Inside Whirlpool’s workforce planning transformation with Anaplan

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Anaplan

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A diverse team gathers around a laptop in a bright office. Above, a woman and a man face each other, smiling with arms crossed. A diverse team gathers around a laptop in a bright office. Above, a woman and a man face each other, smiling with arms crossed.

Aligning workforce investment with business goals through connected planning.

As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of home appliances, Whirlpool Corporation operates across multiple regions, business units, and workforce segments. Managing such a vast and complex global organization requires operational excellence, strategic clarity, financial precision, and workforce agility.

Historically, however, workforce planning at Whirlpool was fragmented. Siloed systems and inconsistent data sources made it difficult to gain a comprehensive view of headcount and labor costs. This limited the organization’s ability to make timely, data-driven decisions aligned with strategic goals.

To meet this challenge, Whirlpool turned to Anaplan.

Establishing enterprise-wide workforce visibility

By implementing Anaplan for HR and Workforce, Whirlpool benefits from a centralized, connected platform for workforce planning that integrates data from across functions and geographies. Their Anaplan solution delivers real-time visibility into their workforce costs, headcount trends, and future hiring needs, all within a single, unified model.

Anaplan gives us global visibility to our workforce costs, our workforce headcount. It gives us a forward-looking view of where we’re spending our human capital dollars in one consistent platform. There’s never been, in the history of Whirlpool Corporation, when we’ve been able to say we can do that. So it was a big win when it came to bringing everything together under the one platform
Director of Global Talent Analytics, Whirlpool

This form of data visibility is foundational for better planning and decision-making. With Anaplan, Whirlpool’s workforce planning team enables leaders across HR and finance to evaluate the implications of talent investments, model different workforce scenarios, and adapt proactively to changing business demands.

Standardizing workforce governance and agility

Whirlpool has standardized workforce planning processes across the organization using the Anaplan platform. Instead of relying on static spreadsheets and disconnected systems, the company now benefits from a dynamic, scalable planning environment that supports both short-term operational needs and long-range strategic goals.

Key outcomes include:

  • A unified framework for headcount and cost planning
  • Improved forecast accuracy and scenario modeling
  • Streamlined collaboration between HR, finance, and business leadership
  • Enhanced agility in responding to talent supply and demand shifts

With Anaplan, Whirlpool has elevated their workforce planning from a tactical, once-a-year process to a strategic function, ensuring that talent decisions support the broader objectives of the business on an ongoing basis.

Enabling a scalable, future-ready workforce

The transformation at Whirlpool reflects a growing trend among global enterprises: leveraging a connected planning approach to align people strategy with business performance. As the labor market evolves and economic conditions shift, the ability to anticipate, adapt, and act with precision becomes a critical competitive advantage.

By adopting Anaplan, Whirlpool has laid the foundation for a workforce strategy that is scalable, sustainable, and data informed. With a single source of truth and a platform for real-time collaboration, the organization is now better positioned to support its people, optimize investments, and drive continuous innovation across global operations.

Want to hear more about how Anaplan supported Whirlpool’s workforce planning transformation?