institute for employment studies

press information centre

Practical Workforce Planning Guide published

06 May 2008

IES has published today a practical and user-friendly Workforce Planning Guide for HR practitioners and managers. The Guide highlights the importance and relevance of workforce planning for all organisations, both large and small. It also helps organisations effectively manage change – both planned and in response to the shifting business environment.

‘Effectively anticipating future workforce needs is essential for all organisations that want to ensure that they have the resources to deliver effectively and efficiently to customers’,

says Dilys Robinson from the Institute for Employment Studies.

‘The Guide contains examples to help HR practitioners and managers understand, step by step, how to plan for future labour needs, focusing particularly on 'hot spots' that might dent productivity or prevent planned developments.’

The accessible Guide demystifies workforce planning and helps organisations navigate the top challenges:

• Analysing and understanding the workforce
• Identifying current and future skills gaps
• Effective recruitment and retention decisions
• Assessing future workforce needs
• Succession planning
• The impact of demographic changes
• Understanding the labour market
• Planning at both corporate and local levels.

Further information

For further press information about the Guide and similar work within IES, please contact Dilys Robinson (author) on 01273 873122 or Andy Davidson (IES Press Office) on 01273 686751.

Workforce Planning Guide, Robinson D, Hirsh W. IES Report 451, 2008

• more on obtaining this publication