{
  "id": 17051492,
  "title": "Most companies are planning their workforce backward. Here’s a better way",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/most-companies-are-planning-their-workforce-backward-heres-a-better",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-29T10:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91628818/most-companies-are-planning-their-workforce-backward-heres-a-better-way"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Leadership teams worldwide are grappling with two crucial questions: how AI will shape their organizations and what kind of workforce they'll require in the future. A July 2026 Gartner survey reveals that only 19% of companies excel at planning their future workforce. These companies recognize the impact of AI, anticipate its effects, and strategically reorganize their workforce accordingly. Failure to plan adequately results in workforce gaps that jeopardize strategy execution. A May 2025 Gartner survey shows that 40% of boards view skill shortages as a top shareholder value threat, and just 39% of CEOs feel their company possesses the talent needed to drive financial performance.\n\nThe issue isn't a lack of workforce data or forecasting tools, but rather most organizations initiate workforce planning at the wrong point. The problem with bottom-up planning is that it begins with the existing workforce, examining roles, skills, and tasks before considering how AI may reshape them. The assumption is that AI will eventually automate or enhance these aspects. However, AI is proving to be prohibitively expensive, with a Gartner April 2026 survey revealing that nearly 40% of organizations have overspent on AI investments. Moreover, supporting AI talent and infrastructure costs continue to rise, meaning AI will only become more costly over time.\n\nWhen leaders base workforce planning on the current workforce, they are several steps removed from what truly matters for the enterprise. Consequently, leadership teams often leave planning discussions with ambitious goals, only to find they lack funding for the necessary changes. Progressive organizations, however, adopt a top-down approach. They begin with enterprise strategy and ask: what work is most critical to executing our strategy? Which AI investments are being made in those areas? How will those investments alter workforce capabilities? With this top-down strategy, leaders can confidently discuss future roles, skills, and headcount, as they have focused on the funded AI investments.\n\nA common mistake in workforce planning is lacking a clear understanding of the work's demands. Most organizations don't have the language to describe work accurately; they use roles, skills, and tasks that don't truly represent work and are too granular for planning. As AI advances, roles become less stable and representative of work. Progressive organizations tackle this issue by breaking work down into measurable \"work components,\" estimating future demand based on strategy, and understanding that work will be distributed among humans and AI. For instance, a procurement team might divide its work into supplier analysis, sourcing and negotiation strategy, negotiation and supplier engagement, and decision-making. With AI investment in this group, employees can focus on supplier engagement, negotiations, and decisions, estimating AI's contribution to each activity.\n\nGartner predicts that 30% of employees displaced by AI may eventually be rehired, often at a higher cost. The root issue isn't the technology but a failure to accurately assess future work demand – a workforce planning problem, not a technology problem. For large organizations, even a modest headcount reduction can be costly if those employees need to be rehired. For a 60,000-person organization, reducing headcount by just 2% and rehiring can result in nearly $100 million in avoidable costs. Workforce planning isn't just an HR process; it's a source of competitive advantage. Organizations with effective workforce planning are 1.4 times more likely to surpass revenue goals and 1.5 times more likely to meet cost goals. Effective workforce planning ensures the organization has the necessary capabilities and capacity to execute its strategy. However, this advantage doesn't stem from starting with the current workforce. It comes from understanding the work required to deliver tomorrow's strategy, how that work is evolving, and the workforce needed as a result. In essence, stop planning for today's workforce and begin planning for the workforce needed to support your strategy.",
  "summary": "Every leadership team is wrestling with the same questions right now. How will AI impact our organization, and what type of workforce will we need in the future? These aren’t easy questions to answer. Only 19% of companies are effective at planning for their future workforce, according to a July 2026 survey by Gartner. These organizations understand how work will change, anticipate the impact of…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}