What is strategic workplace planning?
Strategic workplace planning is the driving force between a workforce and talent management, and while many organisations realise there is a need for better planning, most lack effective workplace planning tools.
People are the most important part of any organisation. For a company to be successful people with the right skills need to be in the right place.
Strategic workforce planning is the process an organisation uses to analyse its workforce and determine what steps it should take to meet current and future staffing needs.
Proper planning will see organisations determine the most cost-effective and efficient ways to recruit and retain people.
It’s also vitally important to identify the best talent out there, and whether the optimum route to market is through a permanent, contingent, consultancy or services procurement solution.
This also means robust contingency plans can be incorporated if details need changing as the solution evolves or situations change.
The importance of strategic workforce planning:
Strategic workforce planning helps companies:
Mange costs, allowing procurement and HR work together to stay within budget
Forward plan and be flexible, improving employee experience by planning with people at the forefront of everything
Promote collaboration and encourage people to participate at all levels of their organisation – this includes workforce management, with collaboration throughout the project team and around internal mobility and other key business areas
Make informed HR decisions around retention, talent management and career progression
Identify gaps in talent and potential solutions, such as the need to either develop a tech tool if a team is stretched or to recruit more staff
Effective workplace planning tools:
Effective workplace planning tools are an essential part of any modern organisation.
These data-driven instruments help identify the gap between a workforce’s current capabilities and its future needs – and assist you in finding ways to find your missing puzzle pieces.
Important strategic workforce planning tools include:
A strategic workforce planning map: Showing how workforce planning activities align with any overall strategy within the organisation
A performance-potential matrix: Mapping employees’ performance and potential in one model
Access to data and reporting leading to data-driven decisions: Applicant tracking systems give HR the ability to see what workforce they have, where they are and what the costs are – this means they can see what skills are on site and quickly make decisions
Compensation and benefit analysis: Highly structured analysis, directly related to financial outcomes and bottom-line performance
Scenario planning: Imagining different potential futures and developing a strategy for unlikely but impactful events
Partnerships / route to market support: Working with a partner who can pick up elements of the process to support teams
Peace of mind: Understanding internal and external capabilities, as well as alternative routes to market for talent
Effective workplace planning tools mean organisations can move forward with purpose, improving talent pipelines and assigning the correct resource for future growth.
Reed Talent Solutions’ Flexible Resource Marketplace combines managed service delivery, talent pool, statement of work and consultancy services procurement via one digital solution – you can find out more here.
