Workforce and succession planning – part 1: getting started

The competitive labor market, higher vacancy rates, and an increased volume of retirements are driving government entities, public utilities and not-for-profit organizations to adopt workforce and succession plans.

Workforce and succession planning programs complement an organization’s need to develop and engage staff to increase retention and often fit into processes and programs that likely already exist within your human resources services. The amount of time and budgetary resources spent implementing a plan can be minimal and the benefits enormous.

This is the first part in Baker Tilly’s three-part workforce and succession planning series which breaks down planning into specific actions you can immediately implement. The diagram below provides an overview of the workforce and succession planning process and the key steps that tie into a successful program. In this article, you will learn about defining your organization’s outlook, identifying critical positions, and prioritizing the positions to include in your workforce/succession plan.

Step 1: Identify potential critical positions

Critical positions are those essential for carrying out your organization’s mission, mitigating risk, and providing core services; without extremely capable people filling these roles, future success will be compromised. Critical positions extend beyond those in leadership (city/county manager, directors, etc.) or those with upcoming retirements.

Think outside the box. Niche positions such as a cybersecurity program administrator could be considered critical as could front-line positions that provide direct service to customers. Review all positions on your payroll for their impact on the organization. Identify the positions that if left vacant for long will severely impact the organization’s operations or pose a high safety, financial or liability risk. We recommend considering 10 to 15% of an organization’s workforce as critical to include in the workforce and succession planning program.

With a list of critical current positions in-hand, use the following questions to formulate discussion around each potential critical position and its future in your organization.

• How will the state of the industry today affect business operations for the next one to five years? And five to 10 years?