With several generations comprising today’s workforce, it is certainly an interesting time in the history of American employment. However, with Baby Boomers accounting for more than one-third of the Nation’s workforce and rapidly approaching retirement, companies throughout the United States are currently facing a workforce transition in which they may not be fully prepared. It is because of this that workforce planning and staffing is so critical for the future success of your business.

Simply put, workforce planning allows you to be prepared for change and take a proactive approach rather than a reactive response. When approached strategically, workforce planning allows companies to build a strong foundation for future, long-term successes, and be ready for whatever the workforce transition may hold. To make sure you retain your existing top employees and attract the most talented candidates, follow these four steps create your own strategic workforce plan:

• Supply analysis. Begin by examining your current workforce and researching statistics including resignations, retirements, promotions, transfers, and terminations. Focus on key areas such as core positions, difficult to fill positions, and positions with high turnover rate. Analyzing these specific areas will enable you to reasonably project your future workforce supply.
• Demand analysis. Your goal during this step will be predicting how your company and its labor needs will change in the future. Consider both internal as well as external influences including business goals, economic conditions, technological advances, and market competition. Once you have established what you hope to achieve, you will be much more able to plan for the workforce needed to make those achievements happen.
• Gap analysis.  After you have determined what your workforce currently looks like and what it will need to look like in the future, you will want to conduct a gap analysis to highlight the differences between the two. While you will obviously want to identify where you are lacking, be sure to also recognize areas of surplus. This will help you pinpoint positions you will need to focus on recruiting or developing.
• Solution analysis. The final step in your workforce plan is determining a solution from the results found in your gap analysis. This is the plan you will create to build the skills needed for the future and reduce areas of over-abundance. During this step, you will want to look into specialized recruitment and retention plans to optimize both your current and future workforce.

Taking the right steps towards workforce planning and staffing today is the most proactive approach to ensure the success of your business, now and farther down the road. Because workforce planning and staffing is so in depth and can involve bringing in the help of contract or temporary employees, it is highly recommended to work with a trusted staffing partner when developing your plan. Maine’s leading staffing firm, Springborn Staffing, takes pride in providing best in class workforce planning and staffing services throughout Northern New England. If you are looking for workforce planning consultation services, do not hesitate to contact Springborn Staffing today!