1. Building Successful Organizations: A Guide to Strategic Workforce Planning Session 748: Building the 21st Century Workforce 2007 TRB Annual Meeting Alethea Long-Green National Academy of Public Administration

2. Strategic workforce planning is a systematic process for identifying the human capital required to meet organizational goals and developing strategies to meet these requirements. A Definition of Strategic Workforce Planning:

3. Steps for Strategic Workforce Planning Workforce Planning Models References Exercises Overview

4. Purpose: Ensure that the organization has the human resources it needs to accomplish its mission. The Strategic Workforce-Planning Process • Obtaining Commitment • Getting Started • Linking Strategic Workforce Planning to Programs, Budgets, and the Organization’s Strategic Plan • Describing the current workforce, projecting requirements and identifying gaps • Identifying strategies for closing the gaps • Evaluating and Refining the Strategic Workforce Planning Process • Integrating Workforce Planning with Human Capital Investment

5. The Strategic Workforce-Planning Process

6. Commitment from top leaders, human resource professionals and line workers is absolutely necessary for successful strategic workforce planning. 1. Obtaining Commitment • Communicate vision of the future direction of the organization and; • Demonstrate value of workforce planning: • Improved Strategic Utilization of People • Foster Strategic Thinking about Human Resources • Direction and guidance for managers concerned about human resources • Benefits to budget staff like the ability to better anticipate changes • Ability for the HR office to add value to the business of the organization • Use appropriate tools, i.e., the GAO Self-Assessment Checklist for Agency Leaders tool, or demographic data demonstrating labor trends.

7. Complete NAPA’s “Checklist for Getting Started”: These activities aid the organization in preparing to create a strategic workforce plan by conducting primary research. The activities and sequence of events will vary by organization, and some may have already implemented some activities. Create the Workforce Planning Team that includes top leaders, line managers, HR professionals, IT professionals, strategic planners and budget analysts. Develop the workforce plan. 2. Getting Started

8. Project the workforce supply through standard personnel and payroll databases, and project the future supply by projecting the current numbers into the future, excluding new hires and applying a general rate of attrition and considering desired skills. Determine future functional requirements through environmental scanning and organizational analysis. Calculate workforce demand by determining the number and type of employees needed and then assess additional drivers that may impact future workforce needs in different areas. Perform a gap analysis by comparing projected supply with projected demand to identify deficits or surpluses that will exist. 3. Describing the Current Workforce, Projecting Requirements and Identifying Gaps

9. Strategies are developed to address the issues such as skill shortages, skill surpluses, attainment of diversity goals or coping with an aging workforce, as identified during the analysis of demand and supply. The strategy selected will include one or more of the following elements: Training and Continuous Learning Leadership Development and succession planning Recruitment and Retention Workforce restructuring, outsourcing and downsizing 4. Identify Strategies for Closing the Gaps

10. An evaluation of the workforce planning process should be conducted immediately after its development to ensure completeness and accuracy. Workforce planning is a continuous process – it should be reviewed and revised at least once a year. 5. Evaluating and Refining the Workforce Planning Process

11. Top management support Support from program managers and HR managers Employee involvement Good communication and marketing Linkage to other planning processes Availability of accurate input data Detailed implementation plans 6. Critical Success Factors After reviewing workforce planning efforts in 17 federal agencies, the Academy identified seven critical success factors.

12. Workforce planning is an investment in the organization. The mission of the organization should drive the human capital system. The system is composed of four processes: Defining requirements (workforce planning) Acquiring human capital Improving human capital Leveraging human capital The system also requires leadership, resources and processes for measurement and accountability. 7. Integrating Workforce Planning with Human Capital Investment

13. Transforming the FBI: Roadmap to an Effective Human Capital Program:The Academy is assisting the FBI in dealing with critical human capital issues such as career development and succession planning. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Transforming to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century:The Academy assisted the USPTO in the development of strategies to transform itself into a more positive, collaborative organization with a more flexible and capable workforce. NASA’s: Balancing the Multisector Workforce to Achieve a Healthy Organization:The Academy is providing an independent assessment of the agency’s workforce strategy and recommending methodologies to plan for future workforce needs. Academy Studies Focused on Strategic Workforce Planning:

14. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Action Plan to Achieve a Diverse Workforce:The Academy was enlisted by the CDC to provide advice and counsel on issues of leadership development, succession planning and diversity strategies. Office of Environmental Management: Review of Human Resources, Acquisition and Organization:The Academy conducted a management review of the EM program. Academy Studies Focused on Strategic Workforce Planning:

15. GAO: Human Capital: Key Principles for Effective Strategic Workforce Planning The success of workforce planning is judged by the results, rather than the process but there are five principles that the process should address: Involve top management, employees and other stakeholders in the plan Determine the critical skills and competencies required Develop strategies to address gaps in numbers Build the capacity needed to address administrative, educational, and other requirements important to supporting workforce strategies Monitor and evaluate the agency’s progress toward its human capital goals. Other Approaches to Strategic Workforce Planning From: The United States. United States General Accounting Office. Human Capital: Key Principles for Effective Strategic Workforce Planning. Dec. 2003.

16. The Strategic Workforce Planning Process From: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02514t.pdf From: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04753.pdf

17. RAND: Workforce Planning in Complex Organizations Workforce planning can help ensure that an organization has the right mix – by education, experience, and other important characteristics – of personnel to advance its functional and organizational objectives. To succeed, workforce planning should answer questions regarding desired workforce characteristics now and in the future, and how organizational practices are helping maintain or develop these characteristics. Among elements needed to make workforce planning successful are active executive and line manager participation, accurate and relevant data, and sophisticated workload and inventory projection models. Other Approaches to Strategic Workforce Planning From: Emmerichs, Robert M., Cheryl Y. Marcum, and Albert A. Robert. "An Operational Process for Workforce Planning." The RAND Corporation. 29 Nov. 2006 <http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1684.1/>.

18. Private, Non-profit 501(c)(3) Congressionally Chartered in 1967 “Trusted Source”—Non Partisan Advice 600 Elected Fellows Distinguished Public Administration Careers Primary Resource in Addressing Issues 100 Employees, IPAs, Independent Contractors 15-20 Research Projects a Year The National Academy of Public Administration

19. Alethea Long-Green Director of HR Government Studies 202-204-3663 along-green@napawash.org Contact Information