what is strategic workforce planning?
Strategic workforce planning (SWP) can be explained in four stages:
Set up:
The initial phase of gaining executive sponsorship, socialisation of the programme and implementing governance, provides a solid foundation on which to build the team and agree on the best approach.
Where strategy and science are linked you have a substantiated approach
Where science and structure are linked you have specific decisions
Where structure and strategy are linked you have stability in your programme
Strategy:
Understanding the business strategy and how it will impact the workforce.
Structure:
Defining the methodology, ensuring all stakeholders are aware.
Science:
Sourcing key data points and building a plan to collect missing data ensuring decisions are data led.
wHAT’S STRATEGIC?
It really doesn’t matter how you define “strategic”, this term means different things to different organisations. What matters is that you have a plan to ensure that you have the workforce you need, when you need it.
A start-up could consider planning the next 6 months to be strategic whereas a large corporation may plan for the next 15-20 years.
Additionally,“strategic” could refer to the workforce itself, for example a plan for how many train drivers required would be operational, whereas planning for a future when driverless trains are prevalent is definitely strategic.
isn’t this HR’S JOB?
Workforce planning has traditionally sat within Human Resources, predominantly because it requires many of the disciplines that sit within HR’s remit. their Talent Acquisition and Learning teams bring in the workforce and give them the skills to do the work.
With strategic workforce planning, the requirement is completely different. For an organisation to figure out what their workforce needs will be 2, 3, 5 or 10 years into the future, a much more collaborative approach must be taken.
Whilst the SWP programme management will likely still remain in HR, the wider approach has to include a cross section of the organisation. The business leaders who understand the strategy better than anyone, the finance team who know what has been budgeted and what is possible, the IT function who have plans to digitise and improve manual process and of course, the traditional HR functions.
why is this so important?
Many organisations find themselves competing for critical skills, and often carry a large proportion of vacancies, which puts added pressure on the existing workforce and hinders growth.
By reviewing the current workforce and assessing what is required to deliver the business strategy, an organisation can start to develop new career paths and opportunities for their existing workforce.
These new opportunities can be offered to workers who otherwise may leave, often to the detriment of the organisation due to the legacy knowledge and skills that are lost. An organisation can also benefit from building a reputation for investing in its workforce, helping staff build valuable careers and develop new skills.
This reputation can also develop into an external brand that becomes sought after by potential recruits, all helping to reduce the vacancy rate.
CAN’T I JUST HIRE AND FIRE?
The workforce has changed beyond all recognition in recent years; the COVID pandemic in particular acted as a catalyst to increase the speed of change but it also inspired many people to question what they wanted from their work.
More and more we are seeing employees change careers, move to jobs with a greater purpose, and generally take more control of who they work for and why.
To ensure they have the best workforce they can, employers have to be far more flexible than ever before, and provide more purpose and opportunity to grow.
What will all this cost?
The concept of strategic workforce planning is to anticipate, where possible, what changes are going to be needed in the workforce and identify opportunities to redeploy employees around their business.
Redeployment costs vary but are usually far lower than redundancy and recruitment costs incurred.
how do i start?
The key thing to remember is that strategic workforce planning is an ongoing programme of work that is directly linked to the business strategy, and must be reviewed periodically to ensure relevancy, it isn’t a project, or a one-off piece of work.
To ensure this programme is sustainable and ongoing, it is essential for organisations to learn the skills of strategic workforce planning for themselves. This is NOT a process that can be conducted by an external vendor on an ongoing basis.
For that reason Strictly Workforce Planning offers coaching and support to teams of all sizes, helping them to get started and embed this critical piece of work into the DNA of their organisation.