Did you know that workforce planning is one of the most effective ways to ensure your business has the right resources and talent to achieve its goals?
40 to 50% of employers have a strategic workforce plan in place. This is a tool that helps them improve business performance, reduce risk, and maximize their new hires.
Without planning your workforce, your business could face all kinds of unpredictable disruptions.
It is also a cost-effective and efficient way to stay on top of recruitment and retainment of talent.
In this guide, we’ll explain exactly what strategic workforce planning is, and how it can benefit your organization. And lastly, what the stages are for successful implementation.
What Is Workforce Planning?
Workforce planning is a business strategy that ensures an organization has the resources and talent it needs to operate effectively.
Strategic workforce planning is all about understanding how an organization operates. And comprehending what future demands the organization will have. This includes demands for skills and people.
Six Benefits of Workforce Planning
Implementing a strategic workforce planning process can help your organization improve the way it operates. Here are the top six benefits of a solid workforce plan.
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Prepares Organizations for Change
One of the main benefits of strategic workforce planning is that it anticipates change within organizations. And allows the organization to plan and prepare for this. This is done by establishing key metrics around workforce planning. This can help to identify issues before they arise.
For example, a business should understand how staffing costs will increase as the business grows. Businesses should also take note of their average staff retention rates. And what workforce supply will be required to meet the demands of the business as it grows.
They should also be aware of aspects like the impact of an aging workforce, and what age the current workforce will start to retire.
Being privy to this information allows top management to improve their financial forecasts. This kind of strategic workforce planning lets the organization continue its operations. Especially when major changes occur.
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Streamlines Recruitment
Strategic workforce planning can help HR leaders improve the recruitment process. This is because operational workforce planning allows you to analyze the appropriate skills. And characteristics of the top performers in each department.
This will help you to optimize the hiring criteria that best match the business objectives.
Workforce scenario planning also saves time and expenses during the recruitment process. This is while making new hires that have a greater impact on the business.By hiring based on the best characteristics for the organization’s objectives, it’s possible to attract more talented employees.
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Helps Identify Workforce Gaps
Strategic workforce planning aligned with business objectives helps to identify any areas that are currently missing in the existing workforce. The workforce planning process also looks toward the future. It can help to determine any future needs and talent gaps that may arise.
This will help to respond to supply and demand within a workforce as it happens. It also helps organizations find the right skills and make strategic decisions faster. This is because provisions have been made for this.
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Improves Retention
With a detailed strategic workforce planning process in place, businesses can better understand why employees leave. And also, under what circumstances do they leave.
This can help the business develop a more effective talent management strategy to improve retention rates.
A workforce plan also helps business leaders identify the business’s most valuable performers who may be at risk of leaving. This lets them address this risk to help the business maintain its top talent.
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Optimizes HR Processes
Workforce planning should align a business’s HR programs with its strategic objectives. This lets the HR department optimize its processes to achieve greater results for the business.
Factors that can be improved to match the organization’s goals include:
- Employee financial aid
- Wellness programs
- Learning and development
- Data protection
- Employee benefits
This will improve the HR department’s performance and improve the organization’s culture.
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Increases Employee Satisfaction
Your staff is the backbone of your organization. Sending out regular surveys and asking for feedback from your current and future employees is imperative.
This will help you get a good gist of whether they are satisfied in their roles. And what to include in your workforce planning strategy to improve their satisfaction levels.
Stages Of Workforce Planning
What Is Your Strategic Direction?
The first step is to have clear direction and goals. This is a “top-down effect” that comes from top management. And trickles down to all the channels in the organization.
You need to ensure that everyone is aligned with these key goals so that future objections can reflect this accordingly.
Evaluate Your Existing Workforce & Conduct A Gap Analysis
Using demand planning, you should analyze your current staff levels. And consider how it is predicted to change over time. (What levels of turnover or staff/skills do you need to achieve the set-out goals and objectives).
Conduct a gap analysis to understand your current situation versus what you are lacking/over-catered for.
Create A Workforce/Organizational Plan
This doesn’t mean that drastic actions need to be taken immediately. It can also be a “proactive action plan” for potential redeployment, outsourcing, or migrating to new systems. Or possible hiring and training schemes if these actions are required.
Implementation
Once the gap analysis and workforce plan have been conducted, the next step is implementation.
The essential factors to consider during the implementation process include:
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- Clear timelines
- A structured game plan
- Thorough communication
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Clear timelines, a game plan, and thorough communication are all imperative during the implementation process.
Check Progress
The progress should be measured against structured metrics to ensure that there is an improvement.
Performance should be monitored to maximize its effectiveness. And pivot according to the organization’s requirements.
Conclusion
The aim of workforce planning is to improve talent management, understand the business’s strategic objectives, and prepare for the future.
With the right workforce planning process in place, organizations can optimize their current and future workforce. This will reduce risk and improve operations.
This means businesses hire the right people, with the right skills, at the right time, while improving retention rates. The effects of this on business performance can be astronomical.
