Workforce planning has become a defining priority for the C-Suite. No longer confined to HR departments or finance’s annual budget cycles, it is now a core lever of business performance, financial resilience, and long-term growth and profitability.
Research from Sapient Insights Group (SIG), developed in partnership with Anaplan, underscores the urgency: with 60-70% of organizational spend tied to the workforce, effective planning can no longer be optional — it is a leadership imperative for organizations of all sizes.
The case for using workforce planning strategically
Despite its critical role, only 38% of organizations feel confident in the way they use HR data to drive strategic decisions, and fewer than half believe their workforce insights directly influence business outcomes.
This gap comes at a time when CEOs and CFOs are doubling down on productivity and profitable growth:
40% of organizations rank revenue growth among their top three priorities
55% cite process optimization and efficiency improvements
22% emphasize cost reduction as a key initiative
Organizations that plan five or more years into the future outperform peers significantly. They are 25% more likely to prioritize optimization over short-term cost cuts, spend half as much on reactive engagement initiatives, and invest at twice the rate in innovation and digital transformation.
In other words, workforce planning can shift the conversation from headcount and expense management to enterprise growth.
Barriers holding your business back
So why do so few organizations excel at workforce planning? Common challenges include:
Siloed systems and lack of integration between HR, finance, and IT
High turnover in HRIS and planning roles, with limited internal expertise
Data fragmentation, leading to delayed or contested insights
Budget constraints, with only 31% of organizations planning to increase HR tech spending in 2025
Yet forward-looking companies that extend planning horizons beyond three years are nearly 50% more likely to increase investment in planning tools, highlighting a clear link between long-term vision and technology adoption.
The new workforce equation
The workforce composition continues to evolve and encompasses more than employees alone. Contingent workers, outsourced teams, and even AI agents are becoming a more prominent part of the equation. This evolution requires organizations to broaden their planning scope. Labor forecasting, financial headcount planning, capacity modeling, and skills development must all connect to a longer-term business strategy while keeping operational needs at check.
While 49% of organizations engage in some form of workforce or headcount planning, only 15% use a dedicated solution. Most still rely on spreadsheets or basic financial tools, which tend to have narrow focus, short time horizons, and limit the ability to model and plan for a wide variety of scenarios.
The gap is especially visible in planning horizons:
74-78% of SMBs, midmarket firms, and enterprises stick to 12-month rolling plans
Only 7-13% extend their view to three years
Just 9-11% plan beyond five years
This short-term style of workforce planning leaves businesses underprepared for talent shortages, regulatory shifts, and technological disruption. The impact, however, is undeniable. Organizations with mature processes see 12-15% higher performance in profitability, retention, and innovation. These are not incremental gains; they represent measurable financial advantage to your business.
Workforce planning across the C-Suite
One of the strongest insights from SIG’s research is that workforce planning is no longer HR’s job alone. Each C-Suite leader has a role to play:
CEO: Workforce planning aligns talent with growth, innovation, and M&A strategies. Organizations that use workforce planning data see a 12% improvement in talent, HR, and business outcomes. For a $500M company with a 12.4% margin, that translates into an additional $6.8M in annual profit.
CFO/COO: Turnover remains one of the most underestimated cost drivers. Replacing an employee costs anywhere from 33% to 200% of their annual salary — excluding lost knowledge and productivity. Targeted planning can reduce unwanted attrition, protect margins, and improve forecast accuracy. Effective workforce planning drives an average 11-12% lift in profitability and customer satisfaction.
CHRO: Workforce planning directly impacts HR’s strategic influence. HR leaders in organizations practicing long-range planning are up to 60% more likely to be seen as strategic partners, helping drive not only engagement but also enterprise-wide innovation and resilience.
CIO: Technology is the enabler of connected planning. Only 43% of organizations currently have a defined HR tech function, and most lack maturity. CIOs must focus on integration, governance, and preparing systems for AI-driven decision-making. Platform clusters — not isolated point solutions — are emerging as the winning approach.
A framework for success
To move from tactical to transformative workforce planning, SIG and Anaplan propose a framework built for today’s economy:
Strategy preparation: Assess organizational maturity and readiness.
Current state analysis: Identify gaps in systems, processes, and capabilities.
Gap analysis: Determine what can be addressed with process improvements, technology, or leadership alignment.
Phased roadmap: Introduce changes incrementally across people, processes, and platforms.
Governance and measurement: Establish mechanisms to continuously calibrate and audit plans.
Organizations using adaptive change management within this framework have seen 22% higher HR outcomes, proving the value of structured, iterative planning.
Making workforce planning work for your business
The path forward requires board-level leadership across all functions:
CEOs should prompt for workforce planning to be embedded into strategic cycles, not just annual reviews
CFOs must fund analytics and planning capabilities that deliver measurable ROI
CHROs should lead with adaptive planning, champion skills mobility, and ensure the workforce strategy strengthens engagement and retention
CIOs need to build integrated data architectures that bridge HR, finance, and operations
Workforce planning is no longer about counting people — it’s about unleashing potential. The organizations that succeed will be those that view talent as both a financial lever and a growth engine. By connecting people, planning, and performance on a single platform, leaders can transform uncertainty into opportunity.
For your business, this means shifting from reactive headcount management to proactive scenario planning. It means breaking down silos, so HR, finance, and operations are working from the same data. And it means informing a workforce strategy that not only supports today’s goals but positions your business to thrive in the future.
Anaplan enables this transformation with the ability to connect workforce, financial, and operational planning on a single platform. Anaplan gives your leaders the visibility and agility needed to plan with confidence.
