Workforce planning is a key business practice which aligns the changing organisation needs with people practices and strategy. In essence, it is about planning and balancing workforce supply and demand to meet current and future organisation needs, in partnership with business managers and leaders.

Specialists in this area need a deep understanding of the stages and cycle of workforce planning and how to apply them in organisations. This includes analysing the current workforce (in terms of size, shape, skills and location), determining future workforce needs, identifying the gap between present and future, and implementing workforce solutions so that an organisation can achieve its goals and strategy.

Workforce planning is an area of the profession that is strongly based in data and evidence, and the analysis and modelling of data to provide actionable insights and future forecasts is key.

Increasingly, workforce planning specialists are working with leaders, managers and other people professionals to develop and deliver plans to change the workforce in response to wider organisation transformation and external drivers such as the increasing use of technologies such as AI.

Workforce planning standards

Each standard progresses through four levels of impact. Which level do you most embody in your day-to-day work?

Foundation level Associate level Chartered Member level Chartered Fellow level
At this level you'll understand: At this level you'll understand: At this level you'll understand: At this level you'll understand:
Business alignment How to support the identification of future workforce requirements using people and business data How to advise managers on identifying future workforce needs How to partner with leaders to align workforce planning with business strategy and risk management, and identify critical roles, capabilities and skills How to partner with senior leaders to embed strategic workforce planning into long term strategy, finance, risk and governance
Workforce planning framework The six stages in CIPD's workforce planning framework (establishing a baseline through to delivery) and the three workforce planning horizons (tactical, operational and strategic) How to apply the six stages of workforce planning over an operational horizon How to apply the six stages over operational and strategic horizons How to develop a workforce planning framework over different time horizons to meet the organisation's needs
Workforce planning cycle How your organisation operationalises workforce planning and the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders How to advise stakeholders on the workforce planning cycle How to enable and enhance the workforce planning cycle and manage it dynamically How to oversee the workforce planning cycle in line with people and finance strategy, and consider people impacts
Workforce data, insight and modelling How to access, validate and report workforce data (eg, headcount, FTE, turnover) How to produce baselines, demand/supply analysis and gap assessments using data and metrics How to build workforce models and scenarios and integrate external labour market and benchmarking data to create insight How to develop requirements for advanced forecasting, predictive modelling and risk analysis to inform organisation/enterprise decision cycles
Workforce dimensions Key workforce dimensions such as size, shape, skills, time, location, cost and risk How to analyse all workforce dimensions to identify gaps How to design and target interventions across all dimensions to balance surpluses and deficits How to ensure workforce deployment maximises strategic value and competitive advantage
Workforce transformation Different workforce levers that can address shortages or gaps (eg, build, buy, borrow, bind, bot) How to work with stakeholders to implement and monitor interventions for specific workforce levers How to plan the mix and sequence of levers in workforce interventions, and collaborate with stakeholders to deliver change How to change the workforce over time in line with the organisation's transformation agenda and external drivers
Links with wider people practice How workforce planning connects with other specialisms (eg, Resourcing, Talent Management, L&D and OD&D) How to apply workforce planning outputs to support people, talent and OD&D practices How to integrate workforce planning into wider people, talent and OD&D practices How to position strategic workforce planning within wider people and talent strategies

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