In this stage of workforce planning, consider where your agency is now, where your agency aims to be in the future and whether your agency has the right workforce to get there. Also think about relationships within your agency and those with external people and organisations.
Using a process of environmental scanning, consider how internal and external factors will impact your agency and what this will mean for your current and future workforce requirements. These factors may relate to political, economic, demographic, technological and/or physical changes in your operating environment. From your environmental scan, understand how these factors influence your agency’s workforce at present and how they will affect your workforce into the future.
A good understanding of your agency’s strategic goals as well as factors affecting your workforce are crucial to informing your workforce planning process.
2) Analyse and Interpret
In this stage of workforce planning, take a closer look at your workforce.
Collect and analyse a wide range of workforce, labour market and service information to make effective, evidence-based decisions about your workforce. At this stage, you may review the extent to which your agency is currently addressing sector-wide and agency-specific workforce issues. You may also conduct workforce modelling and scenario planning, to forecast your workforce demand and supply into the future.
After you’ve analysed your available data, interpret how it will affect your workforce and strategic direction into the future. Group your identified workforce issues and challenges into those that are short, medium and longer-term issues.
Interpreting the data and identifying workforce issues and challenges inform the next phase of the planning process.
3) Develop and Implement
This stage of workforce planning covers the development and implementation of relevant strategies for your Workforce Plan.
Use your work from the previous planning stage to develop strategies which will address the workforce issues and challenges you identified. To encourage shared responsibility for workforce planning and diversity across your agency, be sure to develop your Plan with the support of your agency’s CEO/Corporate Executive and in consultation with key business units.
Assigning a responsible officer(/s), timeframe (for completion) and performance indicator for each strategy will provide clarity for your agency when it comes to implementing them. Aim for performance indicators which are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) to facilitate the evaluation and continuous improvement of your strategies. Further, ensure flexibility within your Workforce Plan and its strategies to allow your agency to be responsive to internal or external changes which may arise in your operating environment.
Considering the above when developing your strategies and Plan provides a good foundation from which to implement your strategies. The implementation of your Workforce Plan and strategies brings together research, analysis, planning and consultation to achieve your agency’s strategic workforce goals.
4) Monitor and Evaluate
In this stage of workforce planning, regularly monitor the implementation of each your agency’s workforce strategies through thorough record keeping. This record keeping will assist with the evaluating your strategies and Plan.
Be sure to evaluate both the effectiveness of your Plan’s individual strategies, against your performance indicators, as well as the effectiveness of your overall Plan in achieving whole-of-sector initiatives (e.g.Strategic Directions for the Public Sector Workforce 2009-2014 and Public Sector Reform priorities).
Additionally, monitor the impact of changes in your internal/external operating environment which may affect your strategies in the future.
Ongoing monitoring and structured evaluation of your strategies and Workforce Plan will allow you to fine tune strategies, leading to continuous improvement of workforce planning in your agency. Regular reporting of workforce performance to your Corporate Executive, and/or a Workforce Planning and Diversity Committee will assist in the overall monitoring and evaluation of your Plan.
Workforce planning model
The model contains the stages of PSC's workforce planning model.
Each of these stages can be evaluated using the Workforce Planning & Diversity Assessment Tool.
1. Scan and Understand
In this stage of workforce planning, consider where your agency is now, where your agency aims to be in the future and whether your agency has the right workforce to get there. Also think about relationships within your agency and those with external people and organisations.
Using a process of environmental scanning, consider how internal and external factors will impact your agency and what this will mean for your current and future workforce requirements. These factors may relate to political, economic, demographic, technological and/or physical changes in your operating environment. From your environmental scan, understand how these factors influence your agency’s workforce at present and how they will affect your workforce into the future.
A good understanding of your agency’s strategic goals as well as factors affecting your workforce are crucial to informing your workforce planning process.
2) Analyse and Interpret
In this stage of workforce planning, take a closer look at your workforce.
Collect and analyse a wide range of workforce, labour market and service information to make effective, evidence-based decisions about your workforce. At this stage, you may review the extent to which your agency is currently addressing sector-wide and agency-specific workforce issues. You may also conduct workforce modelling and scenario planning, to forecast your workforce demand and supply into the future.
After you’ve analysed your available data, interpret how it will affect your workforce and strategic direction into the future. Group your identified workforce issues and challenges into those that are short, medium and longer-term issues.
Interpreting the data and identifying workforce issues and challenges inform the next phase of the planning process.
3) Develop and Implement
This stage of workforce planning covers the development and implementation of relevant strategies for your Workforce Plan.
Use your work from the previous planning stage to develop strategies which will address the workforce issues and challenges you identified. To encourage shared responsibility for workforce planning and diversity across your agency, be sure to develop your Plan with the support of your agency’s CEO/Corporate Executive and in consultation with key business units.
Assigning a responsible officer(/s), timeframe (for completion) and performance indicator for each strategy will provide clarity for your agency when it comes to implementing them. Aim for performance indicators which are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) to facilitate the evaluation and continuous improvement of your strategies. Further, ensure flexibility within your Workforce Plan and its strategies to allow your agency to be responsive to internal or external changes which may arise in your operating environment.
Considering the above when developing your strategies and Plan provides a good foundation from which to implement your strategies. The implementation of your Workforce Plan and strategies brings together research, analysis, planning and consultation to achieve your agency’s strategic workforce goals.
4) Monitor and Evaluate
In this stage of workforce planning, regularly monitor the implementation of each your agency’s workforce strategies through thorough record keeping. This record keeping will assist with the evaluating your strategies and Plan.
Be sure to evaluate both the effectiveness of your Plan’s individual strategies, against your performance indicators, as well as the effectiveness of your overall Plan in achieving whole-of-sector initiatives (e.g.Strategic Directions for the Public Sector Workforce 2009-2014 and Public Sector Reform priorities).
Additionally, monitor the impact of changes in your internal/external operating environment which may affect your strategies in the future.
Ongoing monitoring and structured evaluation of your strategies and Workforce Plan will allow you to fine tune strategies, leading to continuous improvement of workforce planning in your agency. Regular reporting of workforce performance to your Corporate Executive, and/or a Workforce Planning and Diversity Committee will assist in the overall monitoring and evaluation of your Plan.
Page last updated 28 September 2012