Interview: how effective workforce planning can support capacity now and in the future

We spoke to Lindsey Dawson, Head of Area (North West) at Skills for Care, about what workforce planning really means and how an effective workforce plan can support employers with recruitment and retention both now and in the future.

What does workforce planning actually mean?

Workforce planning, put very simply, is thinking about having the right people in your organisation now and in the future, and that means the right amount of people but also people with the right skills, the right attitudes, behaviours, values, and experience. It’s thinking about that in the immediate term, but also in terms of direction of travel for your organisation in the future.

Creating a formal documented workforce plan guides you in taking that time to think about where your future workforce is going to come from based on what you see your organisation looking like in the future, which is informed by local commissioning strategies, care plans, and where you want your organisation to go. Workforce planning is about making sure that as you're thinking about that business direction you’re considering the workforce implications that will have for your staff now and in the future, in terms of number of staff as well as their skills, what they do, how they do it, and the costs associated with that.

How can managers incorporate workforce planning?

Probably most days and weeks managers are doing some element of workforce planning without realising, but that will be more focused on the short term - working out staff rotas, promoting vacant posts, developing staff, and making sure that they've got safe staffing levels, and so on.

They're doing it day in, day out, but I guess when we talk about putting a focus on workforce planning, we're also talking about that more medium and long-term approach, and what we’re encouraging is giving perhaps a bit more dedicated time and space to thinking about the future of your workforce based on where you see your organisation growing and changing. That also means taking on board the changes happening across social care, and what the future workforce needs to look like to fit with that. They key is analysing what the current workforce looks like now to enable you to put plans in place to ensure that you've got a workforce that's ready for the future.

By giving yourself space and time to look at that more in the longer term, you can start to put plans in place to stabilise capacity. A workforce plan can help you think about your recruitment and retention strategy, your learning and development plans, and so on. We absolutely understand at the moment that priorities are quite short-term focused because we have huge demands, but we also need to give ourselves the space to think about more longer term.

If workforce planning is new, where do managers start?

Depending on the size of the organisation, some providers may opt to have a member of the team be a lead for workforce planning - whether that's a board sponsor, or the role of a nominated individual, or a designated project manager within their team. They could also create a project group that includes members of staff, people who draw on care and support, commissioners, and such so they've got that sense of future direction which can be articulated in a dedicated workforce plan that's shared, communicated, and regularly reviewed with the whole team, so everybody becomes part of that shared sense of direction.

The important thing with a workforce plan is it's never a static document, you should be constantly refreshing and reviewing, and you might need to then redefine it as you achieve things you move on to the next priority and keep sense checking what's coming over the horizon.

What are some of the key workforce metrics employers should consider for workforce planning?

You've got to understand the make-up of the workforce to be able to plan for the future workforce, so you need to understand demographics such as the age of the workforce and also think about your recruitment and retention metrics – where have you successfully recruited from, why are people attracted to your organisation, if they're leaving, where are they going to, for those who’ve been with you a long time why have they stayed, have you got people that might be retiring in the not too distant future, can you offer flexible working patterns to retain them for longer, how are you planning to replace their roles?

Understanding your current workforce is the foundation of how you go about recruitment in your local area and what works well. Analysis of turnover and at what point in people’s employment with you they leave should heavily influence retention strategies, with different interventions needed based on when highest turnover levels occur. For example, breakfast clubs could be one idea to support new starters if early turnover is identified, whereas turnover after 18-24 months of employment may point to a need for more investment in training, qualifications and career progression.

Looking at the diverse make-up of your workforce is also really important to consider if your workforce reflects the diversity within your local population, and making sure that there are equal opportunities for progression.

Another key metric to consider is the current range of skills and qualifications across the team, and do those skills meet the future skills that are going to be required or equally, are there skills and talents your staff have that can be utilised elsewhere?

Of course, data such as turnover and even sickness levels can give an indication of staff wellbeing and job satisfaction, and this kind of data can be analysed using the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS), as well as through data gathering such as staff surveys.

So, all of that can be part of a rich tapestry of analysis that can really help you to formulate your workforce plan.

We often talk about succession planning as part of workforce planning, what exactly does that mean?

Succession planning is the process of identifying the critical positions within your organisation and developing action plans for individuals to assume those positions.

It’s taking more of a ‘grow your own’ approach and thinking, if a high proportion of your workforce may retire in the near future then who is there within your organisation already who you can develop to fill those particular gaps.

What resources does Skills for Care have to support workforce planning?

Skills for Care’s workforce planning guide follows a very simple model comprising four stages of ‘analyse, plan, do, review’. So, you're analysing where you are now, you're thinking about what plans and priorities you need to be putting in place, you then deliver on what you’ve identified, and then you review that.

Our guide takes you through each stage with series of questions, prompts, and templates.

Take our survey to let us know if you’ve used our guide and how helpful you found it.

Learn more about workforce planning.

Find more recruitment and retention support on our #BuildingYourWorkforce spotlight.

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