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Business Basics

Workforce planning

  • Created by Henry Stewart Talks
Published on January 28, 2026   3 min

A selection of talks on Finance, Accounting & Economics

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Workforce planning is the process by which organizations ensure they have the right people with the right skills, in the right roles to achieve their strategic objectives, both short and long term. This approach integrates business goals with human resources strategy, bridging strategic vision and operational activity. Rather than reacting to staffing needs, workforce planning is proactive, predicting and managing future requirements amidst rapid technological change, volatile markets, and shifting demographics. Effective workforce planning is an ongoing cyclical process that starts with assessing the current workforce, considering factors like economic shifts, legislative changes, technology, and workforce demographics. The next step is forecasting, predicting future workforce demand and supply, both internally and externally, including succession planning and identifying gaps. The final stage is action planning, where leaders implement strategies to address predicted workforce gaps or surpluses, such as recruitment, retraining, redeployment, or redundancy. Forecasting is arguably the most challenging element of workforce planning due to today's uncertain environment. External factors like economic downturns, new legislation, and rapid technological change are difficult to predict. Internally, challenges include workforce aging, skills shortages, and shifting employee expectations, such as increased demand for flexible work.

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