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Focus On Series


Workforce Planning

Workforce planning provides public sector organizations with an opportunity to identify trends and anticipate shortfalls in staffing levels. The objective of workforce planning is to balance the availability of qualified staff against an organization’s needs and to ensure that the organization has the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time. Workforce planning requires that organizations have up-to-date, accurate information on:

  • the numbers of people they employ to carry out different tasks;
  • what skills the workforce currently has;
  • what skills and staff will be needed to deliver future services and programs; and
  • what skill gaps need to be addressed.

Based on this information, organizations must plan and manage their workforces and make any necessary changes in order to ensure that they will continue to meet their organizational objectives over time. In addition, organizations may be required to have workforces that are representative of society in general (i.e. fair representation of women, aboriginals and visible minorities).

Audits of workforce planning tend to focus on whether organizations:

  • have determined the skills and staff they need now and in the future, and have identified existing skills gaps within the organization;
  • have effective strategies in place to recruit and retain skilled personnel in order to maintain an adequate workforce and meet organizational objectives;
  • have effective strategies to meet the objective of having a representative public service.

Click here for examples of objectives, criteria, findings, recommendations and more