Improve Workforce Planning with Automation and Data-Driven Insights

As a key financial planning process, workforce planning has evolved from a back-office exercise to a critical process for steering the business. Labor shortages, volatile supply chains, and fluctuating demand make such planning essential for manufacturers to stay competitive. Too often, organizations rely on spreadsheets or disparate systems, limiting the ability to make informed decisions. What’s the solution? Automation and data-driven insights modernize workforce planning with unified platforms such as OneStream, which helps align labor resources with business demands, reduce costs, and boost agility.

What Is Workforce Planning?

What exactly is workforce planning, and why is it important? Well, workforce planning is the process of aligning an organization's staffing needs with its business objectives. This process ensures the right people are in the right roles at the right time. To do so, the planning involves forecasting future labor requirements, assessing current workforce capabilities, and planning recruitment, training or restructuring initiatives to address gaps.

How does finance get involved? Most notably, finance plays an important role in workforce planning by providing the data and analysis needed to balance labor costs with business goals. Finance teams collaborate with HR and operations to model scenarios, allocate budgets, and ensure workforce plans align with broader financial and operational strategies. By leveraging insights from aligned financial data, organizations can optimize labor investments, improve efficiency, and respond effectively to changing business demands.

Workforce planning in manufacturing requires balancing multiple factors. Here are a few of them:

• Shifting production demands
• Rising labor costs and regulatory compliance
• Skills shortages and the need for upskilling
• Impact of automation on headcount

Traditional methods can’t keep pace with the dynamic nature of manufacturing. While manual processes are prone to errors and delays, siloed systems fail to provide a holistic view of workforce needs. Without automation and data integration, planners often rely on guesswork that leads to overstaffing, understaffing, or misaligned skills — all of which negatively impact profitability.

The Role of Automation in Workforce Planning

Automation revolutionizes workforce planning by streamlining processes and providing accurate, up-to-date information. Here's how:

1. Streamlined Data Collection: Automation consolidates data from HR, finance, and production systems, eliminating manual data entry and reducing errors
2. Scenario Modeling: With automated tools, finance teams can model various workforce scenarios — such as increased demand or new regulations — and assess the real-time impacts
3. Dynamic Forecasting: Automation ensures forecasts reflect the latest operational data, enabling quicker responses to market changes

Resource Optimization: By automating workflows, planners can identify optimal staffing levels and allocate resources efficiently

Data-Driven Insights: The Game-Changer

Data-driven insights take workforce planning from reactive to proactive. By leveraging real-time data, organizations can do the following (and more!):

• Predict workforce needs based on production schedules and market trends
• Identify skills gaps and plan targeted training or recruitment initiatives
• Monitor labor costs and measure productivity by department or plant
• Align workforce plans with broader financial and operational goals

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Benefits of Modernized Workforce Planning

Modern workforce planning delivers measurable benefits, which can be tracked using the following KPIs:

1. Labor Utilization Rates: Measure the workforce efficiency by analyzing how labor hours align with production schedules
2. Cost per Hire: Track recruiting costs to ensure efficient hiring processes
3. Employee Productivity: Monitor output per employee to identify trends and areas for improvement
4. Time-to-Fill Positions: Assess how quickly critical roles are filled to minimize downtime
5. Turnover Rates: Analyze employee retention to evaluate workforce stability and plan accordingly

By focusing on these KPIs, finance professionals in manufacturing can optimize the labor force and reduce costs. The focus also helps ensure the right people are in the right roles at the right time.

Technical Enablers for Best-in-Class Workforce Planning

OneStream’s unified platform equips manufacturing organizations with the tools to automate workforce planning and harness data-driven insights. Here’s how:

1. Unified Data Model: OneStream consolidates financial, operational, and workforce data into a single platform. This consolidation eliminates data silos, ensuring decision-makers have access to accurate, comprehensive insights.
2. Scenario Planning: With built-in scenario modeling, finance teams can explore what-if scenarios to assess the impact of market changes or operational shifts on workforce needs. For example, planners can model the labor impact of introducing a new product line or shutting down a plant.
3. Integrated Workforce Budgeting: OneStream links workforce planning directly with planning, budgeting, and forecasting. This direct link allows organizations to align labor costs with overall financial goals, improving visibility and accountability.
4. AI-Powered Insights: OneStream’s AI and machine learning capabilities enhance workforce planning by identifying trends and anomalies. Predictive analytics can forecast turnover risks, optimize hiring strategies, or identify cost-saving opportunities.
5. Customizable Dashboards: Finance professionals can access real-time workforce data through intuitive dashboards, tailored to specific needs. Thus, these dashboards provide immediate, clear, and actionable insights, empowering faster decision-making.

Conclusion

As manufacturing becomes increasingly complex, workforce planning must keep pace. Automation and data-driven insights provide the foundation for agile, precise, and cost-effective modern workforce strategies. OneStream empowers finance and HR teams with the insights needed to collaborate seamlessly, align labor plans with business goals and make informed decisions based on real-time data. By adopting a unified approach to workforce planning, manufacturers can overcome today’s challenges and build a resilient, future-ready workforce.

Learn More

Want to learn more about how OneStream is helping customers with workforce planning? Check out our webinar replay Workforce Planning at Bunge to understand how OneStream customers are currently leveraging workforce planning to make better financial decisions.