Audit of Workforce Planning

Workforce planning is about getting the right number of people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right time and is the most critical human resource management challenge facing the public sector. 

​

Government agencies are operating within a challenging environment that is characterised by:  

• devolved employment arrangements 

• increased demands for flexibility, responsiveness and performance improvement 

• a greater emphasis on innovation and service delivery 

• tightening labour markets 

• skills shortages 

• an ageing workforce.  

 

Effective workforce planning ensures that organisations and managers plan and address rather than react to business and environmental changes. It establishes an integrated process for identifying, securing and developing the workforce capabilities required to support and achieve the organisation’s current and future mission.  

 

An Australian government agency engaged Pitt Group to assure that the agency’s arrangements and activities supported workforce capability development. We worked collaboratively with the agency to understand its operating environment, strategic objectives, and challenges regarding human resource management. Through this process, we reviewed the processes used to identify required skills and competencies, the agency’s capacity and capability to undertake workforce planning, and the systems used to monitor and oversee workforce capability development. 

 

Pitt Group’s review was designed to answer several key questions: 

• Has the agency considered the impact of its strategic direction on its workforce? 

• Has the agency analysed current and future workforce needs and competencies? 

• Has the agency analysed the gap between the current and future needs? 

• Has the agency developed strategies to address workforce gaps? 

• Has the agency implemented strategies to align the workforce with future business needs? 

• Has the agency evaluated the success of the workforce planning strategies in meeting objectives? 

 

Pitt Group used a variety of methods to undertake the review, including:  

• assessing strategies and plans to identify and build capability against better practice guidance  

• reviewing the effectiveness of functions, systems, processes and activities to identify and build capability.  

• analysing data on recruitment, retention and staff development and using this to benchmark the agency against broader government trends. 

​