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Workforce Planning 2026: A Smart Approach to Talent Strategy

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Key Takeaways

  • 5 essential steps for effective workforce planning

  • Buy, borrow, build, or bot—how to get the balance right

  • Why data and AI expose talent risks sooner

Your Ultimate Guide to Strategic Workforce Planning in 2026

The engine of any organization is its people.

They set the direction, drive the strategy, spot risks that could throw plans off course, solve problems, build new ideas, and keep the business moving. Without them, there is no business.

Put the wrong person in a position, and the engine misfires. Projects stall. Performance dips. Growth slows.

So how do you keep the engine running smoothly? With workforce planning.

What is it, why does it matter, and how do you make sure you get it right? Let’s take a look.

What Is Workforce Planning?

Workforce planning ensures your organization has the right people, with the right skills, in the right roles at the right time.

Think of it as a roadmap for your talent strategy. You need to know where you’re starting, where you want to go, and the best route to get there.

But the most effective organizations look further ahead, anticipating the skills and roles needed not just for now, but for next year and beyond.

That’s where strategic workforce planning comes in. It connects talent and skills to business goals, using people data to show where your strengths lie and where to invest next. This approach builds a workforce that can grow and adapt as your business evolves.

35% of CHROs say future workforce needs are being overlooked as short-term pressures dominate—making strategic workforce planning more critical than ever.

Korn Ferry’s 2025 CHRO survey

Why Is Strategic Workforce Planning Important?

More than half of CHROs say improving efficiency and productivity is their top priority over the next two years, our data shows. 

Strategic workforce planning makes that possible. By understanding how work is changing, and which skills drive performance, leaders can deploy talent where it creates the most value.

When the right people are in the right roles, performance lifts naturally. Engagement grows and productivity follows, creating lasting momentum.

Organizations with high engagement scores see 2.5 times the revenue growth of those with lower scores.

Korn Ferry Institute (KFI) data

But there are many other advantages and benefits to workforce planning too.

A strategic workforce planning strategy also helps manage costs. You’re not over-hiring or scrambling to fill gaps. You’re investing where it counts. 

And perhaps most importantly, it builds resilience. It gives you the foresight to pivot before challenges arise, so your business stays agile through every stage of transformation.

How the Changing Workforce Is Impacting Planning

Today’s workforce is transforming faster than most organizations can adapt. And that transformation is reshaping how businesses are structured and led.

More than 40 percent of companies have cut management layers, leaving gaps in leadership and decision-making, Korn Ferry’s Workforce 2025 research reveals. Nearly half of senior executives say this has made their roles harder to deliver.

At the same time, AI is redrawing job boundaries and redefining which skills hold the most value. Hybrid work is testing how teams connect and collaborate.

These shifts redefine not only how people work but what work actually looks like. No wonder so many leaders are struggling to stay on the same page.

43% of employees say their leaders aren’t aligned on how work should get done.

Korn Ferry Workforce 2025

For HR leaders, that means the future can’t be predicted by the past. The next phase of planning demands new thinking—flexible job architectures, faster forecasting, and continuous upskilling.

Explore the full insights in Workforce 2025

The Shift from Roles to Skills in Workforce Planning

Traditional workforce planning focused on roles. It asked how many people were needed in which jobs. But today, transformation and AI are reshaping work faster than job descriptions can keep up.

A skills-based approach looks beyond titles to what people can do and how those capabilities can flex as business needs change. The most effective organizations focus on critical skills, the ones most closely tied to strategic priorities and future growth. 

Transferable skills like adaptability, empathy, and collaboration will always matter. But organizations also need to identify and develop the business-critical skills that drive growth and keep them competitive.

“Critical skills are those most closely linked to strategic business challenges. They're the skills your organization needs to help it transform and stay ahead.”
Karin Visser of the Korn Ferry Institute (KFI)

By planning around skills rather than static roles, organizations can build the agility to adapt quickly and focus investment where it will have the biggest impact.

