Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) is emerging as a critical enabler of success in the energy and utilities sector. By aligning workforce strategy with future business needs and macroeconomic shifts, SWP empowers organisations to proactively address capability gaps, build resilience, and drive transformation, well beyond today’s operational demands and planning cycles.
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As our sector continues its rapid transformation – driven by changing macro-economic conditions, decarbonisation, and digitalisation – the skills and capabilities needed to drive safe, reliable, and profitable operations and growth are evolving at an equally rapid pace.
The way we deliver work in 20 years will look vastly different from today, just as today’s world looks nothing like the one before digital disruption. Yet many organisations still approach workforce planning with a short-term lens, focusing only on immediate resourcing needs or near-term skills gaps for individual projects and/or safe running of operations.
That’s why Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) is becoming a critical conversation. Increasingly, organisations are recognising the importance of taking a longer-term view—looking beyond regulatory determinations, project timelines, or annual planning cycles. By aligning workforce strategies with long-range business objectives, they’re not just preparing for what’s next, but for what’s beyond.
SWP seeks to define long-term workforce shape, size, and mix by aligning internal strategic objectives (i.e., where do you want to play, what assets will you have, etc.) with external market dynamics (i.e., macroeconomic forces, commodity prices, etc.)
What makes SWP an “unsung hero” is that business leaders can drive resilience, agility, and competitive advantage by proactively modelling, monitoring, and mobilising their workforce in line with evolving business and sector needs, therefore, navigating the change before it hits.
At Q5, we support Energy and Utilities organisations through a structured, collaborative approach to SWP. Whilst the process will always be tailored to your organisation’s needs, the core method utilises five key steps:
Many organisations have completed parts of the Strategic Workforce Planning process; you may be one of them. However, it’s rare to see the entire process implemented end-to-end. The key is understanding where you currently are in the journey and identifying the steps needed to move forward with a complete approach.
Before your organisation can unlock the full value of SWP, you need to ensure the key enablers are in place. That means:
We recently helped a leading power generation company overhaul its workforce planning approach to meet the demands of rapid growth. This included a fragmented job architecture, siloed talent processes, and limited visibility into current and future skill needs, resulting in short-term, reactive decision-making.
We introduced a role and skill based workforce planning model (looking 3-5 years forward), including a standardised role architecture across thousands of jobs, a repeatable Strategic Workforce Planning process, and scalable tools for forecasting and scenario testing.
The impact? Clearer career pathways, stronger internal mobility, and a foundation for long-term capability building. Most importantly, leaders can now anticipate and plan for future workforce shifts, aligning their talent strategies with long-term business goals.
To understand more about our five-step approach to SWP and learn how we can help you build your workforce for the future, get in touch here.
Listen to our podcast, “De-mystifying Strategic Workforce Planning”, here.
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