From Manual to Machine Learning: Workforce Planning’s Next Chapter
As the business landscape continues to evolve, workforce planning is becoming more complex and dynamic thanks to companies across all industries being tasked with managing increasingly global, diverse, and hybrid workforces.
But while the workforce evolves, the methods required for effective workforce planning are still very much in the ‘traditional’ and ‘manual’ phase.
The fact that methods such as data analysis, basic forecasting, and administrative-heavy processes require the need for constant human input means there is a high danger of human mistakes leading to inefficiencies.
However, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as a transformative force in this space with the potential and promise of revolutionising how organisations plan, manage, and optimise the workforce.
AI has all the tools to drastically change workforce planning by providing deeper insights, improving accuracy in demand forecasting, and offering more efficient ways to allocate resources.
In my role as a WFM Solutions Consultant at Sabio Group, an expert services partner specialising in CX transformation, I see the potential of AI in every visit or conversation I have with our customers.
Below, I’ll explore how AI could (and in some cases already is) reshaping workforce planning...
Firstly, what is Workforce Planning?
This might be an unusual starting spot, but you can’t take for granted that everyone reading this will know what we mean by workforce management and planning.
Workforce planning is the process of ensuring that an organisation has the right number of people, with the right skills, in the right roles, at the right time. It involves forecasting future workforce needs, identifying gaps in the current workforce, and creating strategies to address those gaps. Traditional workforce planning relies heavily on historical data, market trends, and human intuition, but these methods can often be inaccurate or too slow to respond to rapidly changing business needs.
How will AI Transform the Planning Process
AI-driven solutions are enabling organisations to improve workforce planning processes by automating routine tasks, providing predictive analytics, and enhancing decision-making capabilities. It’s doing that through a number of different ways;
- Predictive Analytics and Demand Forecasting
AI can analyse vast amounts of historical data, such as employee performance, turnover rates, and business demand, to identify patterns and trends. With these insights, AI-driven workforce planning tools can predict future staffing needs with far greater accuracy than traditional methods. For instance, AI can forecast seasonal demand fluctuations or predict workforce shortages based on employee turnover patterns, allowing businesses to adjust their staffing levels in advance.
By providing predictive insights, AI enables organisations to make proactive decisions regarding hiring, training, and resource allocation, ultimately leading to better alignment between workforce supply and business demand.
There will always be a need for skilled forecasters and planners to apply operational intelligence (a planning ‘sixth sense’ if you like), however AI can provide a good base forecast on which planning teams can build on.
- Automated Skill Matching and Recruitment
AI has the capability to automate the process of identifying skill gaps and matching the right talent to the right roles. Through machine learning algorithms, AI can assess job candidates based on their qualifications, experience, and fit for specific positions. This reduces the time spent on manual screening and allows organisations to quickly identify the most suitable candidates for their workforce needs.
Furthermore, AI can continuously track employee skills and performance within an organisation, identifying opportunities for reskilling or upskilling employees to meet future demands. This leads to more agile workforce planning, as companies can more easily adapt to shifts in required competencies.
- Enhanced Workforce Flexibility and Scheduling
AI is being increasingly integrated into workforce management systems, particularly for scheduling and shift planning. By analysing data on employee availability, workload, and business needs, AI-powered tools can automatically create optimised schedules that maximise productivity and minimise costs.
AI can also incorporate flexible working preferences into scheduling, making it easier for companies to accommodate remote work, part-time roles, or shift swaps. This ensures that employee needs and business requirements are balanced efficiently, improving employee satisfaction while maintaining operational effectiveness.
We are also starting to see Vendors offering the ability to dynamically change routing profiles based on the activities scheduled, to meet demand. This is the type of functionality where AI can really drive value for Operations.
- Real-Time Decision Making
One of the key advantages of AI in workforce planning is its ability to process data in real-time, allowing businesses to respond to changing conditions more quickly. For example, if there is a sudden spike in demand in a contact centre, AI can adjust staffing levels in real time by reallocating resources or recommending temporary hires.
This ability to make data-driven decisions in real time ensures that organisations are agile and able to respond to both internal and external disruptions, such as market shifts, economic fluctuations, or unforeseen crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Bias Reduction in Workforce Planning
AI, when used correctly, has the potential to reduce unconscious bias in workforce planning. Traditional human-driven processes may inadvertently introduce biases based on factors such as gender, ethnicity, or background. AI-powered tools can ensure that workforce planning decisions are made solely based on objective criteria like skills, qualifications, and performance data. However, organisations must be cautious and ensure that AI algorithms are trained on diverse, unbiased datasets to avoid perpetuating existing biases.
The Future of AI-powered Workforce Planning
As AI technologies continue to advance, the future of workforce planning will become more sophisticated and predictive. Some key trends we can expect include:
- Hyper-Personalisation of Employee Development: AI will enable organisations to tailor employee development programs based on individual career paths, learning preferences, and performance data. This will result in more personalised learning and development strategies that help employees grow and adapt to changing workforce demands.
- Integration with Robotics and Automation: In sectors like manufacturing, logistics, and retail, AI-powered workforce planning will increasingly integrate with robotics and automation technologies. This will help optimise the allocation of human workers alongside machines, maximising efficiency in hybrid human-automation work environments.
- AI-Driven Workforce Planning-as-a-Service: Companies that lack the in-house resources to develop AI-driven workforce planning capabilities will be able to rely on third-party providers offering “workforce planning-as-a-service,” powered by cloud-based AI platforms.