SWP - The Strategic Workforce Planning Podcast

In episode 84 of the SWP Podcast, I sit down with Karthik Yogeshwar from Meta to explore his journey into strategic workforce planning and the evolving nature of the discipline. Karthik shares how he “fell into” SWP through operations, analytics, and finance, and why he’s stayed by choice ever since.We unpack the reality that workforce planning isn’t just forecasting—it’s about aligning demand, supply, and strategy in an environment where the future rarely behaves as expected. Karthik highlights the importance of understanding the business, building strong stakeholder relationships, and moving beyond data to real insight.We also dive into some fascinating areas, including hybrid workforce planning—where people, AI, and automation combine—and a novel approach to workforce management using concepts from stock market analysis.Finally, we explore the growing impact of AI, including Karthik’s research into AI readiness at a country level, and what this means for the future of workforce strategy.

In Episode 83 of the SWP Podcast, I’m joined by Lisa Dalgliesh, People Strategy and Org Development Leader at PayPal. Lisa shares her journey into workforce and talent strategy, starting in learning and development and evolving into a role that sits at the intersection of strategy and execution. We explore the growing convergence of workforce planning, people analytics, and talent strategy, and why breaking down silos across these areas is becoming critical.We also dive into PayPal’s work on skills, including building a robust skills framework to better understand workforce capability, redeployment opportunities, and the impact of AI. Lisa offers a pragmatic view on the future of workforce planning, challenging the industry to move beyond “HR stuff” and focus on real business impact.A super enthralling conversation in we discuss how to cut through the noise, stay anchored to business outcomes, and rethink the relationship between skills, roles, and tasks in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Episode 82 of the SWP Podcast featured Tyler Blackwell, Director of Global Workforce Planning at Morningstar, for a thought-provoking discussion on the evolving practice of strategic workforce planning.Tyler shares his unconventional journey into SWP, moving from foreign affairs and diplomacy into organisational effectiveness, org design, and ultimately workforce planning. The conversation explores how Morningstar has developed its workforce planning capability, including headcount forecasting, location strategy, and the shift from fragmented Excel-based processes to a more integrated approach using Workday, Adaptive Planning, and TalentNeuron.Tyler and I also dive into the growing influence of AI on the profession, including the use of tools like Claude Code to support capability modelling, job redesign, and workforce intelligence. Throughout the episode, Tyler highlights the enduring importance of trust, judgment, curiosity, and human conversation, reinforcing why strategic workforce planning remains central to organisational decision-making in an increasingly AI-enabled world. What an episode...! What an incredibly insightful and interesting human!

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.

In Episode 80, I sit down with Amber Foucault, SVP of Product at Dayforce, to unpack their acquisition of Agentnoon — and what it signals for the future of workforce planning.We explore the growing gap between strategy and execution, and why workforce implications continue to lag behind strategic intent. Amber shares her perspective on the “language problem” between HR, Finance and Strategy — and why technology isn’t just about features, but about creating a shared operating language across the enterprise.We dive into shorter planning cadences, dynamic workforce architecture, and the emerging reality of agents sitting on org charts. But we also inject some realism — AI isn’t replacing everyone overnight. Organisations are experimenting carefully, balancing capability shifts with governance, ownership and accountability.If workforce planning is moving from periodic exercise to operational discipline, this conversation explains why — and what that means for HR leaders navigating the next wave of change. Another delightful SWP Podcast guest - Amber is a true breath of fresh air with deep technical insight!

In Episode 79 (bonus episode), I sit down with my good friend Vincent Barat, founder and CEO of Albert, for a conversation that almost didn’t happen this year. Vince joins me fresh off an unexpected medical drama that forced him to miss his SWP London session — and yes, we get into that story to start. From there, we dive into the material he never got to share on stage, including his “SWP Cookbook” and the four ingredients he believes define mature, scalable workforce planning: governance, data, skills, and drivers.We talk governance models — centralized, local, and hybrid — and why ownership, accountability, and resourcing remain make-or-break factors. Vince also unpacks why organisations are shifting toward flexible, driver-based planning, how skills have moved from theory to pragmatism, and why scenario planning is now the real marker of SWP maturity.It’s practical, candid, and classic Vince — insights, humour, and a few sharp takes along the way.

In Episode 78, I sit down with Fiona Vines, Chief Inclusion & Wellbeing Officer at BT Group, to trace her unexpected path from banking to HR to leading inclusion across mining and telecoms. I explore with Fiona why diversity alone doesn’t deliver performance without real inclusion embedded in the work, the worker, and the workplace. We connect inclusion to strategic workforce planning—from customer empathy and accessibility to risk, safety, and measurable outcomes. Fiona shares lessons from BHP’s gender balance journey, why leaders must pull (not just be pushed), and how policies like shared parental leave change workforce modelling and capability planning. We dig into job design, “greedy jobs,” and how AI and flexible models can unlock talent without sacrificing performance. It’s a practical, leader-first conversation on turning inclusion from an HR mantra into a core business system. 

In Episode 77, I sit down with Elena Magrini and Alison Ettridge from Lightcast to explore how a risk-based approach to Strategic Workforce Planning can transform how organizations think about their people. We unpack the forces reshaping today’s labour market — from geopolitics and economic uncertainty to the accelerating impact of AI — and look at why workforce risk is now firmly a board-level conversation.Alison and Elena share how Lightcast is helping organizations quantify and prioritise risk using labour-market intelligence, and why aligning internal and external data is the foundation for smart, forward-looking decisions. We also discuss the importance of scenario planning, the convergence of SWP, talent intelligence and analytics, and how skills, roles and tasks are evolving faster than ever.If you’re rethinking how to manage uncertainty and prepare your workforce for what’s next, this one’s for you.

Episode 76 – From Crew Rosters to Strategic Flight Paths: American Airlines’ SWP EvolutionIn this episode I sit down with Kipp Stoneman, Managing Director of Customer & Operations Strategy and Performance Analytics at American Airlines. Kipp shares how a career that began in revenue management led him into the world of pilot and flight-attendant planning—and ultimately to driving one of the industry’s most sophisticated strategic workforce planning transformations.We explore lessons from American’s shift from short-term head-count planning to fully optimised SWP, the operational and financial stakes of pilot training (think simulators, instructors, even five-minute schedule tweaks), and why trust in the numbers is everything. Kipp also reflects on insights from our Sydney SWP Conference and what’s next as AI and scenario-driven modelling reshape the airline’s future workforce.

For Episode 75 of the SWP Podcast,  I sat down with Peter Louch, Founder & CEO of Vemo, to explore where strategic workforce planning is really heading. We talk about the shift from data scarcity to saturation, why continuous planning beats annual cycles, and how agentic, push-button scenarioing changes the speed of decisions. We discuss how predictive demand/supply modeling truly delivers value (and when it doesn’t), how to keep data from becoming a distraction, and what it takes to move from rigid role taxonomies toward more task/matrix-oriented ways of working. We also tackle AI anxiety—including how smart agents help you prune as well as plant. You’ll leave with a practical checklist: clarify the demand signal, align critical capabilities, choose your build-buy-borrow sequence, and set a sensible refresh rhythm. If you lead or support SWP, this episode is built to share. Always an interesting, insightful and entertaining discussion with Peter!