Your people are by far your greatest asset. But are you 100% certain you have the right people, with the right skills, in the right roles? With an effective workforce planning strategy, you can be.
Workforce planning empowers you to understand the state of your workforce today and forecast future needs. It’s essential for any business looking to boost productivity and reduce costs while maintaining a competitive edge.
To help, the productivity experts at ActivTrak created a comprehensive guide — complete with a downloadable template — to get you started.
How to Build a Strategic workforce planning template (with step-by-step instructions)
Even if you’ve never tackled workforce planning before, the steps below will make the process simple.
1. List stakeholders
Before you begin to build your plan, determine who will be responsible for each touchpoint. Even if only two or three people are involved, add their names to your official workforce planning document.
2. Identify business goals
Once you determine who will own the process, decide on your top organizational goals together. List your top three near-term goals — what you’d like to see your employees accomplish over the next quarter — as well as long-term goals for the next 12 months. Identifying these priorities from the outset will make it easier to identify any skills gaps or headcount needs later.
3. Assess your current workforce
Next, it’s time to analyze your existing workforce. This involves assessing the skills, qualifications and competencies of employees. Understanding your current workforce's strengths and weaknesses is paramount in identifying areas for improvement or development. Depending on the size of your organization, you may need to conduct an official skills inventory or employee surveys to gather this data.
Be sure to factor in demographic factors such as age, tenure, and diversity. Analyzing these elements helps reveal potential succession planning needs and highlights opportunities for fostering a more inclusive workplace culture.
4. Identify future workforce needs
Once you’ve assessed your current workforce, the next step is forecasting future workforce needs. Do you have the right number of people in place to achieve your organizational goals, or will you need additional headcount? Is it time to invest in more training and development, or do your people already possess the necessary skills and capabilities? Document exactly what you’ll need to meet or exceed your benchmarks. The more specific, the better.
Not sure where to start? Predictive workforce analytics is a great way to help project future workforce requirements. Considering various potential future scenarios, such as economic downturns or rapid technology advancements, allows you to create development plans that help your workforce adapt quickly. This proactive approach not only prepares you for uncertainty but also positions you to capitalize on emerging trends.
5. Develop your strategy
Once you’ve identified your goals, analyzed your current workforce and identified future needs, it’s time to get specific on next steps. Document your plans in each of these areas:
- How many skilled positions do you anticipate needing to fill over the next 12 months?
- What is your recruitment strategy for filling them?
- What skills gaps do you need to address with training and development?
- What is your succession planning strategy to prepare employees for key leadership roles?
- What else will you do to address workforce gaps?
6. Monitor your progress
Before you launch your new workforce planning strategy, decide how you’ll measure progress. Decide right now what KPIs you’ll regularly assess, as well as which tools you’ll use to measure them.
The many benefits of workforce planning
While the steps outlined above may seem simple, the results you’ll achieve are anything but. By spotting and filling workforce gaps early, you set the stage for all kinds of productivity benefits. For example:
- Companies that use workforce planning are 50% more likely to achieve their business objectives.
- Workforce planning results in up to 10% cost savings in less than a year.
- 60% of companies that engage in workforce planning experience better administrative efficiency, and 40% boost in employee productivity.
Workforce planning is your ticket to preparing for future needs long before they occur — and to making more data-driven decisions. It’s a great way to increase retention, cut costs, lessen the need for overtime and reduce your time-to-hire metrics. Plus, when employees know what’s expected of them, everyone benefits. Other advantages include:
- Better role alignment: When you have the right people in the right roles, team members work more collaboratively and efficiently.
- Higher employee engagement: Because workforce planning provides clear direction and a sense of purpose, companies that use it experience higher levels of engagement.
- More data-driven decisions: Our strategic workforce planning template is designed to help you identify the employee data you need to make decisions based on data rather than instinct or intuition.
- Greater loyalty: With a clear plan, it’s much easier to get buy-in from employees and gain the confidence of managers.
- Improved bottom line: An effective workforce plan helps boost your revenue potential by increasing operational efficiency and reducing labor expenses.
Tips for optimizing your workforce planning template
In addition to the guidelines above, take your workforce plan to the next level by incorporating these best practices and tips.
Factor in diversity and inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are paramount in designing an effective workforce. By actively seeking diverse talents, you not only enhance creativity and innovation but also improve decision-making and performance.
Use the right technology
The importance of technology in workforce planning cannot be overstated. Using HR analytics tools, employee surveys and workforce management software helps ensure you collect accurate, timely data.
Prioritize learning and development
Creating a culture of continuous learning is vital for workforce optimization. Encourage employees to engage in learning opportunities that help them upgrade their skills and keep pace with industry changes. This helps reduce any gaps you might experience today.
Align teams
Workforce planning impacts all departments and functions across your organization. For this reason, it’s important to not only address individual teams but also how those teams will work together moving forward.
Think outside the box
When addressing skills gaps, look beyond basic talent acquisition. Are there ways to increase capacity within your existing workforce? Would training and upskilling current staff work better in some instances? Look to your current employees first to see how they fit into your long-term workforce planning goals.
Take your workforce planning to the next level with ActivTrak
Looking for a fast, data-driven way to optimize your workforce planning? ActivTrak’s workforce planning software delivers deep insights into employee productivity and capacity, allowing you to make informed decisions. You’ll gain actionable insights on every aspect of your current workforce, as well as reports you can use to guide future decisions.
Sound like something you can use? Request a demo to see it in action and get started today.