Discover Korn Ferry’s guide to identifying critical skills

The 5 Key Stages of Strategic Workforce Planning

Strategic workforce planning and forecasting doesn’t happen by chance. It’s a structured process that connects people data with business goals. Here’s how to turn strategy into action.

Stage 1. Current State Analysis: Know Your Starting Point
Begin with a clear picture of your workforce today. Assess its structure and the skills you rely on most.

Stage 2. Future Demand Forecasting: Anticipate What’s Next
Forecast the critical skills and capacity you’ll need based on your growth plans and the impact of technology and AI.

Stage 3. Skills Gap Analysis: Identify What’s Missing
The gaps that emerge show where to focus, whether that’s developing existing talent or hiring new people.

Stage 4. Strategic Action Planning: Map Your Route
Build skills, redesign roles, or recruit for new expertise. Every action should tie back to business priorities and be guided by data.

Stage 5. Implementation and Monitoring: Keep Moving
Put your plan into motion, track progress, and adjust as the business evolves.

How to Get Executive Buy-In for Workforce Planning

Global workforce planning can’t happen in an HR silo. To drive real business outcomes, executives need to be part of the process.

But a third of CHROs said their leaders aren’t aligned with transformation needs, Korn Ferry’s 2025 CHRO survey shows.

Getting buy-in starts with a clear, structured approach that builds momentum and makes talent demand planning part of everyday work.

Here’s how to make it happen:

  • Identify the leaders you need to engage, and tailor your message to each one
  • Use data to back up your insights
  • Tie your recommendations directly to business objectives and outcomes
  • Start small with a pilot project to prove results and inspire interest across teams
  • Keep communication flowing with regular engagement moments to maintain momentum
  • Share progress and results—especially wins—to show the value of workforce planning in action
“Linking recommendations back to growth levers or competitive advantage can help connect talent decisions to the broader business agenda.”
Alex Ragland, Korn Ferry

Workforce planning delivers the best results when it’s owned by business leaders, with HR guiding the process.

Explore how to secure lasting executive engagement in Strategic Workforce Planning: 10 Steps to Executive Buy-In.

Fixing the Skills Gap: Borrow, Buy, Build, and Bot

With leadership engaged and the business working in sync, the focus shifts to execution.

By this stage of workforce planning in HR, you’ve mapped your talent, forecasted future demand, and identified the skills you’ll need to grow. The next step is action—how do you close those gaps?

Most organizations face four options. They can develop existing people, hire new talent, bring in temporary expertise, or use automation and AI agents to get the work done.

Each approach influences speed, cost, and culture differently, and every choice carries its own trade-offs. Finding the right balance depends on your goals and time frame.

66% of CHROs know the skills needed for their business’s future growth but only 48% know how to get them.

Korn Ferry 2025 CHRO Survey

Borrow, Buy, Build, and Bot: The Pros and Cons

  • Borrow (Interims)
    Interim specialists bring fast access to niche skills and flexibility when priorities shift. They’re ideal for short-term projects or transformation initiatives, but knowledge can walk out the door when contracts end.
  • Buy (Permanent Hires)
    Bringing in external talent expands capability and injects fresh thinking. It’s a smart move for long-term growth or market expansion, though it takes time and investment to find, onboard, and retain the right people.
  • Build (Retrain or Upskill)
    Developing existing talent is often the most sustainable path. It deepens engagement and strengthens culture. But it also takes time—and requires steady commitment from leaders.
  • Bot (Automate and Work with AI Agents)
    Automation and AI agents can handle repetitive work and boost efficiency, but they’re only as good as the data and people behind them. Poor implementation or bias can undermine decisions and trust, turning efficiency gains into new risks.

There’s no single formula. Most workforce plans combine all four, balancing people, partners, and technology to stay adaptable as work continues to evolve.

Learn how leading organizations decide when to hire, retrain, or automate in Recruit or Retrain—Closing the Skills Gap

Borrowing Talent: The Rise of the Contingent Workforce

By 2032, contingent workers are expected to make up 60 percent of the U.S. workforce, our experts predict. This growing reliance on flexible, project-based talent is transforming how organizations plan for the future of work.

