Workforce Forecasting: How to Get Smarter About Scheduling

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Workforce Forecasting

These days, when it comes to running a workforce, it is important to know how many people are going to be needed, to meet the company’s needs. This is why a tool called workforce forecasting is so essential. First, it is important to define what workforce forecasting is. Workforce forecasting is the practice of estimating how many people a company is going to need in order to meet its demands. This could involve workforce forecasting for tomorrow, next week, next month, or even next year. Because companies want to have enough people on-hand to meet the demands of their customers, they need to make sure they don’t have too few employees. On the other hand, of course, companies do not want to pay too many people to work if they are not required. Therefore, it is important to not exceed the amount of people needed, as well. This is why workforce forecasting is so important.

There are several important tools companies are going to require, if they want to conduct workforce forecasting in an intelligent manner; however, the most important of these tools is historical data. For instance: there are lots of companies that commonly have to hire seasonal employees around the holidays, in order to meet the new spike in customer demands. In this situation, companies will commonly look at their data for the prior years and then estimate how many people they are going to need to work during the coming year. This is one of the most common applications of workforce forecasting using historical data.

These are just a few of the most important points to keep in mind when it comes to workforce forecasting. When looking at workforce forecasting, the main principle is to make sure that all of the company’s resources are being used in an intelligent manner. By optimally using the resources of the company, businesses are going to make the best use of their employees possible. At the same time, there are numerous examples of workforce forecasting in action. There are a few other handy tips that everyone should keep in mind.

Examples Of Workforce Planning

When it comes to workforce planning, it is a good idea to take a look at a few examples. First, it is important to look at the principles of workforce planning. The goal of workforce planning is to make sure that the needs of all customers are met without having to use too many people. This is more than just a numbers game. When it comes to workforce planning, it is important to have the right number of people at every level. The main principles of workforce planning include:

Making sure that the top levels of management are involved, all the way down to the general staff.
Determining the skills that are going to be required at every level to meet the demands of customers and managers.
Looking for gaps that are currently present and coming up with strategies to address them.

There are several benefits involved with workforce planning. Some of the main benefits include:

Companies are going to meet the needs of the customer base in a more efficient manner.
Businesses will not have to spend resources unnecessarily.
Companies will be able to compete more effectively in a hypercompetitive, global environment.

When it comes to examples of workforce planning, it is a good idea to take a closer look at how a business might plan the individual pieces of its workforce. This begins with the manager at the very top, and then, the company will take a look at the individual metrics from the top down. If there is a gap (meaning the KPIs are not being met), then the company is going to take a closer look at this area and figure out whether more people are needed or different talent is required. And finally, businesses will repeat this process at every level from the top to the bottom.

Strategic Workforce Planning

Another important tool when it comes to workforce management is strategic workforce planning. When looking at the strategic workforce planning model, this involves looking at the organization and coming up with proactive ways to meet the current (and future) hiring needs of the business.

While there are a few strategic workforce planning framework options out there, this is realistically going to vary from industry to industry. Some industries have higher levels of turnover than others - and some industries have to have people on call 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Naturally, all of this is going to impact how the company goes about the strategic workforce planning process.

Ultimately, the goal of strategic workforce planning is always the same. By using the right strategic workforce planning framework, businesses will be able to not only meet their current hiring needs, but also find ways to exceed the expectations of customers. In this sense, businesses are using their resources in the most efficient manner possible.

What Are The Steps In Workforce Planning?

For those out there who are asking “what are the steps in workforce planning?”, there are a few key steps to keep in mind. When looking at the importance of workforce planning, this process is critically important, because this is what helps businesses to estimate their current (and future) hiring needs, before figuring out the best way to address them. For anyone who might be asking how to do workforce forecasting, there are a few steps to follow. These include:

Set the number of people needed at every level of the business chain.
Analyze the current strengths and weaknesses of the current model.
Develop a strong action plan that is going to be implemented in order to address each of these needs.
Gradually implement this plan across the entire company.
Monitor the results of this plan and revise it, if necessary.

When monitoring this plan, it is critical to keep the KPIs of the business in mind. By tracking these KPIs, businesses will be able to figure out whether the needs of the business are being met with the current plan. From there, this plan can be improved upon in the future.

Workforce Planning Model

When it comes to a workforce planning model, all of these models are going to follow a workforce planning process that is designed to handle numerous processes, such as workforce planning and forecasting, as well as workforce planning and recruitment. When looking at workforce forecasting models, there are a few roles that need to be met. Some of these roles include:

The business must take a closer look at their business strategy and ensure that they have the right talent to meet these needs.
Companies must make sure they are categorizing their current talent by their strengths and weaknesses.
There must be a risk assessment conducted of both the current business model and the future plan.
Someone must be responsible for conducting a gap analysis to figure out where current holes are located.
Finally, someone must develop a talent action plan to meet these gaps.

These are just a few of the most important roles that will have to be filled, to develop a strong plan for addressing the business’s needs when it comes to the workforce.

Workforce Scheduling

Without a doubt, one of the greatest challenges in running a business has to do with workforce scheduling. There are several common pain points to be aware of, when it comes to workforce scheduling - some of which include:

There are employees who get sick from time to time, creating emergent gap issues.
There are employees who go on vacation from time to time.
Dealing with employees who want to switch to part-time can be a major issue.
Industries with a call schedule, such as healthcare, can prove to be a major challenge.

There are a few ways in which these pain points can be addressed by using workforce scheduling. When it comes to workforce forecasting and scheduling, one of the first tips to keep in mind is to take a closer look at the anticipated needs of the company from shift to shift, and to make sure that these needs are met. Then, look at the data to see how often people are going to call out sick, and ensure that these needs are covered as well. And finally, when it comes to workforce management scheduling, it is also a good idea to try and implement automated processes that can help to make this process easier. The more the employees can handle on their own, the less the managers have to do, making the entire process easier.

Workforce Scheduling Software

One of the ways to make this entire process easier is to use workforce scheduling software. When using a workforce scheduling app, this increases the power of workforce software, allowing managers to handle scheduling issues with ease. Whether someone is running an hourly business, a large healthcare department, or something in-between, many of the issues related to scheduling can be alleviated, making the lives of managers much easier.

Managers can use workforce scheduling software to automate many of the issues that used to be handled by hand. Various requirements and metrics can be plugged into the workforce scheduling software, therefore allowing managers to sit back and let the software do the work. Furthermore, workforce scheduling software can be used to allow employees to swap amongst themselves, without having to worry about asking the manager for permission - thus freeing up the manager to handle more important issues, when it comes to the company. In this regard, workforce scheduling software is one of the most important tools that businesses can use today.

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