The seven steps of human resource planning are to align workforce needs with strategy, scan the operating environment, assess current workforce supply, forecast future demand, identify and prioritize gaps, implement targeted responses, and monitor and revise the plan. This is a practical sequence, not a universal official formula: professional and public-sector frameworks group the work differently.
What are the 7 steps of human resource planning?
Human resource planning—also called workforce planning—connects an organization’s goals to the people, skills, and capacity needed to achieve them. It is more than an annual headcount exercise: it considers both the workforce available and the work and capabilities the organization expects to need.
The sequence below is a practical synthesis. CIPD’s 2025 guidance presents six stages, while a South African public-service framework numbers seven components. The difference is in how the work is grouped, not a contradiction about what planning must address. CIPD also describes workforce planning as adaptable and iterative rather than a fixed formula.
- Align workforce planning with organizational strategy. Identify the mission, strategic goals, business plans, and changes the organization expects. Translate those priorities into workforce outcomes, and involve leaders and operational managers so the plan reflects how the work must actually be delivered.
- Scan the operating environment. Consider internal and external developments that could affect workforce supply or demand, such as organizational change, technology, labor-market conditions, and relevant political, economic, or legislative influences. Treat projections as assumptions to revisit, not certainties.
- Assess current workforce supply. Build a picture of the people and capabilities currently available. Depending on the planning question, that may include workforce numbers, skills and competencies, roles, structure, location, employment arrangements, and expected staffing changes. Use quantitative data alongside qualitative context from managers who understand the work.
- Forecast future workforce demand. Translate the organization’s plans into the types and levels of capability, roles, and capacity it will need, and when it will need them. Where the future is uncertain, consider plausible scenarios rather than relying on a single forecast.
- Compare supply with demand and prioritize gaps. Identify where available or expected supply will fall short of—or exceed—future requirements. Assess skills and competencies as well as headcount, workforce profile, structure, and work arrangements. Prioritize gaps by strategic importance, budget, and the organization’s ability to act.
- Choose, resource, and implement responses. Match interventions to priority gaps. Options can include recruitment, retention, employee development, deployment changes, work redesign, or other HR interventions. Give each action a clear intended outcome, owner, resources, and timeframe, and coordinate with the stakeholders who must deliver it.
- Monitor, evaluate, and revise. Decide who will review progress, what information will be gathered, and when reviews will happen. Monitoring checks whether planned actions were carried out; evaluation considers whether they addressed the intended workforce needs. Use what the reviews show, along with new information, to update the next planning cycle.
How do you create a human resource plan?
Turn the priority gaps into a deliverable set of actions rather than leaving them as observations in an analysis. For each priority, connect the workforce need to an objective and an intervention, then specify how the work will be managed.
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- Objective: State the workforce outcome the organization needs.
- Intervention and output: Identify what will be done and what tangible result is expected.
- Target and timeframe: Define how progress will be assessed and when the action should occur.
- Resources and responsibility: Name the budget or other resources required and the person or team accountable.
- Review approach: Set out what information will be collected, who will review it, and how results will inform changes.
Involve line managers and other stakeholders in both planning and delivery. They can help interpret the data, test whether proposed actions fit the work, and identify practical constraints. Keep monitoring in view from the start; a plan is more useful when its progress and outcomes can be assessed.
How do you forecast workforce needs?
Begin with the organization’s strategy and operating plans, then ask what work those plans create or change. Estimate the roles, capacity, and capabilities needed and the period in which they will be required. Compare different plausible scenarios when assumptions—such as the timing of change or external workforce conditions—could materially alter the estimate.
Use workforce numbers and other metrics as evidence, not as a decision by themselves. CIPD distinguishes quantitative “hard” planning from strategic “soft” planning, which gives information a framework for interpretation. Data can show a potential shortage or surplus; leaders and managers still need to interpret what it means for the organization’s goals and how to respond.
How do you identify a skills gap?
Compare the capabilities available in the current workforce with the capabilities required by future work. A useful gap analysis looks beyond total employee numbers: it may reveal that the organization has enough people overall but lacks a particular competency, role, workforce profile, or arrangement needed to deliver its plans.
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Bring managers and relevant stakeholders into that comparison so the findings reflect how work is performed, not only how roles appear in records. Then assess which gaps matter most to strategic priorities and which the organization has the budget and capacity to address. That prioritization helps connect analysis to feasible interventions such as development, recruitment, redeployment, retention, or work redesign.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why do human resource planning frameworks use different step counts?
Frameworks group planning activities in different ways and may be designed for different settings. CIPD’s 2025 guide uses six stages: establish a baseline, assess supply, analyse demand, carry out gap analysis, create an action plan, and deliver the plan. Its “seven rights” are considerations for a workforce plan, not seven sequential stages.
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The South African Department of Public Service and Administration’s public-service framework numbers seven components: setting strategic direction, environmental scanning, workforce analysis, identifying supply-demand gaps, identifying priority HR issues, developing an action plan, and monitoring and evaluation. Its public-sector scope and the age of the framework mean it should not be treated as a universal prescription. The 2021 South African guidelines provide practical public-service process guidance and tools.
When choosing or adapting a framework, consider its sequence and grouping, scope, time horizon, treatment of uncertainty, data needs, stakeholder responsibilities, and implementation and review mechanisms. The right arrangement is the one that helps an organization make and revisit workforce decisions in the context of its strategy and operating conditions.
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Sources and further guidance
- CIPD, Workforce planning factsheet (29 July 2025).
- CIPD, Strategic workforce planning: Guide for people professionals (16 July 2025).
- CIPD, CIPD launches practical guidance on workforce planning (4 May 2023).
- Republic of South Africa, Department of Public Service and Administration, Human Resource Planning for the Public Service: Strategic Framework (version 1.1 draft, March 2008).
- Republic of South Africa, Department of Public Service and Administration, HR Planning Guidelines and Toolkit (2021).
- UK Government People Function, HR Career Framework.
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