‹ Organizational Performance

Workforce Planning

We guide decisions to hire, develop, redeploy or redesign based on the capabilities the strategy requires, anticipating the gaps between today's workforce and what the business will need.

Workforce planning (strategic workforce planning) is the process that connects the strategic plan to the human capacity needed to execute it: how many people, with which competencies, in which positions and when. At WePeople, it starts from the strategic plan and the business's future aspiration and guides decisions to hire, develop, redeploy or redesign.

Strategy defines where to go. The workforce defines whether the company gets there.

Artificial intelligence and automation are redesigning roles faster than budget cycles. The World Economic Forum projects that 59 out of every 100 workers will need reskilling by 2030, and BCG estimates that about 70% of the challenges in scaling AI come from people and processes. Workforce planning means anticipating these gaps before they turn into cost or delay.

  • The growth plan has no matching capacity plan.
  • Hiring is reactive and comes after the need arises.
  • AI and automation change roles with no view of the impact on teams.
  • Personnel costs grow without a proportional gain in productivity.

Five steps, from strategy to capacity plan

  1. Review of the strategic plan and the business's future aspiration

  2. Mapping current capabilities (as is)

  3. Defining required capabilities and critical positions (to be)

  4. Gap and scenario analysis: hire, develop, redeploy or redesign

  5. Action plan, metrics and people analytics

Workforce planning in practice

What is workforce planning?

It means connecting strategy to the human capacity it requires: how many people, with which competencies and in which positions the business needs to deliver its ambition.

What is the difference between workforce planning and headcount planning?

Headcount planning looks at numbers and budget for the next cycle. Workforce planning looks at capabilities and competencies over the strategy's horizon, and decides between hiring, developing, redeploying or redesigning.

How does artificial intelligence change workforce planning?

It changes the content of roles, not just the number of positions. Planning now maps which activities will be automated, which competencies gain weight and how to reskill people.

How often should the plan be reviewed?

Alongside the strategic planning cycle, usually once a year, with reviews whenever there is a significant change in the market or business model.

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