service workforces. Technical service employees can be in-house or contracted and most need to be certified, skilled and trained to meet specific performance requirements.  The external service workforce of a utility provider is typically engaged on defined projects to maintain or construct equipment that delivers energy to customers. This segment of the workforce needs to be ready to respond and is apt to be assigned to any location at any time, often spending hours on the road, which can create productivity issues and compromise safety. Technical service workforces are also called on to aid out-of-area utility providers in handling widespread emergencies, as seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Competitive utility providers are turning to technology-based applications including workforce and employee expense management systems to control and drive down the costs associated with the scheduling and deployment of labor. These same solutions increase visibility into strategic initiatives that support service reliability levels and exceptional customer service.

Energy and utility providers need to be poised to adapt quickly to changing market and regulatory conditions. Workforce and expense management solutions help to address business challenges that include:

• Optimal scheduling of  diverse and distributed workforces such as utility field workers, contractors, call center personnel and other resources
• Responsiveness in emergency situations with the right people in the right place at the right cost
• Support for mobile and remote workforce needs; e.g., offshore pipeline workers and field crews
• Assignment of employees to jobs with the right skills and certification levels
• Alignment with complex pay, work, union and benefit accrual rules
• Automation of business travel and expense management processes to increase efficiencies and adherence to policies
• Better payroll accuracy through automated time and attendance
• Compliance with labor, union, environmental and regulatory requirements

This paper examines the essential areas of workforce optimization and expense management automation along with the opportunities and benefits to reduce labor costs and drive productivity through enterprise workforce solutions.

Energy Providers Benefit From Effective Workforce Strategies

Under increasing pressure to drive down costs, providers seek strategic workforce and expense management optimization solutions that automate complex workforce processes for a number of reasons, especially to gain visibility into analytics for better decision-making. Other aspects of better workforce management include the ability to provide exceptional customer service through the creation of work schedules based on variable demand, accurate time and attendance tracking and integration with existing business applications for increased efficiencies.

Customers have energy market choices that can vary with market conditions.  Power consumed by industrial and residential customers may be competitively supplied by organizations outside of the established utility provider community.  Organizations can achieve higher levels of productivity and customer service by identifying where service level breakdowns occur and adjusting their workforce scheduling to address customer service demands in real-time. Implementing solutions that achieve cost efficiencies while providing increased customer service delivers competitive advantages and improves customer retention.

Energy Company Business Drivers

Going forward, energy companies are keeping a mindful eye on workforce operations to be sure that they have the qualified resources available to enable them to keep pace with rising demand.  Employee-centric workplace solutions can help energy companies balance diverse business drivers including:

• Customer energy and utility service demands
• Cost control and operational efficiency
• The need for adaptability in changing markets
• Employee recruiting and retention
• Workforce and expense-related regulatory compliance
• Increased capacity and energy sources

To balance increased consumer market demand for energy against limited supplies, energy companies can impact their bottom line through more efficient operations focusing on streamlined business processes that include workforce time and attendance, employee expense management and scheduling optimization. Automated workforce and expense management solutions also reduce payroll preparation time and improve payroll accuracy by 1-6% of gross payroll. An investment in these robust workforce and expense management solution components that are 100% Web-based, fully integrated and scalable help energy companies redirect valuable budget to fund exploration, construction and maintenance projects.

An integrated workforce management solution gives energy companies greater flexibility to align their workforces with current and future business demands, increases employee engagement and facilitates alignment with compliance requirements.  Attempting to manage absence replacements and respond to fluctuating demands with manual or semi-automated solutions is laborious and inefficient.  Without a unified dashboard view of the available workforce, managers may not know if they’re paying for unnecessary overtime or scheduling employees to work hours beyond what is considered safe or within contractual/regulatory guidelines.

Some industry segments must also comply with additional industry requirements, such as Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules regarding fatigue management and Fitness-For-Duty (FFD).  Effective workforce management practices and solutions can help nuclear energy providers comply with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Fitness-for-Duty requirements (NRC 10 CFR Part 26) that address the issue of fatigue management in the nuclear power industry. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules governing fatigue management were updated on March 31, 2008 to include provisions for fatigue assessments, fitness for duty, and work hour controls and limits related to calculating work hours, shift turnover, rest periods, and scheduling to name a few. 

