For organizations juggling complex schedules, labor budgets, union rules, compliance requirements, and fluctuating demand, workforce management software can be the difference between operational control and constant firefighting. Infor Workforce Management, often called Infor WFM, is an enterprise-grade solution designed to help companies plan labor, schedule employees, track time, manage absences, and analyze workforce performance across large, distributed teams.
TLDR: Infor WFM is best suited for mid-size to large enterprises that need advanced scheduling, time tracking, labor forecasting, and compliance tools in one platform. A retailer with 200 stores, for example, could use demand forecasting to reduce overstaffing by 8% while improving shift coverage during peak shopping hours. Pricing is quote-based and typically depends on employee count, modules, integrations, and deployment needs. Its main competitors include UKG, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, ADP, and Ceridian Dayforce.
What Is Infor WFM?
Infor WFM is a workforce management platform built to help businesses optimize how they schedule, deploy, and pay employees. It is part of the broader Infor cloud software ecosystem and is commonly used in industries where labor planning is complex, such as retail, healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, logistics, and public sector operations.
The platform focuses on connecting labor demand with workforce availability. Instead of relying on manual spreadsheets or disconnected time clocks, managers can use Infor WFM to forecast staffing needs, create schedules, approve time, monitor attendance, and maintain compliance with labor laws or union agreements.
Core Workforce Management Features
Infor WFM includes a wide range of features, but its strongest value comes from combining scheduling, time tracking, forecasting, and analytics into a single operational view.
1. Labor Forecasting
One of the standout features is demand-based labor forecasting. The system can use historical data, sales patterns, foot traffic, production volume, appointments, or other business drivers to estimate how many employees are needed at specific times.
For example, a grocery chain could forecast higher cashier demand between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Fridays, while a hospital could plan nursing coverage around patient census trends. This helps reduce both understaffing, which hurts service quality, and overstaffing, which increases labor costs.
2. Employee Scheduling
Infor WFM offers advanced scheduling tools that support rules, preferences, skills, certifications, availability, and compliance requirements. Managers can build schedules that account for:
- Employee availability and requested time off
- Skills and certifications required for specific roles
- Labor budgets and forecasted demand
- Union rules, overtime limits, and rest periods
- Shift swaps and employee self-service requests
This is especially useful for organizations with large hourly workforces or teams spread across many locations. Rather than manually checking every rule, managers can rely on automated validations and alerts.
3. Time and Attendance
Infor WFM includes time capture and attendance management capabilities, allowing employees to clock in and out through approved devices or integrated time systems. The software can track regular hours, overtime, breaks, missed punches, late arrivals, and early departures.
Managers can review exceptions before payroll submission, reducing payroll errors and improving accountability. For companies with strict labor compliance needs, this feature is particularly important because accurate time records help support audits and wage-and-hour requirements.
4. Absence and Leave Management
The platform can also help manage planned and unplanned absences. Employees can request time off, view balances, and track leave approvals through self-service tools. Managers can evaluate requests based on staffing levels, seniority rules, blackout dates, or business demand.
This feature is helpful in environments where one absence can disrupt service coverage, such as call centers, hospitals, manufacturing lines, or transportation teams.
5. Compliance Management
Compliance is one of Infor WFM’s strongest selling points. The system can be configured to reflect labor laws, internal policies, collective bargaining agreements, and industry-specific regulations. Examples include overtime thresholds, required meal breaks, maximum weekly hours, minor labor restrictions, and rest-between-shift rules.
For companies operating in multiple states, countries, or union environments, automated compliance checks can prevent costly mistakes. Instead of discovering violations after payroll processing, managers can receive alerts while schedules are being built.
6. Employee Self-Service
Infor WFM supports employee self-service features that allow workers to view schedules, request time off, swap shifts, and update availability. This can reduce administrative messages between managers and staff while giving employees more visibility into their work lives.
In industries with high turnover, self-service tools can improve the employee experience by making scheduling feel more transparent and flexible.
