Book: Strategic Workforce Planning: Developing Optimized Talent Strategies for Future Growth | Ross Sparkman

After publishing an article on strategic workforce planning (SWP) in the Fall 2019 edition of People + Strategy, I continue to get asked: what additional resources or books would you recommend on SWP and that would help me to develop this capability within my organization? This week, I want to highlight Ross Sparkman’s book on the topic. In his book, Ross (who previously led workforce planning at Facebook and who now leads SWP for Linkedin) does an excellent job in providing an array of information and ideas on SWP ranging from 1) fundamental components (what is SWP, why is it important, challenges faced in SWP, aligning SWP to corporate strategy), to 2) operationalizing an SWP function with structure, roles, and responsibilities, and the right skills, to 3) more advanced concepts such as understanding supply/demand, workforce segmentation, the total cost of workforce, and skills-based workforce planning. The book will provide value to both those who are new to SWP as well as experienced SWP practitioners who are looking for ideas on how to evolve their organizations’ SWP strategies and capabilities.