Workforce Planning: How Should Organisations Do It Right?

80% of your achievements is a result of 20% of your planning. Ensure you engage in essential workforce planning to ensure the growth of your business.

In the latest Labour Market Statistical Information released by the Ministry of Manpower, job vacancies still outnumber active jobseekers. With the number of available roles standing at more than 65,000, recruiters will have to evaluate their recruitment methods so that they are both effective and efficient. This is why workforce planning is especially important. Workforce planning is imperative to every business if it wants to achieve long-term success, as employees form the background of every company.
 
Operational workforce planning
 
Workforce planning can be divided into broad categories: operational and strategic. The former involves working closely with employees on a daily basis, and on a more personal level. The main purpose of workforce planning on an operational level is to ensure proper time management. This will lead to the maximisation of staff's time. 

Operational planning also incorporates coming up with a strategy for talent distribution. By identifying the most suitable employee requried for a specific role, an organisation will be able to ensure efficiency. It might be good to implement a practice of job rotation for employees to discover what they are good at – you never know what kind of gems lie within an individual and if this person will achieve greater outcomes in a different role. 

Another aspect of operational planning is tactical management. Having to deal with the departure of a key staff member is a situation that employers are all too familiar with. How do you then cope with the sudden talent void? You may already have a talent pipeline – a pool of potential candidates – in place, but do you also have a standard protocol in place for such situations? This is when a strategic workforce plan comes into play.
 
Strategic workforce planning

When it comes to strategic workforce planning, one would have to be forward-thinking. For instance, a HR department would have to forecast the threat of a talent drain, or hire when the organisation foresees significant growth and have plans to expand. 

Choosing to harness new technologies also falls within the scope of strategic workforce planning. Newer HR technologies such as job distribution platforms as well as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) will help you to ensure maximum productivity and optimisation of resources. 

All these pointers are reminders for you to make plans for your organisation’s future. Both sets of workforce planning need not appear as daunting dasks – remember, it is better to have one simple plan than none at all.