Building a winning team should always be the number one goal of any HR professional. Talented employees who are happy in their positions breed success. In order to transcend all obstacles that come with owning a business, you have to have a solid workforce plan. Workforce planning is matching the right employees with the right jobs and responsibilities for their skillset. This ensures that all employees are meeting their full potential, and is the foundation for a solid and productive team. 

So, what are some workforce planning hacks that will help your business thrive?

Flexibility

This buzzword is all the rage in HR today. The majority of workers no longer want to run the rat race that generations have before them, they want flexibility. A few ways you can provide flexibility to employees is by creating freelance positions, work from home positions, or hybrid positions. A healthy work\life balance is the key to happy employees.

Talent Management 

It is important to nurture your employees. Creating a pipeline of opportunity for employees to gain new skills and advance their career is so important for preventing your company from having a “revolving door.” This is also cheaper and more effective than hiring new employees. Some ways you can better manage your talent is by offering new training, tuition reimbursement, certifications, web/seminar attendance, expo attendance, etc. 

Go Global

Three decades ago the only way to find employees was to hire people within your local area. Through the power of the internet, hiring has no limits. If you have the ability to make a role remote, do it. This opens the door to a great opportunity to get to know people from all over the world to find the best fit for your position. The perfect employee you’re searching for may be in a different time zone!

Be on your Toes

Talent shortages can create a realm of chaos for companies when there are sudden vacancies. Always evaluate your current workforce and always plan ahead. The best way to evaluate your talent is to have quarterly meetings to discuss employee performance, who’s retiring, who’s going on parental leave, who will be out with medical issues, if there are whispers of someone looking for new opportunities. Discuss all issues and plan for vacancies so they can be filled in a timely manner. 
Another way you can make the most out of your workforce planning strategies is to utilize HR data. WageScape offers the only source of next-generation compensation intelligence designed to provide the insights needed in today’s fast-moving, hyper-competitive talent market. WageScape shows you what’s happening with wages right now – for any job, in any location. This information is critical for attracting and retaining talent and for setting strategies for recruiting, pay, and growth. Learn more here!