Staffing

Strategic staffing/workforce planning is the process organizations use to identify and address the staffing implications of their business plans and strategies. The process may also be called staff planning, manpower planning, human resource forecasting, or talent management. Typically, the process has two objectives:

To develop long term staffing strategies (i.e., those that span planning periods) that "best" address staffing needs in the long term
To create specific staffing plans that meet particular needs of each planning period while remaining consistent with long term staffing strategies

Our experience has shown that work of this type is most effective when a broad definition of "staffing" is used. When developing strategic staffing/workforce planning processes, "staffing" must include all movement into, around, and out of an organization - including retention. Staffing is more than (though it includes) recruiting. It is not simply a reactive process that is triggered by an opening. Staffing is the process by which an organization acquires and manages its talent most effectively.