Strategic Workforce Planning Builds a Better BusinessHewitt’s Strategic Workforce Planning ConsultingYour partner from strategy to implementation of practical and targeted workforce planning solutionsMany workforce challenges in organizations stem from a fundamental disconnect between the supply of talent and the demand for talent—causing significant gaps between the people and skills you have and those you need. Significant gaps between talent supply and demand create workforce shortages (or excesses) at the job, functional, geographic, or enterprise levels. These gaps can have negative business impacts that include:

n Declining sales because key sales or delivery skills are unavailable or lacking;

n Shrinking operating margins due to the increased labor costs of an aging workforce or stiff competition for a limited talent pool;

n Lowering productivity due to slow adaptation of the current talent pool to new or changing business circumstances; and

n Rising quality control problems because retirements aren’t properly anticipated and addressed to ensure effective transitions.

These are just a few examples to highlight the importance of identifying and avoiding talent gaps that significantly impact business performance.

Workforce Planning Defined At the most basic level, workforce planning is a process to identify and predict gaps between talent needs and available talent supply and create action plans to address those gaps.

From a strategic perspective, workforce planning should be conducted enterprise-wide. At the same time, talent requirements and availability (both shortfalls and surpluses) must be evaluated at the level and time frame required to execute business strategy—e.g., near term (12–18 months) to longer term (3–5 years) by location, job, career level, function, etc.

Build an approach, methodology, and tools that support workforce planning on an ongoing basis at the level needed to execute business strategy

Forecast workforce needs to anticipate and prioritize talent gaps based on both internal and external factors driving talent supply and talent demand

Develop a talent management strategy and an action plan to close critical talent gaps considering business strategy and performance goals

Hewitt’s Strategic Workforce Planning offering is designed to help organizations:

Business Strategy and Scenario Modeling: An effective workforce plan hinges on an objective articulation of the links between business strategy and workforce requirements. Using our proprietary methodology, Hewitt helps clients translate business objectives into core workforce requirements and critical roles needed to drive the business strategy, including design of alternative economic, business, and labor market scenarios to evaluate the overall degree of risk in workforce planning.

Demand Analysis and Internal Supply Analysis: Hewitt offers varied analytic techniques and data to support headcount and cost projections. Our methods can include:

n Facilitated workshops to educate and train clients on core components of talent analysis;

n Business analysis and management interviews to identify drivers of labor demand;

n Detailed historical, organization-specific employee data analysis (for roles, competencies, locations, career levels, etc.);

n Surveys and other employee sensing; and

n Proprietary and public benchmarking and other “best practice” reviews.

Gap Analysis: Not all talent gaps are the same. Hewitt helps clients focus on those gaps that are most likely to drive the success of the business strategy and operating performance—highlighting gaps based on key criteria including size, cost, timing, location, and impact. We also provide technology support to build an ongoing and sustainable workforce planning platform for our clients, which can include the implementation of a direct-access, online tool to track progress.

Labor Market Analysis: Hewitt has a global database of primary and secondary data to support workforce planning decisions, including labor market and demographic analysis to identify availability, quality, quantity, and wage pressures for external talent supply by job, skill set, location, etc.—today and in the future.

Talent Planning: Hewitt works with clients to integrate gap analysis and labor market research to develop recommendations for talent acquisition, development, engagement, performance, and retention. We focus on those interventions and action plans that are measurable and address high-priority talent gaps. We also work with clients to implement these solutions, providing ongoing process and change management support, as needed.

Approach | From planning through implementation and ongoing management, Hewitt focuses on identifying and addressing critical talent gaps that drive business results.

Talent Planning

GapAnalysis

Labor Market

Analysis

DemandAnalysis

InternalSupply Analysis

Business Strategy and Scenario Modeling

Predictive Workforce Analytics

Results | Hewitt’s approach is designed to guide clients step by step through a workforce planning process. We bring experience, methods, data, and tools to accelerate progress, manage costs, and identify how to source, develop, and transition critical talent effectively.

Predictive Workforce Analytics: Sometimes traditional talent supply and demand analysis is neither feasible nor enough due to changing conditions or internal data issues. Hewitt’s capabilities support clients with robust, fact-based labor analytics (including Hewitt’s Human Capital Foresight™ capability) to identify and target complex workforce risks and

potential solutions with or without the benefit of organization-specific data. This analysis leverages Hewitt’s many years of talent data—covering more than 20 million people—providing proprietary data on demographics, pay, benefits, turnover, etc., to ensure informed talent decisions.

