Strategic workforce planning should be a collaborative ‘top down – bottom up’ planning process. The below figure recaps the suggested process for developing a strategic workforce plan.
Figure 9. Developing the Strategic Workforce Plan
The process for implementing strategic workforce planning is continuous and iterative, the key is to get the conversations started. Figure 10 provides tips for implementation.
| Implementation Tip | Description |
|---|---|
| Emphasise the Process | Workforce planning can be successful simply by surfacing assumptions and issues even if problems aren’t fully resolved |
| Organise Effectively | Decide how workforce planning will integrate with your broader planning and organisational goals |
| Skill Up | Understand your organisation’s requirements to make sure you are asking the right questions |
| Understand Demand | Understand how your workforce requirements might change due to internal and external factors |
| Standardise Data | Agree on definitions and quality standards to ensure data is collated as easily and accurately as possible |
| Build Analytical Capability | Develop skills to understand, manipulate and present data |
| Identify Key Groups | Understand the key workforce segments that will deliver the greatest organisational uplift |
| Deal with Uncertainty | Use scenario planning rather than forecasting to deal with the high level of complexity and uncertainty |
| Analyse Capability | Understand workforce changes in terms of skills, competencies and capabilities |
| Educate Senior Management | Emphasise the time and resources required to hire, train or redeploy staff to meet changing business needs, factoring in staff aspirations, development and retention (time to competency) |
Figure 10. Practical tips for implementing SWP