Workforce Planning

What is workforce planning? 

Workforce planning is a strategic process organizations use to ensure they have the right number of people with the right skills in the right place at the right time to achieve their objectives. It involves forecasting future staffing needs based on business goals, analyzing current workforce capabilities, and identifying gaps or surpluses. This planning process helps organizations adapt to changes in the market, technology, and other external factors that might affect their workforce. Effective workforce planning considers succession planning, employee development, and talent acquisition, ensuring the organization remains agile and competitive in a dynamic environment. 

Examples of Workforce Planning 

Some examples of workforce planning are:  

Succession planning: Identifying and developing internal employees to fill key leadership positions when they become vacant. This involves assessing potential successors, providing them with development opportunities, and creating a clear path for career progression. 

Skills gap analysis: Assessing the current workforce’s skills and comparing them to those required to achieve future business objectives. This analysis helps identify areas where additional training or hiring is needed to fill gaps. 

Talent acquisition strategy: Developing a plan to attract, recruit, and retain the necessary talent. This might include employer branding, creating competitive compensation packages, and utilizing various recruitment channels. 

How Mercer | Mettl can help 

Mercer | Mettl provides various workforce planning tools to help organizations ensure they have the right people with suitable skills to achieve their goals. These include:   

Skill-gap analysis measures employee skill gaps and creates talent development plans.   

The assessment battery is a scientifically validated group of tests for a comprehensive overview of employees’ skills and abilities. 

High-potential identification assessment helps identify and develop your most valuable employees.  

SmartADC is an online, location-agnostic, scalable tool to assess employees on the desired competencies.