With an automated workforce management solution in place, employees gain self-service capabilities to check their vacation and sick entitlements to better manage their own work/life preferences.  Managers are able to make meaningful real-time decisions based on actual, accurate and current information, which helps to assure operational efficiencies in their 24/7 enterprises that span local, state, regional, national and global markets.

Workforce optimization solutions deliver substantial benefits by eliminating inefficiencies inherent in antiquated employee scheduling and attendance practices. Best-of-breed solutions are designed to help complex energy and utility companies better monitor and manage worker productivity and performance, reduce labor costs, increase revenues and ensure the availability of relevant data to authorized users across the enterprise.  All aspects of an energy provider’s business, from raw material extraction, pipeline operation and refineries to customer delivery and retail outlets, can reap the benefits of increased productivity and efficiency through the use of Web-based software that features a rules-based platform and industry-specific knowledge repositories.

Scheduling software delivers real-time information to enable workforce allocation based on actual need, such as a widespread power outage caused by a storm or when maintenance needs arise along a critical pipeline. When sending service and repair crews out to restore power outages, a blend of varying skills and levels of technical expertise are needed to ensure power is quickly restored. Without properly trained and equipped staff, safety issues could ensue and the restoration of power could be delayed. The result will be further customer frustration and increased calls to service representatives. In this case, regional or branch management needs to determine who is already scheduled to work as opposed to arbitrarily scheduling others where additional hours might result in budget overruns due to time and a half or double time. The same automated scheduling software that provides enterprise-level visibility can ensure tighter alignment with contract requirements, worker certifications, skills and shift schedules to meet demand.  

In addition to maintaining consistent labor practices and monitoring labor costs and work schedules, a Web-based time entry and scheduling system reduces manual data entry errors. In today’s marketplace, a wide variety of data acquisition devices are available to speed the capture of time for employees who are in the office or in remote locations. Existing platform solutions such as time clock systems are easily integrated with an automated workforce management system. Additionally, payroll inquiries are minimized through employee access to current and historical time information. Intuitive data views and analyses that can be readily accessed by managers for central review and planning of projects and schedules allow better overall enterprise workforce management.

Making Your Second Largest Expense a Top Priority

After labor, employee business expenses are regarded as the second largest controllable expense. Expense Management Automation (EMA) solutions are recognized as critical elements in a business strategy that includes continual cost control to improve bottom line performance. Not limited to travel and entertainment costs paid by the employee and reimbursed by the company, employee expenses now include options covering the entire range of employee discretionary expenses such as office supplies, mobile phones, meetings, MRO, p-cards, corporate payment cards, fleet cards, direct vendor billing and more. 

Energy and utility providers often have to track expenses of field crews who are sent out of their “home” area to work on power recovery initiatives after a storm or emergency.  Without a proven, reliable EMA solution in place to automate spending rules or track and allocate job costing data, compliance with expense policies, preferred vendor utilization and accurate cost allocation may be overlooked in emergency situations.

An increase in mobile workers, rising costs of travel, tighter government regulations and uncertain economic conditions means enterprise-wide technology solutions are no longer luxuries for energy providers but necessities. Optimization of administrative and back office processes associated with employee expenses has taken on a new urgency as energy companies look to exercise finer control over employee business costs. Visionary firms rely on widely adopted, user-friendly, intuitive, best-of-breed expense management solutions that can ensure a rapid return on investment.  

An EMA solution attacks the high cost of expense processing at its source: the “point of spend.” Comprehensive solutions allow companies to automate the entire expense reporting cycle; from pre-trip authorization, expense report pre-population, and workflow approval and report creation through to travel booking integration, audit, reimbursement, receipts management and post-payment reporting and analysis. EMA solutions handle every aspect of employee expense processing and further increase process efficiencies when integrated with existing back-end General Ledger systems, legacy systems and job costing systems.>

Field Crews, Remote and Mobile Workforce Management

Energy and utility providers deploy field crews to support both their day-to-day and long-term operations. These workforce segments constitute a large mobile workforce that needs to have instant access to the information necessary for emergency response, problem solving and efficient dispatch and deployment. Field crew managers often need to rely on real-time scheduling availability to allow for intra-day schedule changes for handling emergency situations and need to get this information without delay.

