Step 4 – Develop, implement and monitor the workforce plan

Once you’ve identified your workforce issues and potential solutions, you can start to put this knowledge into practice. This is the last step in the Workforce Planning Connect guided process.

Establish your workforce action plan

A clear workforce plan that outlines your business goals and how your workforce will help you achieve these goals provides a focus to your actions.

This will help you create an action plan (or multiple plans) to identify:

  • what needs to be done (e.g. implementing flexible working arrangements)
  • who will be doing it (e.g. the general manager)
  • when it needs to be done (e.g. immediately, in 12 months, etc).

Resources

Use the detailed workforce plan template (template 6) to develop your workforce plan.

Use the workforce action plan (on-a-page) template (template 7) to capture your workforce actions on one page.

Monitor your workforce and action plans

Monitoring your workforce and action plans are an important part of your business. Monitoring means checking to ensure your plans are being implemented as outlined and agreed.

It’s also important to monitor your action plan to:

  • ensure that plans are progressing as expected
  • address issues before they have a negative impact on business goals.

Like business and financial plans, workforce plans are living documents. Monitor and regularly review your plan to make sure that it continues to meet the needs of your business.

Useful ways to evaluate your initiatives include:

  • comparing targets and actual results
  • having one-on-one discussions with your employees
  • talking to informal focus groups, where appropriate
  • organising employee-attitude surveys, where appropriate.

Review and update your workforce plan every year as part of your business planning process to:

  • make sure it reflects any current and potential changes in key staff
  • evaluate your workforce initiatives to identify what is and is not working so you can adjust or try something new.

Develop, implement and monitor checklist

  • I have developed a detailed workforce plan.
  • I have developed a one-page workforce action plan.
  • I have a plan in place to regularly review and update my workforce plan.