“Workforce planning is the process of leveraging data to ensure that a business’s workforce supports business needs, goals, and strategic plans… Workforce planning is essential to keeping your business appropriately staffed. Without workforce planning, businesses can easily become overstaffed with excessive payroll expenses or understaffed and unable to meet customer or client needs. Workforce planning can help keep the business on track to meet customer and client needs, to achieve business goals and strategic plans.”
– Christine Organ, Workforce Planning: Definition & Best Practices, Forbes
There’s no denying that workforce planning is a game-changer, taking your organization to the next level. However, without a solid strategy, even the best intentions can fall flat. This is where the magic of HR analytics comes into play. Authentic, data-driven people analytics goes beyond the basic metrics you might pull from your ATS, HCM, or HRIS systems. Instead, it offers robust, multi-source insights that truly drive results.
So how does it work? Workforce planning breaks down into four main elements:
- Supply Analysis
- Demand Analysis
- Gap Analysis
- Solution Analysis
Let’s dive in.
Supply Analysis – Navigating Your Organizational Landscape
Forget those dry, number-laden spreadsheets; real supply analysis is a vibrant snapshot of talent within your organization, revealing key factors including employee skill sets, demographics, and locations. These insights serve as the bedrock of effective workforce planning, highlighting issues such as looming retirements or high turnover rates among younger employees. The real game-changer? People Analytics that provides a clear vision of your future staffing needs. Whether you’re preparing for growth, a merger, or simply refining your forecasting, workforce planning starts with accurate headcount data.
Demand Analysis – Strategize with Agility, Adapt with Ease
The demand model is your crystal ball, providing insights into the structure of your team. Add context like new product lines, market changes, or competition, and you’ve got a powerful tool at your disposal. people analytics allows you to dissect data based on internal and external factors. These insights allow you to not only predict the future but also shape it by answering strategic questions about team composition, talent pool, and maintaining workforce diversity. With HR analytics software in your corner, you can adapt, pivot, and execute your plans to meet any challenge.
Gap Analysis – Orchestrating Balance
Gap analysis is where HR analytics really shines, harmonizing supply and demand models. It’s not only about identifying gaps, but also crafting a balanced and dynamic workforce. Who are your key players? Who needs to upskill? Gap analysis can help you answer these questions and more.
Solution Analysis: A Comprehensive Overview
The final piece of the workforce planning puzzle is solution analysis, bridging the gap between your current and future workforce needs. Recruiting, training, contingent staff, and outsourcing all come into play. With people analytics, you can delve into various scenarios, weighing the pros and cons of each. For example, should you recruit new employees or train existing ones? How can contingent staff fit into your organization’s rhythm? Is outsourcing a viable option for non-core functions? HR analytics software provides real-time visibility and intuitive data visualization, making it easier to share plans and guide discussions around workforce planning with key stakeholders.
With HireRoad’s HR analytics software system, PeopleInsight, you can unlock a new understanding of your workforce data, taking workforce planning to a whole new level. Don’t hesitate—this powerful tool can help you navigate the unpredictable waters of the global marketplace with confidence. No matter the size of your operation or the complexity of your systems, PeopleInsight can help you shape the future of your organization. Book a free demo today and discover the power of workforce planning. In just 10 days, you could be charting a course towards a brighter business future.
