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PLANNING?
A complete guide with definition,
benefits and strategy tips
Bailey Reiners
September 20, 2019
Updated: November 18, 2019
https://builtin.com/recruiting/workforce-planning
Workforce planning is critical for the health and growth of any organization. As
an HR professional, you know how much of an undertaking it is to hire the right
people with the right skill set at the right time. Then add on the responsibilities
of budgeting for new hires and internal promotions, keeping current
employees engaged and retention rates high, all while growing a business —
it's overwhelming.
To help you keep calm and workforce plan on, we created a brief guide that
covers the basics of workforce planning. Feel free to click on the links below to
jump ahead.
Table of Contents
Think about it this way, your product team is constantly evaluating the product
— what customers like and want more of — while at the same time predicting
what’s going to be the next big thing. Similarly, your company needs to
continuously evaluate its people — what they like and don’t like in their roles
— as well as how the company is projected to grow and who will need to be
hired, promoted or reorganized to meet those needs.
company?
external hire?
To answer the majority of these questions, you need to take a deep dive into
your overall employee lifecycle, which will also help you better understand
why people apply for roles at your company and why they leave.
Additionally, look carefully at your recruitment metrics so you can better
optimize your strategy.
career paths.
or less valuable to the company, and if so, will you need to downsize or
reorganize.
• Physical office space: Is there enough physical office space and equipment to
candidates what resources your team will need to recruit them — professional
Once you’ve estimated your current workforce supply, you’ll want to consider
the demand of each area. Understanding the difference between supply and
demand in your workforce will help you identify gaps between what resources
are readily available and what resources your organization needs to grow on
track. In terms of workforce demand, you’ll want to look at:
• Employment market: Take a look at the recruitment market to see which roles
are in high demand and will be difficult to hire.
• Upcoming funding: What roles are critical right now and which ones can wait
until you raise more capital?
• Skills training: Will you need to train new or current employees skills to ensure
they will keep up with change, or will you need to hire already skilled
candidates for the roles.
Keep in mind the supply and demand of workforce planning will change over
time so it's important to include your team in the workforce supply planning
process because the decisions made will ultimately affect their jobs and
careers.