Strategic workforce planning

Enhance your HR department’s impact and support commercial success by learning to plan and deliver effective workforce plans aligned with business strategy.

Accredited Programme

Access to the CIPD Learning Hub

15% discount for CIPD members

£1,765.00 exc. VAT

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Advanced
Networking
Practice-based
Self-directed
Evidence-based

Perfect for:

HR managers
Decision makers
Workforce planner
Workforce practitioner

You’ll learn how to:

  • explain workforce planning and its role in your organisation
  • map and collaborate with stakeholders
  • collect and analyse workforce data, market trends and demand to forecast future workforce needs
  • compare scenarios and conduct cost-benefit initiatives to create recommendations
  • create, implement and manage a strategic workforce plan and governance framework
  • embed a strategic workforce planning process into your organisation.

About this course

Course length: 50-70 hours, final assessment to be submitted within 10 months

Delivery: Online, self-directed

Suitable for: HR and L&D practitioners and strategic workforce planning practitioners

Topics covered

  • foundations of workforce planning
  • baseline (organisation and its environment)
  • supply (the current and future workforce)
  • demand (future workforce needs)
  • gap analysis (workforce gaps)
  • action planning (where next)
  • plan delivery (create the workforce of the future).

What to expect from the 'strategic workforce planning’ accredited programme

As one of our workforce planning training programmes, this accredited programme has been scoped and led by strategic workforce planning leader Adam Gibson.

It covers six stages essential to every practitioner, emphasising evidence-based practice and global relevance. By exploring steps, tips, and tools that prepare organisations for the unknown, you will confidently enhance your workforce planning skills to deliver effective strategic solutions for your organisation.

This online CIPD Strategic workforce planning accredited programme will give you specialist expertise and strategic workforce planning tools to support your organisation. You’ll reflect on your current approach and shape your behaviours to become a confident practitioner, planning future needs and delivering outcomes.

What you’ll need to do on this programme

You can complete this learning programme in your own time and at your own pace – it should take around 60 hours.

We’ll give you access to various blended assets, including animations, interactive videos and downloadable resources. And you’ll have lots of space to anchor your reflections on the content.

Your final assessment will be a 2,500-word evaluative review covering your reflections on your practice and how you’ve applied learning in your context. The final assessment needs to be submitted within 10 months of purchasing the course.

What you’ll get on this programme

If successfully completed, you’ll receive a certificate noting your achievement of this CIPD accredited programme.

You’ll have the chance to resit the assessment for an additional fee.

Taking part in this course gives you access to the CIPD Learning Hub for 12 months. Here, you can access your course content together with other valuable resources and tools. When you finish your course, you can enjoy an additional 12 months of access to other resources on the Learning Hub.

Once the programme has finished, you’ll also get access to a learning community of like-minded professionals to share experiences and deepen your skills and knowledge.

Who is this programme suitable for?

This programme is for strategic workforce planning practitioners with limited exposure to formal development in this area.

Our accredited programmes are in-depth and require a solid understanding of the topic. Please read the following statements to confirm your suitability.

  • You currently work in this profession or area of work or have recently done so and will be able to refer to current or past work examples during your learning.
  • baseline (organisation and its environment)
  • You can write an assessment answer reflecting on your learning and demonstrating how to apply it in your context.
  • You can use English at the IELTS level 6 “Competent user” or above.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this ‘CIPD strategic workforce planning’ course, you'll be able to:

  • describe what workforce planning is, its purpose and why every organisation needs it
  • recognise the strategic context of the organisation and the nature of the workforce
  • gain stakeholder buy-in
  • appraise workforce dynamics and segment the workforce to identify where to focus workforce planning activity
  • identify demand drivers and translate these into future workforce requirements
  • recognise the gap between what you have and need and translate this into organisational risks and opportunities.

Team bookings

Interested in booking this course for your team? We offer group bookings solutions for teams of four or more people.

When your teams learn with the CIPD, they get direct access to the latest professional research and insights.

And through courses co-created with industry thought leaders and practitioners, they’ll build the skills and confidence they need to inspire action, influence change and drive business value.

We offer a wide range of Learning and Development solutions to suit employees at every level – whether in HR, L&D, OD or wider people management.