Episode 81 - Josh Mortlock - Pacific Life

In episode 81 of the SWP Podcast, I’m joined by Josh Mortlock, Director of Strategic Workforce Planning at Pacific Life, ahead of his SWP Conference Chicago session. Josh shares his (very non-linear) path into SWP — from PwC consulting and business architecture through to organisation design, and now into workforce planning — and why, at its core, the discipline is really about solving business problems adjacent to people.

Josh and I dig into what makes SWP “stick” in an organisation: meeting leaders where they are, building momentum through practical work before chasing an ROI narrative, and closing the gap between frameworks and real business language. Josh also talks about using transformation programs as a breeding ground for SWP, and the power of visualisation — from rich pictures to retirement-risk overlays — to spark real executive attention.

We finish with a great case example: Pacific Life’s expansion into Charlotte, and what it takes to scale SWP beyond a small central team.