Frequently Asked Questions

You Have Questions. We Have Answers.

Here are answers to some of the questions we are asked most often. If you have a question about Strategic Workforce Planning which isn't answered on our site, please contact us to ask, or ask in our Workforce Planning blog - we'll be happy to answer it for you.

 

Exactly what is workforce planning?

Unfortunately, the term “workforce planning” is used to describe many things – metrics, competency modeling, rostering, even headcount budgeting - but these activities are not the workforce planning that organizations need to support their strategic business objectives.  True Strategic Workforce Planning is a longer term process that incorporates internal and external supply and demand influences on the workforce, enables scenario planning to determine the right targeted future – and then action planning and progress checking to ensure you get there.  A good workforce plan will transform data about people into strategic insight about future workforce capability, and will give an employer confidence that the workforce is aligned to operations and strategy.

Back to Top


What is the difference between software that’s used for workforce planning, and software that’s used for workforce scheduling?

An application that is used for scheduling is designed to match specific individual resources to specific individual requirements, based on particular constraints – and usually with a short term planning horizon of days, weeks or months from the date the plan is created.  Software for workforce planning looks further into the future and creates models of your workforce demand and supply, incorporating internal and external influences such as demographic, business strategy and employee preference changes.

Back to Top

Are there small steps I can take towards Strategic Workforce Planning?

Not only CAN you take steps towards Workforce Planning, that’s exactly what you should do. Workforce planning must be viewed as a journey, and it is important to take pragmatic, achievable steps that provide great progress rather than attempting to implement the perfect system from day 1. Your first step might be introducing environment scanning, creating the right people metrics, or even building a forecast of your “no change future state”.

Back to Top

How can I spend time workforce planning when I have a burning issue with my current workforce?

Think of spending time on workforce planning as the ounce of prevention you need to prevent the pounds of cure you are spending putting out the fires of these burning issues! Unless you start to spend time on Workforce Planning, it’s fairly safe to assume that your future workforce won’t be the best one to execute your strategy, and you will continue to fight fires, rather than proactively anticipating and preventing them. Look to the future and stop this firefighting!

Can you imagine hearing ‘it’s not a priority’ for time spent on business planning? Given that Workforce Planning ensures the organisation has the workforce in place to deliver on financial and marketing plans, the cost of not Workforce Planning is the first argument to overcome this. The return on investment for most organisations can be substantial, and relatively simple to calculate.

Back to Top

I have my headcount plan for the next year – why isn’t that enough?

A headcount plan is the quantification of your demand for labour for the next year. If it’s done without a strategic plan it won’t incorporate external labor market trends, your skills requirements (build or buy), your employer brand or a description of the types of people you will require, and what will make you attractive to them. Imagine if your marketing group tried to pass off a one year sales budget as a long term customer strategy?

Most employers apply a great deal of energy to effectively plan for their future products, services, customers, competitors and finances – but very few apply strategic workforce planning techniques to the resource that CEOs often refer to as the real source of their competitive advantage – talent. You will need a headcount budget, but it should be generated inside a longer term strategic workforce plan, not instead of one!

Back to Top

It’s impossible to predict the future – how can it be possible to produce long term workforce plans?

If organisations don’t look beyond today, they may find themselves lacking competitive advantage as a result of a capability or productivity shortfall, and they may find themselves falling prey to trends and events which are foreseeable, but which don’t exist yet (such as the aging workforce and upcoming wave of baby boomer retirements). Predicting the future is an inexact art, but there are many disciplines (including finance and marketing) that do so, with varying degrees of accuracy, but almost always with value gained in the process. Uncertainty is not a good reason for ignoring the future. As Charles Darwin said “for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities”.

Back to Top

So many things are happening in the world – how do I know what to plan for, and how to plan for it?

Some organisations begin the process of Workforce Planning by scanning the environment and collating as much information as they can about their existing workforce, ABS demographics and all the political, economic, social and technology trends in the news. While this is a critical part of the process, it’s one that can be overdone. A simple impact matrix can be very useful in prioritising the workforce factors which you need to include in your Workforce Plan. Consider the potential impact on your organisation, and likelihood that it will happen, and rate the combination of those two measures to decide how much attention you should pay to the piece of information. Don’t worry, learning to prioritize and select these factors is a skill that grows as you workforce plan! Our whitepaper has more information on environment scanning and prioritizing.

Back to Top

What is different about Aruspex’s approach?

Aruspex’s approach to Workforce Planning has been developed through years of practice, and it effectively combines the art and science of workforce planning. As well as a tangible, proven framework, Aruspex provide a comprehensive software tool to meet the needs of all organisations, no matter where they are on the Workforce Planning journey. And meeting those needs means building internal capability, not getting external consultants to build workforce plans for you. The critical difference, though, is that Workforce Planning is not just an extra service Aruspex offer, it’s what we do, and what we are passionate about.

Back to Top

How can Aruspex help me workforce plan?

Aruspex can help you develop proactive plans that position you for the future rather than leave you unprepared for future workforce changes and pressures. We provide consulting services and training, and offer a great range of resources to help you. We bring considerable research and insight into the external factors that will impact your workforce, and our extensive HR experience ensures that we can offer you only proven, successful solutions. To help you determine which of our services would be most useful for you, contact us today.

Back to Top