Workforce Planning can be described as the process of enabling an organization to have access to the resources and workers it needs to perform effectively, both now and in the future.

Workforce Planning’s objective is to have the right people in the right jobs at the right time.  This happens through understanding your current workforce capabilities, evaluating future scenarios, defining your desired workforce, and then taking the necessary steps to line up the future workforce with that desired workforce.  

The Value of Workforce Planning includes improved onboarding, employee retention, optimizing expenses for needed skills, minimizing risk and finally building a future oriented company.  These all lead to a positive work environment, greater efficiency and a motivated workforce.

A Workforce Plan aligned to your Business Plan goals and objectives should include:

• Defining the current workforce and the objective future workforce by function and skill set
• Identifying talent gaps within your current organization
• Defining a clear statement on “why we do what we do” for employees, not just “how we do it”
• A review of the workplace environment, daily pace, efficiencies and organization status
• Creating Job Descriptions, clearly defined roles and responsibilities
• Creating a broadly understood Organizational Chart
• Preparing job posting for open or new positions
• A succession planning template for use in reviewing employees and defining career paths
• A review of employee benefit programs in place or to be considered