Workforce Planning Model: Stages & Benefits

In modern business environment, effective Human Resource Management (HRM) is essential for an organisation's success. One of the key strategies that aid companies in the comprehensive management and planning of their Workforce is the Workforce Planning Model. 

Today, forward-thinking companies employ this strategy to ensure they have the right people in the right roles at the right time. This sophisticated framework offers a roadmap for organisations to optimise their Workforce, align it with strategic objectives, and adapt to changing market conditions. 

However, if your organisation is still working with the traditional models and has not heard of this strategy before, it’s time to get familiar with this approach and manage your Workforce effectively. Read this blog to learn more about the Workforce Planning Model. Also, explore its core elements and steps to implement it. 

Table of contents  

1) What is a Workforce Planning Model?

2) Key elements of Workforce Planning Model

3) The goal of Workforce Planning Model

4) The benefits of Workforce Planning Model

5) Stages of Workforce Planning Model

6) Conclusion

What is a Workforce Planning Model? 

The workforce planning model is defined as an approach that will help align capabilities and resources towards the workforce in an organisation regarding the goals and objectives of the business. In this model, forecast human resource requirements, analysis of the current skills with forecasted skills, identification of the gaps, and strategies for effective recruitment, retention, and training are being developed. 

Workforce Planning Model is a strategic process used by organisations to align their Workforce with their business goals and objectives. It involves analysing the current Workforce, identifying future Workforce needs, and developing strategies to acquire, develop and retain the right talent. 

The primary objective is to ensure that the organisation does, in reality, have the correct numbers of people with the right skills at the right time that will enable the organisation to meet its operational and strategic targets. Some of the critical steps generally included in this process of planning include the collection of data, analysis, development strategy, and continuous monitoring along with the adjustment.

Strategic workforce planning

It is an active, organised, and critical process of thinking through which an organisation takes care of its workforce needs and is compatible with long-term business plans. Generally, it also involves a predictive analysis for forecasting potential challenges and requirements in the strategic direction of the organisation. Along with this, the model of this plan includes expected retirements, expansion, new projects, technology improvements, and changes in the market. Key steps involved in strategic workforce planning include:  

a) Environmental analysis: In this step, the external factors that may affect human resources in the organisation may include economic factors, industry factors, and changes in law or legislation. This will help to identify potential opportunities and threats that an organisation can face in the future.  

b) Workforce analysis: Workforce analysis helps review and appraise the skills, competencies, demographics, and performance of the present workforce. This kind of analysis summarises the skills and competencies requirements for the organisation to realise its future business objectives in terms of any gaps or surpluses in the organisation concerning skills.

c) Forecasting future Workforce needs: From the analysis of the environmental and workforce analysis, it is possible to forecast future workforce requirements. This will include the number of employees and the skills and competencies required, and in case of any gaps, the strategies that would be used in recruitment and development.

d) Talent acquisition and development strategies: After future workforce requirements have been identified, organisations can embark on developing talent acquisition and development strategies that ensure the most suitable talent gets attracted to, hired, and subsequently retained by the organisation. It must essentially recruit, develop talent, and plan for succession and an organised flow of employees trained with the required skills.

e) Monitoring and evaluation: Strategic workforce planning is a continuous process; hence, what has been implemented needs to be monitored and evaluated for its effectiveness. The way this works, in turn, enables organisations to make adjustments when necessary and to adjust to changing realities.

 

Operational workforce planning

Operational workforce planning pursues short-range plans that concern the day-to-day workforce needs of an organisation, such as staffing to the agreed levels, workforce utilisation, and addressing any operational demands as required immediately.

