Workforce Planning: What is It and Do I Need It? (Part 1)
Posted September 20th, 2010
If you’ve ever wondered what workforce planning is and if your business needs it, this article is for you.
Actually, this article is the first of a two-part series on strategic workforce planning. This article will describe what workforce planning is, while next week’s post will discuss if your company should create and implement a strategic workforce plan.
A strategic workforce plan basically is the plan and process in which a business makes sure it has enough workers with the right skills at the right time, whenever needed.
Most companies tend to think of workplace planning in terms of employees, but that’s really too narrow a definition. Instead, think of it in terms of “talent.” That is, your workforce plan can take into account temporary workers, free-lancers, partnerships and, of course regular, full-time employees.
You also should think of what kind of soft and hard skills you need in these workers. What kind of education do they need, what kind of personality works best at the different tasks you need done? What kind of backgrounds and experiences are critical to your success?
In addition, no workforce plan is complete if you don’t think ahead and ascertain what could happen should you not find the right workers when you need them. You also should consider what could happen if you can’t find enough of the right kind of workers. Or what could happen to your business if you find the right kind of workers, but you don’t put them where they’re most needed.
Naturally, any strategic workforce plan you craft should be in alignment with your company’s vision and strategic plan. Which means you also should identify the most critical of your workforce needs. These are the workers that, if not in place, would mean disaster for your business.
Contact Bayside Solutions when you’re ready to create a strategic staffing plan for your Bay Area company. We have many flexible staffing solutions we can offer your company and we’d be honored to demonstrate how using our staffing service can help your company become more agile and profitable. Contact us today!
