Workforce management, or WFM, is the discipline of getting the right people working at the right times: scheduling, time and attendance, absence and leave, and the records behind them. The term grew up in shift-based operations such as retail, hospitality, healthcare and contact centres, where labour forecasting decides the margin.
In hybrid offices the line between workforce management and workplace management is disappearing. Knowing who is working, where they are working, and whether they are on leave is now part of running the office itself, which is why workplace platforms increasingly carry workforce features: attendance patterns, leave requests and approvals, employee records and team coordination alongside desk, room and parking booking. The practical question is no longer which category a tool sits in, but whether it can answer “who is in on Thursday, and do we have space for them” in one place.