Exclusive: OneAdvanced's Damien Durston on why workforce visibility is key

ANZ's manufacturing sector is under pressure.

Skill shortages, rising costs and volatile demand are challenging companies to produce more with fewer resources. For Damien Durston, Head of People Management Solutions at OneAdvanced ANZ, the answer lies not just in machines, but in people.

"Productivity pressures are hitting manufacturing hard," he said, during a recent interview. "The challenge is trying to do more with the same amount of people and same levels of productivity, or even fewer resources, while maintaining quality and safety."

Traditionally, manufacturing productivity was driven by machinery upgrades and production line efficiency. But Durston believes a shift has taken place.

"Machines only tell just a small portion of what's going on," he explained. "People keep the operations and the operating rhythm of the business going. If I don't know who is doing what, or when, I'm flying blind." Workforce visibility, he argued, gives leaders the insight to make faster, evidence-based decisions. "It enables smarter choices about coverage, fatigue, and compliance, which is far better than making educated guesses."

Despite the technology available, many manufacturers still rely on manual processes to track their workforce. The risks are significant. "Manual tracking leads to guesswork, which can result in over staffing, under staffing, or compliance breaches," Durston said.

"Globally, 34% of errors are made through fat-finger keying mistakes. In this day and age, that's simply being reactive rather than proactive." These errors come at a cost. Even five minutes' lateness across a workforce can add up to thousands of dollars. "All those five minutes accumulate. It's an unseen drain on productivity and profitability," he added.

Workplace laws and awards pose another challenge, with wage underpayments attracting heavy scrutiny. "Compliance is embedded directly into our rostering and scheduling," Durston explained.

"The system flags and prevents breaches such as excessive hours or missed breaks. Penalties for wage theft can range from nothing to 10 years' imprisonment, so businesses must get this right." He noted that overpayments, while less publicised, are also common. "It's simply about not meeting the accurate degree of what an employee is entitled to. Directors and boards are ultimately accountable."

Beyond compliance, Durston emphasised the role of workforce intelligence in safeguarding staff wellbeing. "Analytics reveal bottlenecks, overtime spikes, and areas where workloads are uneven," he said.

"Managers can then balance tasks, maintaining output without burning people out or risking safety protocols." He argued that visibility also supports morale and retention. "Overtime is there for a reason, but if the same staff always pick up extra shifts, others miss opportunities to develop skills. You need to lift all staff to the benchmark, not just reward a few."

Modern manufacturing across ANZ often spans multiple sites and time zones, compounding the challenge of oversight. OneAdvanced's platform consolidates this into a "single source of truth". "Leaders can instantly see coverage gaps, fatigue risks and overtime spikes, no matter where they occur," Durston explained. "That transparency is critical."

Many businesses remain cautious about investing in workforce visibility systems. Durston acknowledged that leaders often fear disruption. "There's always a change management element," he said. "It's not about replacing headcount, but about gaining the greatest intelligence you can from your workforce. Technology now allows push notifications for shift availability, eliminating the need for managers to call ten people for one response."

He insisted that the return on investment is tangible and fast. A recent meeting with one of the world's largest construction firms highlighted the scale of savings.

"That business would achieve payback in 13 months," he said. "Workforce visibility initiatives can and should be designed to deliver results quickly."

Durston noted a paradox in how large firms allocate resources.

"Companies invest heavily in machinery and innovation, like driverless trucks with advanced imaging to map roads before construction. Yet many don't put the same value on capturing accurate time data for their people," he said. He cited a cabinetry business that spent nearly a million dollars on a cutting machine. "That replaces people for production tasks, but workforce systems protect productivity by managing the people who remain. It's just as critical."

Safety is another major benefit. Knowing where staff are located in a plant can be life-saving. "Our solution can track employees clocking into specific rooms or tasks," Durston said. "Costs are automatically allocated to the right cost centres, making accounting easier, but also ensuring compliance with award requirements." For him, this combination of safety, compliance and productivity is where workforce visibility proves indispensable.

Looking ahead, Durston predicted that visibility will separate the leaders from the laggards in ANZ's manufacturing sector. "Workforce visibility will be a must-have, not a nice-to-have," he said.

"The winners will be those companies that can make faster, evidence-based decisions about their workforce. Optimising people as well as processes will protect margins and strengthen resilience in a highly competitive industry."

In an environment of labour shortages, rising costs and supply chain disruptions, Durston's message was clear: "Please don't be fearful of new technology and innovation. Learn more about it, let us help you, and let us handhold you through the transition."

And in his words, "Workforce visibility isn't a nice to have. It's the missing link in lifting productivity and staying competitive in the ANZ manufacturing market."