How to Prepare for Workforce Demands

Need to Build a Capacity Plan? Here’s a Complete Outline to Guide You As workforce management (WFM) professionals, developing a robust capacity plan is crucial for aligning resources with demand, optimizing efficiency, and achieving service level targets. For teams that have not yet built one, or have been tasked with doing so, I’m sharing a comprehensive outline to serve as a reference. This structured framework, designed for implementation in Excel, incorporates key elements from forecasting through reconciliation, based on established best practices. Here is the outline: 1. Forecasted volume (planned demand: calls, chats, etc.) 2. Actual volume (for reconciliation) 3. Average handle time (AHT) (planned) 4. Actual AHT 5. Forecast accuracy (actual vs. planned) 6. Concurrency assumptions (planned, for example number of simultaneous interactions per agent in multi-channel or skill-based setups) 7. Actual concurrency 8. Workload requirement (hours or FTE needed), derived from volume, AHT, and concurrency 9. Base FTE requirement (before shrinkage) 10. Shrinkage assumptions (planned), including: • PTO (vacation, holidays) • Sick leave • Training and coaching • Meetings • Unplanned absenteeism • System downtime • Offline activities 11. Actual shrinkage 12. Overtime assumptions (planned) 13. Net FTE requirement, adjusted for shrinkage 14. Hiring plan (planned new hires, ramp timing) 15. Attrition assumptions (planned exits) 16. Headcount plan, projected total staff from starting headcount, hiring, and attrition, including part-time or full-time breakdown or equivalents 17. Actual headcount 18. Skills inventory or routing efficiency assumptions (for multi-skilled environments) 19. FTE capacity plan, available FTE after shrinkage 20. Actual FTE capacity 21. Productivity or efficiency assumptions 22. Capacity buffer or cushion, any added margin above strict minimum 23. Service level, ASA, and occupancy targets, final performance goals to validate coverage 24. Backlog or deferred work adjustments, if applicable 25. Schedule adherence (actual) 26. Schedule efficiency (actual) 27. Headcount reconciliation (planned vs. actual) 28. Scenario analysis or what-if adjustments (for example high or low demand scenarios) 29. Cost implications (for example per FTE or total budget) To further strengthen this model, consider adding a reforecasting cadence (for example monthly updates) to stay adaptive, incorporating collaboration inputs from other departments to refine forecasts, using agent engagement metrics for retention insights, and including interval-based detail (for example intra-day breakdowns) for more granular scheduling. These enhancements improve responsiveness in dynamic environments. What strategies have you found most effective in capacity planning? I welcome your insights and experiences in the comments. #WorkforceManagement #CapacityPlanning #ContactCenter #OperationsExcellence

Early in my career, I was that manager who wanted to approach every planning problem with a spreadsheet-shaped hammer. Engineering capacity planning through Excel is a special kind of pain, though (why do finance teams always use Excel?). I was always trying to guess what we'd need to build next year and how the roadmap may change that far out, estimating engineer costs at different seniority levels, mapping hiring plans, and trying to save room for promotions and technology investments ... It was educated guesswork at best. Now? We're piling AI on top of businesses that never figured out basic workforce planning. The engineering manager's dilemma just got exponentially harder: → What capacity will people actually have with AI tools?  → What seniority levels do you need when AI handles the junior work?  → How do you plan hiring when you don't know what roles will exist? This article from McKinsey outlines ‘The critical role of strategic workforce planning in the age of AI.’ - (https://lnkd.in/gucsXBFk) One stat jumped out at me: They found that S&P 500 companies using strategic workforce planning generate 300% more revenue per employee. But I'm not at an S&P 500 company. Like most SMBs, I'm still playing spreadsheet roulette. So, I’m trying to adapt it to the size of business I’m used to operating for the upcoming planning season: - What are your critical 5-7 roles that would shut you down tomorrow if they walked out? I don’t have the luxury of full role redundancy in a small but growing business. Planning is an opportunity to do risk modeling and plan for potential challenges. - Model 3 scenarios minimum, AI is making our decision horizon shorter, so more scenarios are required (and they aren’t all good). A few at the top of my list are things like:  → 50% growth scenario → Key customer segments are challenged due to AI so I have to change my investment mix → AI automation gets a lot better for some job roles - Upskill before you hire That junior engineer might be your future AI specialist with the right training. External hires take 6+ months to ramp and cost 3x more. How are you going to invest in your team before you need more from them? - Plan quarterly, not annually Review your workforce plan like your P&L. The world is moving too fast for annual planning, and I want to check my work in Q3 and Q4 before I commit to 2026. 🤔 But here's my real question → What tools are people actually using to untie this knot? The spreadsheet days are over. AI capacity planning needs real workforce analytics, not guesswork. I think leaders who get good at this won't just survive the AI transition → they'll compete with companies 10x their size. What's your biggest challenge: predicting AI impact on capacity, or just getting basic workforce planning in place? 👇 #workforce_planning

