Visualizing Workforce Planning: How Org Charts Can Help

There is a consensus in business today; Workforce Planning is an

essential component of a company’s day-to-day operations. However,

there are no hard fast rules on how to implement and run a successful

Workforce Planning program. And even though there are many

Workforce Planning established best practices, what works for one

company may not necessarily work for another. What is agreed upon

is that a correctly implemented Workforce Planning program has the

potential to significantly reduce operating costs and enable companies

to focus on critical business objectives. Read on to learn how you can

begin visualizing your workforce and benefit your company.

In its simplest terms, Workforce Planning is the act of strategizing for the future of an organization. Strategy is an important ingredient in organizational planning, as it lays out the roadmap for growth and change. Workforce Planning can include, but not be limited to, deciding personnel requirements, performing headcount audits and closing gaps in the required workforce talent. Workforce Planning provides managers with a framework for making staffing decisions based on an organization’s mission, strategic plan, budgetary resources, and a set of desired workforce competencies

— a set of behaviors that encompasses skills, knowledge, abilities, and personal attributes that, taken together, are critical to successful work accomplishment. According to Financial Express, “Workforce Planning is getting the right number of people with the right skills, experiences and competencies in the right jobs at the right time.”

While customarily tied to a human resources department, Workforce Planning needs to be a company-wide effort that should be owned by executive management, finance, middle management as well as project managers since they are all ultimately responsible for the success or failure of their individual strategic plan and that of the enterprise.

As more and more companies find themselves looking for ways to run leaner and still meet business objectives, they must have a comprehensive Workforce Management Program in place. In fact, according to a recent

Aberdeen Research study, organizations that integrate workforce data into their analytics tools are nearly three times as likely to achieve Best-in-Class performance results as those that don’t.

Every day organizations face challenges with hundreds, even thousands, of decisions based on workforce capabilities, skill alignment and available resources. What if there was an easy way to “see” the available manpower to aid in making these decisions? What if there was an easy way to manipulate that manpower to develop the best possible teams to get jobs done? What if there was a way to make Workforce Planning more efficient and clearer, without disrupting current operations and business practices?

WORKFORCE PLANNING FOUNDATIONS

1. Strategic Analysis

2. Forecasting - Demand and Supply

3. Gap and Risk Analysis

5. Implementation ExecutableStrategies

4. Strategy, Impact and Cost Modeling

Integrate, Measure,

ReviewStrategicPriorities

TalentRisks

FutureWorkforceProjections

FutureStateScenarios

What is Workforce Planning?

“A correctly implemented Workforce Planning program has the potential to significantly reduce operating costs and enable companies to focus on core business objectives.”

Org Charts are a concise way to communicate organizational structure and other important employee information, as they are immediately understandable and actionable. Commonly used in presentations and reports, Org Charts are diagrams representing the management structure of a company, showing the responsibilities of each department, the relationships of the departments to each other, and the hierarchy of management. An Org Chart makes it easier for people to comprehend and digest large amounts of information as a visual picture rather than as a table of names and numbers. Many people have trouble understanding and processing information when it’s text-based. For example, it might be easier to understand a route drawn on a map as opposed to following written directions. By presenting complex information in a visual way, Org Charts effectively do the same thing.

When used to their fullest potential, Org Charts actually have the ability to improve the way a company does business by creating a decision canvas to empower better visibility, organizational interaction, and strategic planning. Org Charts reveal an integrated view of the entire company and give employees immediate access to critical information to effectively meet business goals.

The Power of Visualization

“When properly done, workforce analytics and planning initiatives deliver measurable impact on business results by organizations’ profit per FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) by 11%”

—Intelligent Human Capital Management, 2010

For Workforce Planning to be successful there needs to be buy-in from senior management as well as an agreement down the line regarding the need for Workforce Planning and the processes involved. Understanding an organization’s operations and analyzing resources and determining the talent to achieve the organization’s long-term goals, is where Workforce Planning comes into play. The Workforce Planning process includes:

Clearly Defined Mission and ObjectivesIn addition to strong management leadership and cooperative supportive efforts of staff, there needs to be a clearly articulated vision, mission and strategic objectives set by management. Quite simply, what is the task at hand and how are we going to accomplish it?

Define Competency NeedsOrganizational success depends on having the right employees with the right competencies at the right time. Workforce Planning provides managers the means of identifying the competencies needed in the workforce, not only in the present but also in the future, and then selecting and developing that workforce.

Assess Existing CompetenciesTo effectively assess existing competencies, organizations must compile the workforce data into one place to provide a picture of the organization’s resources. This current workforce profile is a complete assessment of the existing talent in an organization.