Rather than filling fixed roles, leaders need to focus on outcomes and build blended teams that combine permanent employees with contingent specialists. This shift brings agility and access to niche skills, but it also demands new ways to manage engagement and collaboration.

As the workforce becomes more fluid, the challenge isn’t just finding contingent talent. It’s integrating it. That starts with treating contingent workers as part of the team, not a temporary fix—connecting them to your goals, your culture, and your ways of working.

See how leading organizations are turning contingent talent into a competitive advantage in Contingent Workforce Management—a Strategic Shift.

Driving Success with Data and AI

The Platform Behind Smarter Workforce Planning

Korn Ferry’s Talent Suite brings people data and business strategy together in one place. Built on decades of Korn Ferry insights and enabled by AI, it helps organizations make faster, smarter talent decisions—from hiring and development to rewards and succession.

Explore Korn Ferry’s Talent Suite

Great workforce planning isn’t guesswork. It’s built on data, insight, and the confidence to make decisions that move the business forward.

Only 18 percent of CHROs say their organization consistently uses data analytics to guide people decisions, Korn Ferry’s 2025 CHRO survey reveals. For most, workforce planning still leans too heavily on gut feel.

Data isn’t just about looking back. It’s about seeing what’s next. Descriptive analytics help you understand what’s happening today. Predictive analytics highlight what’s likely to happen tomorrow. And prescriptive insights, powered by AI, show how to act before challenges appear.

“Data brings precision, visibility, and accountability to your strategic workforce plan. Without it, your decisions are just based on assumptions.”
Ashish Sinha, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry

Using Data and AI in Workforce Planning Strategies

Data Type Use Case
Descriptive Analytics (e.g., headcount reports, org charts, cost breakdowns, skills assessments) Understand what’s happening in your organization, track historical trends, assess your current workforce, and diagnose issues.
Predictive Data (e.g., workforce modeling, talent intelligence platforms) Forecast future workforce demands, identify emerging skills gaps, spot risks and opportunities early, and flag employees at risk of leaving.
Prescriptive Data (e.g., AI-driven scenario planning, workforce optimization algorithms) Guide decision-making and planning, help prioritize investments and resource allocation, identify best internal candidates, and predict cost impacts of changes.

The most effective organizations use data to guide the workforce planning process. By bringing people and technology together, they can see where skills are strong, where gaps are emerging, and what to do next. That insight helps leaders make confident decisions that keep the business moving forward.

Discover how to turn analytics into action in Five Steps to Data-Driven Workforce Planning.

CASE STUDY: Turning Workforce Data into Measurable Impact

A Switzerland-based specialty chemicals company with more than 10,000 employees wanted to transform its operating model. It needed a clearer, more consistent way to define roles and develop leaders across its global business.

Korn Ferry partnered with the organization to design a job architecture that connected people strategy with business strategy. It used workforce planning tools such as KF Architect, Profile Manager, and KF Pay to bring structure, clarity, and data-driven insight to every role.

The result was a global framework that made talent decisions simpler, fairer, and more strategic. Leaders gained visibility into where future skills were emerging and where to focus investment.

The Impact

  • A consistent, global approach to identifying and developing high-potential talent
  • A clearer view of leadership readiness across regions
  • Stronger, data-driven workforce planning for long-term growth

Through a multi-year collaboration, Korn Ferry helped the company build a sustainable leadership pipeline—strengthening internal capabilities and aligning talent with its long-term growth strategy.

Workforce Planning Is Better Business Strategy

Many CHROs are now leading transformation across their organizations, as HR moves from the sidelines to the center of business strategy.

The most effective organizations don’t just respond to change—they get ahead of it. Strategic workforce planning helps leaders make smarter decisions today to build stronger, more adaptable teams for tomorrow.

Want to explore how we can help you shape what's next?

Korn Ferry helps leaders turn workforce planning into lasting business impact.

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