Short answer
Workforce planning forecasts workforce needs and identifies practical actions to close capacity or capability gaps. It rates the quality of the forecast and the options, not how large a hiring request sounds.
About Workforce planning
Forecasts workforce needs and identifies practical actions to address capacity or capability gaps. Strong work states assumptions, time horizon, and what will happen if the gap is left open.
Use this competency for
- People roles that plan headcount, skills supply, or hiring capacity with Function owners.
- Functions accountable for making workforce gaps visible before they block delivery.
Do not use this competency for
- Do not use it to rate how aggressively someone argues for more headcount, or to treat a spreadsheet as the outcome.
Important distinctions
Talent acquisition
Talent acquisition fills a defined vacancy. Workforce planning decides which vacancies and capabilities are needed, and when.
Expectations by level
IC1
Maintains defined plans with guidance
Updates well-defined workforce views with guidance, keeps actuals current, and flags a gap using the agreed template.
Observable behaviors
- Records current headcount against the approved plan.
- Notes open roles and expected start timing.
- Raises a gap when actuals diverge from the plan.
Examples
- Updated a Function plan after two accepted offers changed the start dates.
- Flagged a coverage gap when a planned backfill had no owner.
IC2
Builds a Function workforce plan independently
Independently builds a Function plan from demand and supply assumptions, offers more than one closing action, and states what each option costs in time or capability.
Observable behaviors
- Separates a capacity gap from a capability gap.
- Lists hire, move, or sequence options with explicit assumptions.
- Reviews the plan with the Function owner before it is treated as a request.
Examples
- Showed that a hiring freeze would delay a known deliverable, with the weeks named.
- Proposed a temporary rotation instead of an immediate new role when the gap was short.
IC3
Sets workforce planning across Functions
Defines planning practice used by multiple Functions and changes the method when forecasts repeatedly miss or leave gaps invisible.
Observable behaviors
- Sets a shared horizon, units, and assumption log.
- Reconciles competing Function requests against a company constraint.
- Retires a metric that never predicted an actual gap.
Examples
- Moved planning to a quarterly horizon after monthly files went stale.
- Introduced one capability map after two Functions hired for the same scarce skill.