What Is Workforce Planning and Consulting?

Workforce planning and consulting is a service delivered by expert workforce planning professionals/firms to develop replicable processes for analyzing, forecasting, and planning supply and demand within the available universe of all types of workers and talent. 

This service type often involves assessing gaps in an organization’s workforce composition, establishing targets for talent management programs, and developing plans to deliver the best workers—with the most applicable skills—at the right time to achieve business goals. Read on to learn more!

What Are the Benefits of Workforce Planning and Consulting?

The benefits of engaging workforce planning and consulting initiatives come from the application of a standardized process for workforce management process design. Such design typically involves four broad steps.

Step one involves analyzing the current state of your workforce; this is the “as-is” stage of the workforce planning process. Step two focuses on future state, or “to-be” state analysis, to establish the goals for producing a new, improved workforce planning process. 

Step three involves “gap analysis” to understand what your business must do to advance operations from the “as-is” to the “to-be” state—and should yield a formal plan for accomplishing said goals. The fourth step is the execution phase, during which the new program is implemented and adjusted, developing metrics that identify the effectiveness of your efforts toward achieving the goals set forth.

Properly executed, the primary benefits of workforce planning and consulting include increased alignment between the FTE workforce and more strategically deployed contingent workforce assets. This alignment delivers greater workforce productivity, more efficient labor spend allocation, and improvement in the timely, cost-effective attainment of broad business goals.

How Does nextSource Differentiate Among Other Providers of Workforce Planning and Consulting?

A key point of differentiation for nextSource compared to other providers of workforce planning and consulting services is the depth and breadth of the offerings fielded by our organization. We offer powerful tools and practices to advance highly effective workforce plans. 

For example, our team at nextSource performs a holistic, proprietary Contingent Workforce Program Maturity Assessment. When you complete a 15-minute survey, our nextSource data scientists analyze customer responses and detail their findings in a diagnostic report. We then provide a holistic assessment of the results and guide you on your next steps toward enhancing the recommended program.

Offered independently or as an add-on service to complement our other workforce solutions, workforce planning and consulting services from nextSource deliver a clear view of any workforce program with strategic guidance to help achieve critical business goals.

Why Might I Consider Pursuing Workforce Planning and Consulting for My Organization?

Put simply, aligning workforce programs with an organization’s goals is critical to success. Understanding how to assess workforce composition, gaps, sourcing, and training is essential to success. Whether you’re just starting or ready to grow, nextSource’s Contingent Workforce Planning and Consulting services will guide you to the right strategy. Contact us today for more information.