Digital HR Leaders with David Green Rethinking Strategic Workforce Planning in the Age of AI and Skills Disruption
9 snips
Feb 3, 2026 David Edwards, strategic workforce planner and author of The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook, draws on finance and transformation experience. He discusses shifting focus from headcount to capability, capacity, cost and risk. He explains why analytics and planning must align, why contingent workers and bots matter, and why AI forces organizations to redesign work before redefining skills.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Saved 600 Staff By Reconciling Conflicting Hires
- David Edwards recounts discovering 900 external hires being let in while similar internal roles were being made redundant, exposing waste and misalignment.
- He and colleague Tom Carrigan created a clearinghouse that saved ~600 people from redundancy by redeploying them into other jobs.
SWP Is A Thinking Discipline Not Just A Process
- Strategic workforce planning (SWP) is a synthesis of trends, pressures and data to judge if your workforce is fit for current and future purpose.
- If the workforce is unfit, focus on the business risk and actions that maximize benefit for both the business and people.
Start SWP With Executive Sponsorship And Strategic Segments
- Do not run SWP as an HR-only program; secure executive sponsorship and focus on capability, capacity, cost and risk over time.
- Prioritize micro-segments of the workforce that are strategic rather than planning the entire workforce equally.
