What is Workforce Planning

Workforce Planning is identifying and responding to the future HR needs of a company, as well as ensuring that the right number of people with the right skills and experience are in the right jobs at the right time. Workforce planning provides:

1. a framework for making staffing decisions based on mission and priorities,
2. a means of aligning production or program priorities with fiscal and HR needs, and
3. a connection between HR services and an organization’s strategic plan.

There are three approaches to workforce planning:

1. The workforce approach examines the current workforce and occupations and projects the number and characteristics of jobs and the number of employees needed to fill them at a specific point in the future.
2. The workload approach focuses on the amount and type of work the organization anticipates handling at a specific point in the future, and uses this information to project the number of resources (people and skills) needed to perform that work.
3. The competency approach identifies sets of competencies aligned with the organization’s mission, vision, and strategic goals. The focus is not only on the number of people, but the competencies employees must master for organizational success.