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Until recently, managers in Porsgrunn Municipality in Norway could start a Monday morning with a desk covered in yellow sticky notes. Who had called in sick over the weekend? Who had worked extra shifts? What changes had been made to the roster? Today, that information is available with just a few clicks.
With Lifecare Workforce Planner, Porsgrunn Municipality has digitalized key workforce management and scheduling processes. The result is less manual administration, better overview, and more time for leadership. For nearly 4,000 employees and around 240 managers, the transition has made a noticeable difference in everyday operations.
When Porsgrunn Municipality began evaluating their future workforce management solution, they had been using the same system for more than a decade. The challenge was not only that the technology was becoming outdated. Many administrative tasks required extensive manual follow-up, checks, and calculations from managers.
When creating work schedules, managers had to keep track of complex working time regulations and collective agreement requirements themselves. If deviations occurred, it was the manager’s responsibility to calculate any compensation employees were entitled to receive.
These processes were time-consuming and carried the risk of errors and inconsistent practices across departments.
The municipality established a cross-functional project group to map needs and define requirements for a new solution.
The ambition was clear: they did not simply want to replace an existing system. They wanted to invest in a solution that would simplify daily operations while also evolving alongside the municipality’s future needs.
The choice fell on Lifecare Workforce Management.
Our managers were drowning in operational tasks. Lifecare Workforce Management helps solve exactly that challenge.
For managers, one of the key benefits is that the system takes over many control tasks that previously had to be performed manually.
If a manager schedules working hours that violate legislation or collective agreements, the system automatically generates an alert. The manager is informed about the issue and receives guidance on how to correct it.
“The system is designed to ensure compliance with regulations and collective agreements. Managers don’t need to memorize every rule, because they receive an alert if they are about to make a scheduling error. The solution explains the issue and guides them toward a compliant alternative,” explains Jacobsen.
By allowing the system to handle more of the monitoring and calculations, managers gain time that can instead be spent on employee follow-up, professional development, and leadership.
It’s a solution that saves a significant amount of time for both managers and employees.
Implementing the new solution has also given employees a more active role in workforce planning processes.
Through the My Work Schedule functionality in Lifecare Workforce Management, employees can:
Tasks that once required paper forms, messages, and manual registration are now sent directly to managers through the system.
Everything flows seamlessly. Requests go directly to the manager’s workspace, where they can be processed and completed. The paper-based processes we used before are gone.
One concrete example of the benefits is the municipality’s use of Digital Shift Log, an add-on module to Lifecare Workforce Management.
During evenings, nights, and weekends, employees with shift responsibility can register absences, staffing requirements, and other operational changes directly in the system. As a result, issues no longer need to wait until the manager returns to work.
“Previously, a manager could come back on Monday morning to a desk full of yellow Post-it notes and handwritten messages describing everything that had happened over the weekend. Now, the information is available digitally,” says Klausen.
For the municipality, this has contributed to more independent departments and reduced vulnerability when managers are not present.
For Porsgrunn Municipality, the transition to Lifecare Workforce Management is about far more than replacing one system with another.
Processes that once depended on manual calculations, paper forms, and manager availability are now handled digitally and more efficiently. Managers receive better decision support, employees gain greater autonomy, and the municipality benefits from improved visibility of staffing resources.
At the same time, the municipality has invested in a solution that continues to evolve alongside changing needs, new ways of working, and future workforce management requirements.
And on Monday mornings, managers are no longer greeted by a pile of yellow Post-it notes on their desks.
Porsgrunn Municipality is a mid-sized municipality in southeastern Norway with approximately 38,000 inhabitants. Before implementing Lifecare Workforce Management, the municipality had used the same workforce management system for more than ten years. The organization was ready for a more modern and functional solution that could support both current working practices and future needs. The municipality therefore decided to bring the entire organization, with the exception of the school sector, into one common solution for workforce and schedule planning. Today, approximately 4,000 employees and 240 managers use the solution in their daily work.
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