Match Employees with Organizational NeedsOnce the mission and goals are set and competency data is reviewed, management can then evaluate the current workforce’s ability to meet the needs of the organization as well as mitigate any gaps between the current workforce’s competencies and company goals. Future workforce issues such as recruitment and availability of talent in the marketplace can also be explored.

Balance Demand and Supply of TalentOrganizations are looking at employees in a new light. Not only do they want to make sure any gaps are closed to meet objectives, they also want to make sure the employer/employee process works to the mutual benefit of all parties involved.

Quantify and MeasureAny Workforce Planning program must be equipped with monitoring mechanisms to quantify and measure effects and progress. There also needs to be an amount of flexibility built in for sudden change modifications.

Reduce CostsAligning Workforce Planning with business objectives can reduce hiring time and expense, lower training costs, and increase productivity across the organization. And, reassigning and retaining employees is more cost-effective than hiring new employees to fill positions.

“What if” Scenario PlanningThe business environment is constantly changing. Being able to forecast resource demands and gaps is essential.

The Workforce Planning Process

Clearly DefinedMission andObjectives

DefineCompetency

Needs

Assess Existing

Competencies

BalanceDemand

and Supply of Talent

Quantify and Measure

Reduce Costs

“What if” Scenario Planning

Match Employees with Organizational

Needs

WORKFORCEPLANNINGPROCESS

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

“If you and your head of HR haven’t recently discussed ideas for using data to generate a talent strategy that’s more closely linked to business results, it’s time to start.”

—McKinsey Quarterly, March 2011

Now imagine being able to take all this overwhelming text-based information — key jobs, reporting relationships, workforce competencies and profiles essential to accomplishing company/project goals — and

“map” them in clear, concise charts. That’s what Org Charts do for Workforce Planning.

Org Charts are designed to assist organizations with their Workforce Planning initiatives. Whether creating organizational charts for the entire company or just a workgroup, an Org Chart’s ability to present a clear visual of complex workforce information will help facilitate insights to create the right organizational structure. Additionally it will leverage that workforce information for other such important tasks as organizational design, succession planning, performance management, and corporate reorganization/right-sizing.

Org Charts also improve communication since everyone in an organization — from top management, to individual contributor employees and everyone in between — can

“see” relationships and escalation paths in an easy-to-understand format. By being able to easily visualize the organizational structure with critical workforce data, management and executives are empowered to quickly respond to changing conditions and opportunities.

Visualizing Workforce Planning

With today’s Org Chart software capabilities, customized Org Charts can be created using existing employee database information, including salary, gender, tenure, education, skills, photo and other information needed for individual decision-making purposes. Previously, to view the data, a complicated database report might have been created or data was imported into a spreadsheet for further analysis. Using Org Chart software, managers can synthesize data from across an organization allowing them to effectively control data and leverage information and can integrate hundreds of datasets against a single record to give stronger workforce visibility.

Practical Uses for Org Charts in Workforce Planning

Org Charts allow companies to compile and prepare detailed, real-time reports and build corporate intelligence to develop strategies, support organizational initiatives and maintain goal alignment. With a good Org Chart, users can view all reporting relationships including individuals and their associated chain of command, position-to-position or indirect reporting relationships, or the entire organization.

Org Charts are an essential part of “What-if” scenarios as they can be used to model what-if plans for growth, reorganizations, budget planning, succession planning, mergers & acquisitions and more. Users can easily analyze before and after changes, anticipating and eliminating any surprises in advance.

It’s not a one-time event. Workforce planning is an ongoing balancing act requiring continuous access to fresh, up-to-date organizational information. By visualizing this data through the use of organizational charting software, management can better understand and assure the right people are in place to accomplish critical business objectives in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

Conclusion

As your company looks to align its strategic business objectives with workforce growth and development plans, consider how Org Charts will deliver an essential perspective of the workforce for creating a solid plan for driving business success.

About OfficeWork SoftwareHeadquartered in Northern California, OfficeWork Software provides Workforce software solutions and professional services that help organizations operate at peak efficiency. Our OrgChart solution offers cost-effective and low-maintenance solution to chart, analyize, visualize their workforce. We realized long ago that charting and being able to visualize an organization is an overwhelming task, but important for better decision making and establishing a blueprint for future.

OfficeWork Software—simplying the complexities of Workforce Planning.

For more information, contact OfficeWork Software at +1-800-477-1408 Email us at sales@officeworksoftware.com Visit us at www.Orgchartpro.com, www.OrgchartforVisio.com or www.officeworksoftware.com

“Org Charts have the ability to change the way a company does business by creating a decision canvas to empower better visibility, strategic planning and effective project management.”