There are plenty of great quotes from inspirational leaders that perfectly sum up the importance of workforce planning, but in my mind, none of them quite capture it like this one:
“Making a plan without the right tools is like making spaghetti without a pot.” – Kris Hughes, Content Strategy Consultant
You are absolutely not going to be making any spaghetti without a pot, or at least a pot-like vessel that will hold boiling water in a way so as not to burn the crap out of your hands in the process. When it comes to workforce planning, the spaghetti is your business and the pot…
Okay. I took the simile too far. You get the picture: if your business doesn’t have the right people in the right place, you got nothing.
Think beyond that: if the right people don’t stay or aren’t being utilized properly, you still don’t have a pot to… make spaghetti in.
There is a lot out there about workforce planning, and by a lot I mean, a frickin lot. It’s my job to do research and even I got a little dizzy trying to sort through all the different takes on what is or isn’t or could be/might be the best way to manage your workforce.
This post aims to simplify all that. I’ll cover the foundations of workforce planning, specific considerations for remote work, and examine some common methods for finding the right approach for your organization.
This Process Street post is designed so you can jump straight to the info you need to know, so feel free to skip ahead.
- Workforce planning foundations
- Challenges for remote workforce planning
- Future-back planning process
- Recruit, retain, reinforce
- Workforce management tools
Let’s get planning!
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