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AI, AUTOMATION AND RELATED technologies are changing the way that people work today and altering the approach that organizations are taking to determine their future workforce needs.
“Traditional operational workforce planning is focused on filling headcount and managing short-term staffing needs, as well as on the ability to run the organization in the current environment,” Kevin Moss, managing director in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Human Capital practice, said. But in a time of rapid technological change, economic uncertainty and evolving skill demands, organizations can no longer determine their future workforce needs based only on the way that work is done today.
“We’re seeing a shift from planning for a single predicted future to preparing for multiple futures with agility and real‑time adaptability,” Moss said. “There’s a longer‑term view to strategic workforce planning, but it’s just as much about looking at different aspects as it is about looking further ahead. Strategic workforce planning really broadens the scope of what is planned. It’s shifting from just a headcount and jobs to also looking at skills, work outcomes, organizational design, AI integration and financial performance, and connecting all of those things together.”
Planning for multiple futures can be compared to using a global positioning system (GPS) app like Waze to reach a certain destination. “You have a path that you’re following for the short term, but Waze is constantly watching and looking and seeing where traffic may come up, or where there may be a blockade or road work happening. Based on what’s happening in those moments, it will shift where you are driving to get to your destination in the most optimal way possible,” Moss said.
“I think that’s the case with strategic workforce planning. You still have a path that you’re picking in the near term for how you’re moving along, but what you want is a variety of options. As something happens, if there is a market shift in a certain part of the world, if there’s an internal shift that needs to be addressed, if there’s expansion in a different technological area, you want to be able to have those different options available to you, so that you can very quickly pivot to another path as needed.”
FROM ANNUAL PLANNING TO REAL‑TIME ADAPTATION
There are several factors that are making strategic workforce planning possible today. First are advances in AI, particularly agentic AI, which has provided companies with the ability to continuously scan workforce signals, forecast demand and supply in real time, model scenarios and even take autonomous actions.
Another enabler is the abundance of data.
“Organizations have been so focused on being data driven that we’ve gotten to a place where we’re very data rich,” Danielle Torgerson, senior principal analyst at Gartner, said. “We’ve got a lot of insights, so we’re going to be using more of those predictive capabilities to help us sense where we are and to do the scenario planning to figure out where we’re going. What options are available to us? What trade‑off decisions do we need to make based on our current plan and the long‑term plan and where we want to go in the future?”
To be effective, strategic workforce planning will require breaking down silos between different parts of the organization. The process will be extended horizontally to encompass participants from HR, finance, operations, technology and business, and vertically to engage leaders and employees at multiple levels, Moss said.
Workforce planning will move away from an annual exercise to a continuous, always‑on process that has the ability to sense and respond to shifts in skills, work roles and the composition of work in real time.
“As AI agents continually monitor signals like attrition trends, skill gaps and capacity changes, they can alert leaders when plans need adjustment, rather than waiting for a scheduled review,” Moss added. “The human role can then shift from running those periodic planning cycles to reviewing AI‑generated recommendations and making judgment calls when those different tipping points are reached, and there needs to be action.”
BUILT ON A STRONG FOUNDATION
To be successful at strategic workforce planning, organizations will have to really understand their vision of the future and how processes are likely to change. “In understanding their vision and their strategy from a workforce standpoint, they begin to map decision flows and think about the possibility of redesigning roles and teams around value streams,” Torgerson said.
From that point, they can assess what talent and skills are going to be needed so they can invest in the types of upskilling and AI literacy programs that are going to help them get to where they need to go. Doing this kind of preparation up front will help them avoid workforce disruptions later.
“Leading organizations are taking that approach, where they’re very intentional, they’re very deliberate, they’re not reacting to hype in the narrative. They have their long‑term plan and their strategy in place, and they’re continuing to reevaluate it and adjust it, but they’re not straying from it,” she said.
PREPARING THE WORKFORCE
As part of the strategic workforce planning process, organizations will have to anticipate the changes that AI and related technologies will be making in recruitment, onboarding and training and in the roles that human employees will take on.
One example is the human resources (HR) employees that companies will need in the future. Organizations already use AI for tasks like resume screening, and some deploy generative AI to conduct initial candidate interviews and handle much of the routine work of onboarding new hires. IBM’s agentic AI, Ask HR, handles more than 2.1 million employee conversations each year, delivering personalized answers to questions about payroll, sick leave and similar issues. As AI takes over routine administrative tasks, HR employees will increasingly focus on more complex responsibilities.
Companies will also need workers who are comfortable with digital technologies. AI platforms will be able to identify employees’ current skill sets and track their progress in training for new roles. With AI, companies will be able to conduct individualized assessments and develop tailored upskilling programs for employees.