Free Operational
Workforce Planning
Toolkit
Build a clearer picture of the workforce capacity and capability your organisation needs — now and into the future — and identify practical actions to improve workforce effectiveness and resilience.
This free, practical toolkit gives HR Business Partners and business leaders a structured way to get started with operational workforce planning, without the need for specialist workforce planning software.
Address workforce risks before they become operational problems
Build the workforce you need to deliver
Operational workforce planning helps you understand whether you have the capacity and capability needed to deliver — now and into the future.
It gives you a structured way to identify workforce gaps, critical roles and emerging risks early, so you can take action before they affect service delivery, performance or workforce sustainability.
The toolkit can help HRBPs and business leaders:
- understand how changing services, priorities and demand affect workforce requirements
- compare the workforce you have to the workforce you need and potential impact on delivery
- focus attention on critical roles and workforce risks
- strengthen succession, continuity and workforce resilience
- identify opportunities to redesign work and improve workforce effectiveness
- prioritise workforce investment based on evidence
- translate workforce insights into clear, accountable actions.
Workforce planning doesn't require sophistocated software
Start simple. Build capability. Scale when you're ready.
You don’t need sophisticated workforce planning software to start making better workforce decisions.
This toolkit was designed to make operational workforce planning more accessible. It provides a simple, structured approach that can be tailored to your organisation, workforce and level of maturity.
Use the parts that add value. Start with one team, function or workforce challenge. Build confidence and capability as you go.
For organisations considering investment in workforce planning technology, the toolkit can also provide a practical way to test the approach, understand your requirements and demonstrate the value of workforce planning before making a larger investment.
Everything you need to get started
A practical toolkit designed to help you move from workforce questions to a clear, actionable operational workforce plan.
Build a clear picture of your workforce position, identify where attention is needed most, and translate workforce risks and gaps into practical action.
Focus effort where it matters most
A one-page summary brings together workforce capacity, resilience, critical roles and priority workforce actions.
See the workforce position at a glance
Assess criticality consistently based on service, safety/compliance and strategic impact — rather than seniority alone.
Turn insights into achievable actions
Translate workforce risks and gaps into practical interventions with clear ownership, priority, success measures, status and resource implications.
Build a clear picture of your workforce position, identify where attention is needed most, and translate workforce risks and gaps into practical action.
Built to make workforce planning easier for HR Business Partners
HRBPs are often expected to support workforce planning without a practical process for doing it. The result can be inconsistent conversations, workforce plans that focus primarily on vacancies, or detailed templates that create significant work without improving decisions.
This toolkit gives the HRBP a structured facilitation process, rather than another form to send to managers.
It helps the HRBP and business leader:
Start with the
business goals
Understand what is changing before jumping to workforce solutions.
Ask better
questions
Use practical prompts to challenge assumptions and uncover workforce risk.
Make evidence
visible
Bring together workforce capacity, criticality, capability and resilience in one structured view.
Challenge replacement thinking
Ask whether work should be stopped, simplified, redistributed, redesigned or enabled differently before automatically replacing a vacancy.
Focus effort proportionately
Use deeper analysis only where it improves a workforce decision.
Turn the conversation into action
Leave the process with clear workforce priorities, owners, measures and review points.
Ready to start workforce planning?
Build a fit-for-purpose operational workforce plan that helps transform the workforce you have into the workforce you need.