By: Reinout Brons, Consulting Lead EMEA, KellyOCG®
Across every industry, I see leaders with vision — but also with to-do lists a mile long and a mountain of daily firefighting. That’s the human side of workforce planning. We’re all pulled between what we want to accomplish and what the day demands.
It’s easy to assume that your competitors have workforce strategy all figured out. The truth is, nearly everyone is learning as they go. Some pick up bruises, others build momentum, but all chart their own course.
The results of our 2026 survey of 100+ workforce decision-makers at the CWS Europe Summit underscore the general insecurity about strategic direction among companies today. In addition to topics involving workforce strategy and total talent integration, one set of questions in our poll asked respondents to rate their workforce planning capabilities.
These results indicate lukewarm confidence in workforce planning, and the survey also found 40% of respondents operate in a reactive mode. The need for foresight, flexibility, and readiness was universally acknowledged. In some cases, they may have documented the specific improvements that need to be made, yet relatively little action is taken.
What’s fueling this inertia? Too often, strategies get hijacked by urgent fixes: an RFP, a tech rollout, or a sudden cost crunch. Short-term demands compromise long-term confidence.
How do you overcome the gaps standing in the way of an impactful workforce planning function? The path forward starts with basic, proactive planning. This leads to predictive data-driven planning and documented roadmaps. The process matures as you gain flexibility to adjust your strategies without breaking them.
Technology advances make a difference, as do innovations in processes and real-life successes that help build support. The following steps can help you move forward.
Too often, organisations begin searching for a workforce solution before clearly defining the problem they’re trying to solve.
A workforce management programme should directly support broader business objectives, whether accelerating innovation, improving operational efficiency, supporting geographic expansion, or building critical skills capabilities.
Before evaluating providers, technologies, or operating models, focus on understanding what already exists. This means assessing:
Current workforce strategies and initiatives
Existing governance structures
Key stakeholders across HR, procurement, talent acquisition, finance, and operations
Long-term business goals and growth plans
Strategic drivers influencing workforce decisions
Developing a clear workforce strategy that addresses documented business issues and priorities should be the first step. Without this foundation, even the most advanced technologies or outsourced programmes risk becoming disconnected from business needs.
Many workforce strategies fail because they’re developed in isolation. Address this risk by adding a distinct step in development: assessing context. The aim is to understand what else is happening across the business that may influence workforce initiatives.
Leaders should evaluate existing programmes and business priorities such as:
Enterprise technology transformations
Mergers and acquisitions
Skills-based hiring initiatives
Digital transformation efforts
Organisational redesign programmes
Cost optimisation initiatives
These efforts have significant workforce implications. For example, investing heavily in skills-based hiring may require tools that provide greater visibility into both internal and external talent supply and capabilities. Similarly, a large-scale technology transformation could create opportunities to integrate workforce management solutions into broader enterprise systems.
Most improvement and transformation initiatives require multiple stages to diagnose current-state challenges, design future-state solutions, implement technology, establish governance frameworks, and continuously refine processes. An effective, strategic roadmap is geared toward connecting actions to outcomes that empower next steps. These connections are flexible because they build on key fundamentals, including:
Solutions: Which workforce programmes and operating models will best support strategic goals?
Technology: What systems, data, and integrations are needed to enable visibility, reporting, and workforce intelligence?
Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress. An effective workforce strategy is a journey, and the right partner (internal or external) can prove critical in guiding that path forward, giving you permission to pause, zoom out, and redraw the map.
Invest in the discipline of real reflection, regular check-ins, and open conversations. Progress matters more than pace, and a strong partner can be the most valuable resource for keeping your plans on track.