Key elements of operational workforce planning include:

a) Demand forecasting: At the operation level, the process of workforce planning commences with a demand forecasting exercise for the immediate workforce that needs to be put in place. This, in effect, is putting production targets, service levels, customer demand patterns, and seasonality variations into the grinder and coming up with the size and composition of the workforce required. 

b) Workforce supply analysis: After determining the workforce demand, an organisation assesses the current availability and capabilities. This includes availability, skills, competencies, work schedules, and contract terms. It helps in determining the gap, if any, between demand and present workforce supply. 

c) Gap analysis and Workforce adjustment: It is a kind of comparison tool that compares the demand and supply position of the workforce and finds out the imbalances present therein. When there is a shortage of labour, organisations may look to hire additional labour, get the help of temporary or contract workers, or reassign the work to other workers within the organisation. Excess workforce, on the other hand, may force organisations to look into such options as a reduction in overtime, reassignment, or downsizing. 

d) Workforce scheduling: Operation workforce planning provides schedules and rosters that are developed to ensure that they are optimally staffed at all times. This takes into consideration peak periods, employee preferences, labour regulations, and service requirements that help optimise workforce utilisation and manage costs effectively.   

e) Performance monitoring and adjustment: Organisations effectively monitor workforce performance, and it is continuous. Productivity, quality metrics, and indicators of employee attendance and turnover rates are some instances where tracking is continuously done. This data will enable the organisation to identify the areas of improvement and work on correcting them.

Key elements of Workforce Planning Model 

Planning and implementing the Workforce Planning Model is an extensive process for successfully making the strategies work. However, here are the three key elements by which companies can break down the Workforce Planning process. These elements include the following:

Recruitment and employee development 

Workforce Planning offers the game plan for the company's recruitment and employee development. Recruitment involves the process of hiring new employees to meet the organisation’s Workforce needs. It includes activities such as the following: 

a) Job analysis 

b) Creating job descriptions 

c) Posting job openings 

d) Screening resumes 

e) Conducting interviews 

f)  Making job offers 

On the other hand, employee development focuses on enhancing the skills, knowledge, and abilities of current employees. This is done to ensure they are skilled enough to handle evolving job roles and responsibilities. 

Succession planning 

Succession planning is a strategic process within the Workforce Planning framework that focuses on identifying and training employees to fill key leadership and critical roles within the organisation as they become vacant due to retirement, promotion, or other reasons. It aims to ensure a smooth transition of leadership and maintain organisational continuity.  

Performance management 

Performance management is another crucial element of the Workforce Planning Model that focuses on aligning individual employee performance with the organisation's goals and objectives. It involves a structured process with the following in mind: 

a) Setting expectations 

b) Measuring progress 

c) Providing feedback 

d) Facilitating growth 

The aim is to ensure that the employees contribute effectively to the organisation’s success.

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The goal of Workforce Planning Model

The focus of Workforce Planning is to develop a staffing approach that will facilitate organisational goals currently and in the future. However, the prevailing composition of the workforce—employee skills, experience, workload capacity, and the anticipated talent gap—needs to be fully understood.

Performance monitoring and employee appraisal give an overview of a whole lot of human capital at the disposal of the organisation. This would help them make pragmatic plans for the future. Planning the Workforce Model helps in structuring the workforce comprehensively and efficiently to achieve the long-term goals of the organisation. It serves as a preventive measure, helping management identify and address issues early on. Examples of this include:  

a) Recognising departments with insufficient staff and potential obstacles

b) Determining staffing needs for expanding operations

c) Managing surplus employees through redeployment or termination

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The benefits of Workforce Planning Model

The Workforce Planning Model provides a framework and assists organisations in building teams that collaborate effectively to achieve meaningful, enduring results. It also strengthens their talent management capabilities. Here are a few benefits of this Model:  

Preparing for the future

Utilising a Workforce Planning Model allows organisations to prepare for the future by strategically addressing their staffing requirements. This may involve recruiting additional personnel to align with growth projections, modifying their business model, and identifying the necessary individuals to facilitate these changes.

Discovering Workforce gaps

Identifying deficiencies in the existing Workforce allows organisations to develop hiring strategies, reassign personnel, and provide targeted training. This strategic approach ensures a more agile and responsive organisational structure.

Effective succession planning

By choosing and nurturing individuals with the capacity for future leadership positions, organisations can strategically prepare for staff departures with minimal disruption. Furthermore, succession planning can contribute positively to employee engagement, fostering a sense of career development and loyalty within the workforce.

