Rethinking Strategic Workforce Planning in the Age of AI and Skills Disruption
Tue Feb 03 2026
AI is changing tasks. Skills strategies are evolving. And yet visibility into capability, cost, and risk across the workforce often remains fragmented.
So how do organisations move from reacting to workforce change, to planning for it in a way that actually shapes business outcomes?
In this episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, host David Green is joined by David Edwards, strategic workforce planning practitioner, advisor, and author of The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook, to explore what it really takes to make strategic workforce planning work in practice.
Join this conversation as they discuss:
Why workforce planning can feel “deceptively threatening” inside an organisation What changes when leaders shift from thinking about headcount to thinking about capability, capacity, cost, and risk over time What goes wrong when people analytics and workforce planning operate in parallel Why looking beyond permanent employees reveals hidden workforce risk How AI is forcing organisations to rethink work design, not just skills strategies The stakeholders' strategic workforce planning really needs
This episode is sponsored by Worklytics.
How productive is your organisation, really? Worklytics makes it clear - with privacy-first insights from everyday work data. See how meeting volume, manager effectiveness, collaboration health, and AI adoption are impacting your team’s focus, efficiency, and outcomes - so you can make smarter decisions, faster.
No surveys. No assumptions. Just clear insight into work. Right now, Worklytics is offering podcast listeners a free 30-day trial of their productivity analytics dashboard.
Learn more at worklytics.co/productivity .
Link to resources:
The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook David Edwards’ Dark Artistry Newsletter
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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AI is changing tasks. Skills strategies are evolving. And yet visibility into capability, cost, and risk across the workforce often remains fragmented. So how do organisations move from reacting to workforce change, to planning for it in a way that actually shapes business outcomes? In this episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, host David Green is joined by David Edwards, strategic workforce planning practitioner, advisor, and author of The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook, to explore what it really takes to make strategic workforce planning work in practice. Join this conversation as they discuss: Why workforce planning can feel “deceptively threatening” inside an organisation What changes when leaders shift from thinking about headcount to thinking about capability, capacity, cost, and risk over time What goes wrong when people analytics and workforce planning operate in parallel Why looking beyond permanent employees reveals hidden workforce risk How AI is forcing organisations to rethink work design, not just skills strategies The stakeholders' strategic workforce planning really needs This episode is sponsored by Worklytics. How productive is your organisation, really? Worklytics makes it clear - with privacy-first insights from everyday work data. See how meeting volume, manager effectiveness, collaboration health, and AI adoption are impacting your team’s focus, efficiency, and outcomes - so you can make smarter decisions, faster. No surveys. No assumptions. Just clear insight into work. Right now, Worklytics is offering podcast listeners a free 30-day trial of their productivity analytics dashboard. Learn more at worklytics.co/productivity . Link to resources: The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook David Edwards’ Dark Artistry Newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.