Our flexible, yet comprehensive, process: Hewitt helps clients translate their strategic priorities into an actionable plan to deliver business results. Hewitt’s ability to deliver on any step of a workforce planning process—and to do so globally—reflects our flexible and scalable approach to addressing distinct client needs. We’re able to meet clients where they are in their own workforce planning efforts and “fill in the blanks” with the right solution.

Our depth and breadth of experience: Hewitt has significant experience working with clients around the globe to build effective workforce planning processes and protocols. Our clients span industries including: aerospace/defense; energy/utilities; health care; high-technology; insurance; manufacturing; pharmaceuticals; supply chain/distribution; and telecommunications. Our work with clients ranges from business-unit headcount planning to predictive analytics on talent risk to enterprise-wide workforce plans and strategies.

Our data and research: Hewitt has collected workforce data since its inception in 1940. Today, we leverage both primary and secondary data sources to provide our clients with a holistic view of labor markets around the globe. We also continuously track how global economic and demographic trends affect the ability of organizations to attract and retain talent. In addition, our Human Capital Foresight research further differentiates our value proposition, allowing us uniquely to identify employee flight risk and broader labor risk based on our proprietary data representing more than 20 million individuals. In fact, we may already have the data you need to support your workforce planning efforts, which expedites the process.

Our technology: Hewitt’s services are supported by a robust technology platform, enabling us to provide clients with a configurable, Web-based solution. Our tools allow organizations to track progress on an ongoing basis, rather than as a one-time event, both enterprise-wide and at a detailed job level. Depending on client need, customized technology solutions are also available.

Ask yourself | How does your organization “stack up” when it comes to strategic workforce planning?

About Hewitt Associates

For more than 65 years, Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW) has provided clients with best-in-class human resources consulting and outsourcing services. Hewitt consults with more than 3,000 large and mid-size companies around the globe to develop and implement HR business strategies covering retirement, financial, and health management; compensation and total rewards; and performance, talent and change management. As a market leader in benefits administration, Hewitt delivers health care and retirement programs to millions of participants and retirees, on behalf of more than 300 organizations worldwide. In addition, more than 30 clients rely on Hewitt to provide a broader range of human resources business process outsourcing services to nearly a million client employees. Located in 33 countries, Hewitt employs approximately 23,000 associates. For more information, please visit www.hewitt.com.

Human Capital Foresight™ is a trademark of Hewitt Associates, LLC.

© 2008 Hewitt Associates LLC

www.hewitt.com

Does your organization need workforce planning? Are you following “best practices” for workforce planning

Do you know how your workforce will meet the business needs of the future (e.g., to support growth expectations, expansions into new markets, service/product development)?

Is your approach integrated with business planning and budgeting cycles (e.g., outcomes from workforce planning can influence business planning and budgeting and vice versa)?

Do you know if you currently have the capabilities and skills to support your business strategy?

Is your approach systemic (e.g., do you look at both individual job needs and how individual job information “rolls up” to the organizational level to link to business budgets and performance goals)?

Is your workforce aging or are you concerned about an upcoming “wave of retirements”?

Is your analysis of both current and future job and capability requirements based on objective data analysis (versus perceptions)?

Are you experiencing turnover that is too high or too low? What about for key groups of employees?

Does your workforce forecasting methodology include alternative projection scenarios—to consider changing business, economic, and labor market conditions?

Are you having difficulty finding and/or attracting needed talent? Do hiring managers or others perceive the recruitment process to be slow or ineffective?

Do you include external labor data and analysis when evaluating and ranking potential talent gaps?

Are line managers or others worried about having an insufficient or undefined talent pipeline (beyond the leadership level)?

Does your approach cover implications and authority for action with regard to talent management (e.g., recruiting, rewards, performance management, training, and development)?

Have you set diverse workforce goals but lack a plan for how to go about meeting those goals?

Is your approach easily replicable over time (e.g., do you have methods and supporting technology that allow for consistent decision-making criteria and outcomes)?

PM-1035-001-EN