Improved retention strategies

By following the Workforce Planning framework, organisations can gain a comprehensive insight into employees' skills and identify optimal roles for their success within the company. Instead of resorting to employee terminations, strategic redeployment can be implemented to retain valuable staff.  

Flexibility

A well-defined Workforce Plan, incorporating recruitment and training frameworks, can enhance the flexibility of business models. It enables businesses to effectively predict and respond to change. By devising strategies given below, these businesses can lower your overall staffing expenses:

a) Boost productivity and maximise return on workforce investment

b) Retain skilled personnel and minimise expenses linked to staff turnover

c) Develop a functional workforce capable of meeting varying customer demands

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Stages of Workforce Planning Model

There are five core steps in the Workforce Planning Model by which organisations can simplify the process of Workforce Planning:

Deciding strategic direction and goals 

Workforce Planning is a hierarchical process that requires the right organisational path and specific strategic goals to make informed decisions. There are some important questions to ask before examining the Workforce and executing new employee management strategies. These questions are as follows: 

1) In what direction your business should go?  

2) What are you expecting to get through Workforce Planning?   

3) What are the primary goals or objectives you need to target?  

4) Why do you require a Workforce Planning structure for your business? 

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Current Workforce analysis 

In this stage of the Workforce Planning Model, the organisation assesses its current Workforce. This involves analysing employee demographics, skills, performance, and potential future retirements and departures. The primary aim is to gain a complete view of the existing Workforce’s strengths and gaps. The following are the strategies implemented in this stage: 

a) Demand planning: This involves determining the number of employees required for each role to achieve the organisation’s objective. It requires accurate prediction of the business to specify the accurate Workforce for the future.   

b) Internal supply: This involves accurate talent evaluations and analysing the expected turnover rate of an employee, such as retirement, resignation, etc. 

c) Gap analysis: This involves addressing the gaps in the Workforce and creating plans to end up with recruitment, redeployment, and training.  

Develop the plan 

This involves the process of creating a strategic and actionable plan to address the identified gaps between the current Workforce and future Workforce requirements of the organisation.  This step involves translating the insights gained from the earlier stage of the Workforce analysis into concrete strategies and initiatives. Here are some steps involved in developing a Workforce plan: 

a) Identify specific Workforce gaps: Based on the gap analysis from the previous steps, the organisation pinpoints specific areas where there are shortages of skills and roles. 

b) Set clear objectives: The organisation clearly defines the goals and objectives of the Workforce. This involves specifying the desired outcomes, such as reducing skills gaps, ensuring leadership continuity, and so on. 

c) Craft strategies: Then, the organisation develops a plan to fill the identified gaps.  If there’s a shortage of certain skills, the plan might outline initiatives for recruitment and training.    

Implement the Workforce plan 

Now, it’s time for the organisation to implement the Workforce plan. Implementing the Workforce plan is the process of putting the strategies outlined in the plan into action.  It involves executing various steps and tactics that have been developed to address the gaps in the organisation’s Workforce. Successfully implementing Workforce planning needs the following: 

1) HR personnel to clearly analyse their key roles and responsibilities.  

2) Tactics and processes to record the complete data and information. 

3) Effective communication between invested parties to support and execute the plan

Monitor result 

Results monitoring or analysis of the results is a critical process in Workforce Planning. It denotes the tracking and evaluating the outcomes regarding the strategies and initiatives implemented in the plan. This ensures that the organisation can review how effective the interventions are and thus come up with a valid, informed decision for making improvements in the future. The following are monitoring steps.

a) Data collection: This outlines the process or approach of collecting the right metrics and data based on the outlined goals and objectives in the workforce plan.

b) Performance measurement: It measures against benchmarked results and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that were set in the plan.

c) Analysis: Involves the analysis of collected data so that a trend, pattern, strength, or weakness can be identified and gaps between expected outcomes and actuality are found.

Conclusion 

The Workforce Planning Model works as a framework that guides organisations towards a future that is not just promising but also strategically aligned with their goals. Always remember, Workforce Planning must be handled in a proper way to produce a clean-cut result. 

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