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Workforce Planning Model and Guide

Introduction

Anywhere you go in the business world today you're almost certain to hear the buzz about "workforce planning." There's also a sense of urgency surrounding the discussions, as phrases such as "baby boomer," "knowledge drain," "competencies," and "gap analysis" are tossed about.

That sense of urgency is justified when we take a look at recent statistics which indicate that 53% of the State's current workforce is age of 45 and over. Up to 35%, or more than 80,000 employees, will be eligible to retire in the next five years. To break it down further, 62% of our top leadership and 50% of our managers and supervisors will be eligible to retire in the next five years.

The average age people enter State service is around 34 (for the Miscellaneous Retirement category), so public service organizations often have an older workforce than many companies in the private sector. Not to mention, fewer candidates are in the "pipeline," so we may have fewer candidates to choose from and there will be great competition for the best candidates in what's being referred to as a "War for Talent."

State employees by age as of June 30, 2008. Age 24 or under: 10,000. Age 25 to 29: 16,000. Age 30 to 34: 21,000. Age 35 to 39: 27,000. Age 40 to 44: 32,000. Age 45 to 49: 38,000. Age 50 to 54: 37,000. Age 55 to 59: 27,000. Age 60 to 54: 13,000. Age 65 to 69: 3,000. Age 70 or over: 2,000.

Obviously, these challenges present both difficulties and opportunities. In the past, human resource needs of the workplace have largely been met in a reactive mode, position by position, vacancy by vacancy. That approach will no longer suffice as we plan for the upcoming wave of retirements. It is imperative that State departments take a strategic approach to workforce planning, now!

Updated January 20, 2009 at 12:32 PM.