7. Reporting and Analytics
The analytics capabilities are designed to help leaders monitor labor performance across departments, stores, plants, or regions. Common metrics include labor cost as a percentage of revenue, overtime trends, absenteeism, schedule adherence, productivity, and forecast accuracy.
For instance, if one location consistently runs 12% higher overtime than comparable sites, leaders can investigate whether the issue is poor forecasting, understaffing, manager behavior, or unexpected demand changes.
Infor WFM Pricing
Infor WFM pricing is not publicly listed in a simple per-user table. Like many enterprise workforce management platforms, pricing is usually quote-based. The final cost depends on several factors:
- Number of employees or active users
- Selected modules, such as scheduling, forecasting, timekeeping, or analytics
- Cloud deployment, integrations, and implementation complexity
- Customization for union rules, compliance policies, or industry workflows
- Training, support level, and professional services
Because Infor WFM is generally aimed at organizations with operational complexity, buyers should expect a more consultative sales process. The software may require implementation planning, data migration, configuration, and manager training. For smaller businesses looking for quick setup and low monthly pricing, Infor WFM may feel more robust than necessary.
Best Use Cases for Infor WFM
Infor WFM is particularly strong when labor planning is tied closely to demand, compliance, or operational performance.
- Retail chains: Align staffing with sales forecasts, promotions, seasonal peaks, and store traffic.
- Healthcare organizations: Schedule nurses, clinicians, and support staff while respecting certifications, fatigue rules, and patient demand.
- Manufacturing companies: Plan shift coverage for production lines, overtime needs, and specialized skill requirements.
- Hospitality businesses: Manage front desk, housekeeping, restaurant, and event staffing based on occupancy or bookings.
- Logistics and distribution: Coordinate warehouse labor, delivery schedules, and fluctuating order volume.
A practical scenario: a regional distribution company with 1,500 hourly employees might use Infor WFM to forecast Monday order spikes, schedule certified forklift operators, and prevent overtime from exceeding budget. If the company reduces unnecessary overtime by 10% across a $12 million annual labor budget, the potential savings could reach $1.2 million before considering productivity gains.
Infor WFM Competitors
Infor WFM competes with several major workforce management and HCM platforms. The best alternative depends on company size, industry, existing HR systems, and integration requirements.
- UKG Pro Workforce Management: A major competitor with deep scheduling, timekeeping, and HR capabilities. UKG is often favored by organizations that want a broad workforce suite and strong employee experience tools.
- Workday Human Capital Management: Best known for enterprise HR, finance, and talent management. Workday may be preferable for companies already standardized on its ecosystem.
- SAP SuccessFactors: A strong option for global organizations using SAP systems, especially those needing enterprise HR and workforce planning integration.
- ADP Workforce Now or ADP Enterprise solutions: Particularly attractive for companies prioritizing payroll integration and HR administration.
- Ceridian Dayforce: Offers workforce management, payroll, benefits, and HR in a unified system, with strong real-time payroll visibility.
- Deputy and When I Work: More suitable for small to mid-size businesses wanting simpler scheduling and time tracking without heavy enterprise configuration.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Advanced scheduling and forecasting for complex labor environments
- Strong compliance and rule-based configuration
- Useful analytics for labor cost control and operational planning
- Suitable for large, multi-location organizations
- Employee self-service can reduce manager workload
Cons:
- Pricing is not transparent and requires a custom quote
- Implementation may be more involved than lightweight scheduling tools
- Best value is typically realized by larger organizations
- Customization and training may be needed for complex environments
Final Verdict
Infor WFM is a powerful workforce management platform for organizations that need more than basic scheduling. Its strengths are most visible in environments with large hourly teams, complex compliance requirements, fluctuating demand, and a constant need to manage labor costs carefully.
It may not be the simplest option for small businesses, but for enterprises that need sophisticated forecasting, scheduling automation, time tracking, absence management, and labor analytics, Infor WFM is a compelling choice. The key is to evaluate it against your operational complexity: if labor is one of your largest costs and scheduling errors directly affect service, productivity, or compliance, Infor WFM deserves serious consideration.