Jobs Apocalypse ? Why? What?  "This isn't a time for fear but for strategic action" 41% of employers plan to use AI to replace roles. That’s a worrisome figure reported by the World Economic Forum in the recent future of jobs report. We're at a pivotal moment in the evolution of work. The headlines are buzzing about AI, and they are not merely a hype! AI IS reshaping the world of work, and it's happening fast. While some see a threat  — a job apocalypse —  I see this as a massive wave of #workforcetransformation. Here’s why: The study also points to two important findings: 📊 77% of employers are focusing on upskilling their workforce to work alongside AI 🔄 47% are transitioning employees from declining roles to other positions. Let’s first understand the core issue here. AI excels at tasks that are repetitive, data-heavy, or rule-based. Several sources confirm that data entry clerks, telemarketers, bookkeepers, receptionists, retail cashiers, and manufacturing workers are at higher risk. Some white-collar jobs are also at risk, including paralegals and copywriters. Here’s what you can do: Employers - Build a collaborative workplace 📌 Reskill, Don’t Replace       Your current workforce has invaluable institutional knowledge. Equip them for the AI-powered future. Invest heavily in upskilling and reskilling programs. 📌 Create a dialog:        Openly communicate your AI strategy with your employees. Address anxieties head-on and emphasize the new opportunities that will emerge 📌 Plan before you implement      Don't implement AI in isolation. Integrate it thoughtfully into your overall workforce strategy, identifying skills gaps and creating clear pathways for employees to adapt 📌 Embed learning into your culture      Provide your employees with resources and encourage continuous professional development. Employees - Start owning your future 👉 Never stop learning       The single most important skill now is the ability to learn and do that consistently. Don't get complacent. Seek out opportunities to upskill, especially in areas that complement AI. 👉 Master What Matters Most       Develop those uniquely human skills: emotional intelligence, collaboration, communication, adaptability, and critical thinking. These will be your differentiators. 👉 Get AI-Fluent       You don't need to be a programmer. But make an effort to understand the basics of AI and how it applies to your industry. This will make you still relevant. 👉 Build your Brand       Make the right connections, contribute to the industry, and build a reputation for your expertise and adaptability. Remember, your digital footprints still matter. So, let me reiterate. It’s not that we will not have jobs for humans anymore. But jobs may start to look totally different.   Let's discuss: What specific steps are you taking (or planning to take) to prepare for the AI-powered workplace? #AI #FutureOfWork #AIAgents #AIWorkforcetransformation  

Market volatility demands HR resilience: Banking giants signal workforce planning urgency After analyzing financial reports, our AI ALPI research reveals critical signals for HR and talent leaders: J.P. Morgan's Jamie Dimon warns of "considerable turbulence" ahead → HR teams must prepare for potential workforce adjustments BlackRock reaching $11.58T AUM (+$1.1T YoY) → Talent acquisition strategies should focus on resilience over growth Wells Fargo increasing loan loss provisions by 75% → Time to review compensation structures and incentive plans The correlation is clear: Financial volatility directly impacts talent strategies. When S&P Global earnings estimates fall (as Dimon predicts), corporate hiring freezes typically follow within 60-90 days. ↳ Forward-thinking HR leaders are already scenario planning for: • Potential workforce reductions (14% of Fortune 500 companies run these models quarterly) • Compensation restructuring to preserve talent while managing costs • Accelerated investment in automation to handle routine HR tasks During the last significant market correction, companies that maintained their HR technology investments outperformed peers by 23% in talent retention during the recovery phase. The most successful HR departments don't just react to economic signals – they anticipate them. 🔥 Want more breakdowns like this? Follow along for insights on: → Getting started with AI in HR teams → Scaling AI adoption across HR functions → Building AI competency in HR departments → Taking HR AI platforms to enterprise market → Developing HR AI products that solve real problems

Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP). Here's my cheat sheet to help connect SWP and scenario planning. Many SWP efforts still operate as static, once-a-year exercises—often built around a single business scenario. But what if that scenario doesn't happen? My cheat sheet has questions to help think through: 1️⃣ Business Context ↳ Define 2-3 plausible business scenarios ↳ Clarify scenario assumptions & supporting evidence ↳ Identify triggers to indicate a scenario will happen ↳ Determine the base (most likely) business scenario ↳ Evaluate the business impact of each scenario 2️⃣ Talent Implications ↳ Create a workforce plan for the base scenario ↳ Identify how plans will shift for alternate scenarios ↳ Identify talent commonalities across all scenarios ↳ Pinpoint talent actions that apply to all scenarios ↳ Prioritize talent actions that apply to all scenarios 3️⃣ Execution Factors ↳ Identify conditions for when you shift from base plan ↳ Identify risks and mitigation tactics for each scenario ↳Tailor communication for different scenarios ↳ Engage key stakeholders and align them on actions There's more to SWP and SP than this. But this resource can help structure your thinking and conversations. ❓Did anything here resonate with you? What would you add or change? ♻️ Repost to help others strengthen SWP 🔔 Follow me, Brian Heger, for more resources 🗞️ And get my newsletter, Talent Edge Weekly 📑 Cheat sheet is in issue 305 https://lnkd.in/dzjesug3 #hr #workforceplanning