Strategic Workforce Planning: Navigating 2024

Your employer has probably set ambitious business goals for 2024. He probably also developed a strategy to achieve these goals - a strategy that is largely driven by employees. However, if HR has not developed an accompanying HR strategy, your plan is not truly complete.

Learn why it's in your company's best interest to undertake a strategic workforce planning process - and how you can put your plan into motion.

What exactly is strategic workforce planning?

Simply put, strategic workforce planning is the process of aligning your workforce capabilities with your business goals - and that can be a game-changer.

Because if you don't ensure you have the right talent at the right time, how will you achieve your ambitious goals for 2024?

Your 5-step HR strategic plan template

Every strategic workforce plan is unique to your company. However, to develop such a plan, it's best to follow a proven process - such as our HR strategic plan template:

1.Assess your current HR capacity/skills

Start by taking inventory of your current talent pool by mapping relevant skills (e.g. communication, technical understanding, problem solving, etc.) and performance levels (e.g. beginner, intermediate and professional). To provide clarity, conduct your assessment department by department and identify the relevant skills for each department.

This is your current staffing capacity.

2.Make a forecast for your future needs

To forecast future staffing needs, you need to know your employer's business goals and plans for 2024.

For example, if your main goal is to bring a new product to market, what will be needed from each department - product development, marketing, sales, support, etc. - to achieve this? How many employees are needed and what skills do they need?

3.Identify the gaps between current staffing capacity and future needs.

Now this is where things get interesting. Compare your current staffing capacity with projected staffing needs and identify any gaps that need to be filled.

For example, you may determine that to successfully launch a new product you need to expand your sales and/or marketing teams.

4.Develop appropriate talent strategies

Once you know your talent needs, you can develop an acquisition plan. Your strategic workforce plan will likely include:

• Hiring a specific number of new employees with specific skills/expertise
• Training current employees in key areas so they are better equipped to support your 2024 initiatives
• Retention of valued employees to the company to ensure their commitment and job satisfaction

5.Evaluate results

Once you begin implementing your strategic HR plan, you should evaluate its performance.

There are several options for this. For example, you can track the HR metrics relevant to your plan - see below. Or you can monitor how each department or team performs their assigned tasks to determine if greater HR support is needed.

Key components of a strategic workforce plan

You can also see it differently. Although your HR strategy will be tailored to your company and its goals, it will undoubtedly contain some universal HR components, including:

• Analysis and forecast of the workforce, Identifying internal talent and determining the need for additional employees.
• Talent acquisition and recruiting strategies - particularly fine-tuning your hiring process to attract top-notch candidates while striving to retain your current employees.
• Analysis of skills gaps and training programs - d. H. Identify your training needs and plan your program accordingly.
• Leadership development and succession planning - confirming that management can provide the leadership required and ensuring there is also a backup plan.

HR metrics and KPIs: Evaluating the success of strategic HR initiatives

Ideally, your HR software offers you direct access to the most important HR metrics. In this case, monitoring these KPIs is particularly valuable:

• New Hire Overview - The number of new hires per quarter allows you to track your hiring progress.
• Hires by Department - This HR metric provides insight into whether you're meeting your hiring goals against your company's 2024 goals.
• Employee Retention Overview - Tracking the turnover rate per quarter (and comparing it to the previous quarter) is important if employee retention is key to achieving your business goals.
• Top Reasons for Turnover by Quarter - This specialized HR metric, based on exit interviews and surveys, provides a roadmap for improving employee engagement and retention.
• Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) - This KPI measures employee satisfaction - an indicator of commitment and long-term loyalty to the company.

Prepare for 2024 with a strategic HR plan

If you haven't yet engaged in such an HR planning process, 2024 is a good time to start. Your HR team is more than just an administrative body: it has the power to help your company achieve its goals - and strategic HR planning is key to achieving this.

Unlock your company's potential in 2024 with strategic workforce planning. Explore IceHrm for seamless HR solutions.