In addition to field and technical crews, there are a growing number of other employees who spend time outside of a traditional office. This can include facility, business unit, regional or divisional managers, employees that work in multiple service locations, retail service managers, or administrative and headquarters staff.  Companies face increasing requirements and challenges to empower their mobile workforces beyond delivering Internet or email access. This "untethered” workforce needs 24/7 access to critical business applications in a consistent, secure and robust deployment. The goal is to bring the enterprise applications directly to these mobile workers without any boundaries or limits. Whether it is a field crew and manager dispatched in the aftermath of a tropical storm, a refinery manager attending a conference or a response center manager providing training in a remote location, best-in-class mobile solutions must  support  time capture, expense report processing, employee self-service, labor distribution and management approvals to address the needs of an energy company’s  mobile workforce.

Take Control Where It Matters Most

Solutions for energy providers must consolidate forecasting, scheduling and expense management functionality across multiple sites and multiple workforce segments. Utility companies need a lot from their workforce management solutions including the ability to efficiently manage field crews and properly staff contact centers and administrative offices. There are several areas in which energy and utility providers can rapidly realize the value of workforce and expense automation processes: 

• Reduced Operating Expenses

To reflect detailed operating expenses, energy companies need to accurately track costs.  An automated system collects labor and expense costs as they occur to support labor distribution and cost allocation. To increase profitability, companies need to control workforce efficiencies without negatively impacting service delivery. Improved cost control can be achieved with integrated and automated workforce and expense management systems that can:

• Track labor costs in a variety of configurations including work order, employee, product, geographic designation, customer, business unit, position, department and others
• Staff to demand to minimize or eliminate overstaffing and coverage gaps
• Integrate with work order and existing legacy systems
• Find the right substitute with the right certifications, skills and equipment at the best cost when managing emergency service or unexpected absences
• Address union contract compliance including rate progressions, shift rules, benefit accruals, position step-ups/downs, departmental cross charging of labor
• Provide full labor distribution support including employee expenses for detailed cost accounting
• Automate the entire expense reporting cycle from report creation and workflow approval through audit and reimbursement

2.  Regulatory Demands Require Automated Solutions

Energy companies are facing a dynamic regulatory environment at both the state and federal level. This regulatory climate poses a challenge to energy companies as they try to balance increasing energy supplies through environmentally friendly methods.  Energy companies need to respond to regulatory demands that impact company strategies, addressing climate change legislation and changing energy tax policies.    

Inherently, workforce and expense management automation increases data accuracy and provides the information necessary to address regulatory compliance and environmental mandates. Timely, accurate recordkeeping is a critical component of ongoing compliance for any business.  This is even more applicable for energy companies, especially nuclear energy firms, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has additional regulations and requirements.  Sarbanes-Oxley, FLSA and FMLA are examples of mandatory governmental regulations that utility firms must address. Non-compliance can have dramatic financial, legal and public consequences and compliance with external and internal regulations is critical. Organizations can best meet regulatory demands through automation of the following:

• Workforce management processes across business units, workforce segments, departments, locations or operating entities
• Best-in-class quality initiatives that measure time, attendance and scheduling performance
• Labor law and regulatory compliance
• Scheduling standardization by workforce segment
• Budget management to verify operating costs needed for state regulators to approved rates
• Employee business expense compliance and cost containment
• Visibility into operations through accurate data capture, reporting, validation and documentation

• Empower Employees to Improve Operations

Energy and utility companies need to make sure their workforces, especially field utility crews and engineers, are fully trained to carry out the responsibility for which they are assigned.  Better workforce deployment also leads to improved employee productivity and satisfaction, reduced new hire costs and, ultimately, has a positive impact on the quality of the customer experience. Employees who have been properly trained, have relevant experience and enjoy their jobs are more productive. Utilizing automated workforce and expense management solutions improves employee satisfaction and provides:

• Intuitive online access to schedules, time sheets, expense reports, leave requests, paid time benefits and other self-service functions
• Flexible time recording methods including mobile PDAs, ruggedized devices, Web clocks, etc.
• Simplified user interaction that encourages rapid and total adoption
• Schedules that are better aligned with employee work/life preferences
• Optimum employee deployment improving employee satisfaction for increased productivity
• Assignment choices to minimize travel and time away from home

4.    Efficient Workforce Deployment

Given the nature of the served markets and unforeseen “Acts of God”, energy companies do not possess the luxury of being able to predict demand and corresponding workforce needs, as repairs, emergency situations, unexpected temperature fluctuations or weather events must be addressed in real-time. Managers need to be armed with tools that will enable them to decide where and when the workforce needs to be deployed and they need to ensure that the right people are assigned.

Manual or semi-automated systems do not offer the real-time responsiveness that utility providers need and can cause more than lost income if a technician is assigned to a job that he or she is not qualified to perform. An automated scheduling system allows utilities to better plan and accommodate staffing changes in real-time to: 

• Streamline operations through automation
• Deploy the right people to meet demands
• Utilize effective workforce planning for system maintenance and upgrades  
• Utilize real-time information for better management decisions, 24/7
• Control department, location, customer business unit or position-specific scheduling variations by providing best practice templates that reflect the most efficient staffing models

Maximizing Service and Productivity

As utility companies examine every facet of their business, they look to implement flexible technology solutions to increase efficiency, provide continuity, elevate stakeholder satisfaction and allow for greater and real-time visibility into operational data. From lower operational costs to improved customer service, greater environmental consciousness and stronger business continuity, enterprise-class workforce and expense management solutions provide tremendous benefits and efficiencies for utility providers. These solutions deliver the ability to accurately manage schedules and time and attendance for all workforce segments, including contract and contingent workers to effectively staff peak periods, emergencies and projects to ensure consistent resource delivery, improved customer satisfaction and increased operational efficiency.

A system that requires extensive training or takes too long to deploy is not a 'best practice' solution. Successful solutions foster rapid adoption through ease-of-use and offer all users a productive and positive experience. With cost control such a concern at energy companies, a rapid Return on Investment (ROI) is a key factor in evaluating workforce and expense management solutions. Working with a system provider that knows the complexities of the energy industry along with current and future workforce concerns and challenges will help you develop the most cost effective implementation plan to maximize your ROI, minimize your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and meet business objectives.

Flexible Delivery Options

When choosing technology-based workforce and expense management solutions, look for those applications that offer the flexibility of either an in-house license fee model or a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) On-Demand delivery model; the latter may speed the implementation process at a more affordable price. As companies evolve, this degree of flexibility ensures the investment will continue to meet operational needs. The solution needs to address all the necessary processes for enabling the workforce to deliver reliable, consistent resources and customer service. Workforce and expense management solutions in both delivery modes must utilize a single, unified technology platform for enterprise-wide integration of business operations and processes for maximum efficiencies.

Web-based robust workforce and expense management solutions that provide best-in-class time and attendance, employee scheduling and optimization and expense management that are fully integrated and scalable can help energy providers to strengthen their bottom lines and prepare for future growth. These solutions enable energy providers to focus on their core business of consistently providing reliable energy and utilities to their customers.

About CyberShift, Inc.

CyberShift, Inc. is a leading provider of workforce and expense management software and services focused on helping organizations of all sizes improve organizational performance and profitability. Through its integrated Workforce Management 3GÔ, which includes time and attendance, advanced scheduling and reporting and analytics, companies can more effectively plan, manage and deploy their workforces, reduce costs and improve processes across business operations. CyberShift’s Expense™ automates the processing and facilitates the management of employee business expenses such as travel and entertainment and helps companies improve compliance, enforce expense policies and procedures and increase visibility into operations. Offered in both traditional license fee and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery models, CyberShift’s innovative solutions have been awarded US and Canadian patents. CyberShift is the first enterprise-class workforce and expense management solution provider to enable support for the BlackBerry® platform.