Planning the workforce is one of the most important parts of managing a successful company in the modern, rapidly evolving business environment.
Any organisation, whether large or small, must ensure that it hires the right number of individuals with the right skills, for the right roles, at the right time.”
This is referred to as workforce planning.
Previously, most companies performed workforce planning manually. HR departments relied on large spreadsheets, emails, and meetings to estimate hiring needs.
However, several mistakes were observed in manual planning, such as hiring too many or too few people, or exceeding the expected budget.
This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes in.
AI technology can now analyze company data, identify patterns, and even predict future workforce needs on its own. Such tools will save time, improve accuracy, and help companies to make better decisions.
For example, based on sales patterns, AI will be able to predict when your company will need more employees, or when an employee might resign, so you can hire new employees in advance.
It is also able to determine the impact of your expenses in terms of salaries or promotions.
Concisely, AI workforce planning tools are akin to the concept of a smart digital assistant that assists you in planning your workforce more effectively and correctly.
In this article, I will explain what AI tools are useful for workforce planning in a way that you don’t have to go to other sources to gain knowledge.
What is Workforce Planning, and why is it important?
It is all about workforce planning to ensure that your business has the right people at the right time to achieve its objectives.
It includes questions like:
- In the coming quarter or next year, how many employees would we require?
- Which departments are increasing or decreasing?
- What will the salary and expenses be?
- At what time do we hire or promote employees?
However, a lack of proper planning in companies may lead to severe issues:
- Over-hiring will result in unnecessary costs.
- Understaffing leads to time wastage and overwork.
- Poor forecasting can damage financial planning.
With the help of AI tools, this is simplified through data-backed smart predictions. HR managers do not need to make guesses because they can make correct reports and view future scenarios all without any human involvement.
What AI tools are useful for workforce planning?
The automation, speed, and accuracy of workforce planning come with AI. This is the reason why businesses are switching to these tools across the globe:
1. Saves Time and Effort
HR and finance departments do not need to take days to update spreadsheets. The AI-based tools automatically refresh the workforce data with the addition of new information, including new hires, promotions, or resignations.
2. Improves Accuracy
AI can identify unrecognised patterns in data that a person could overlook, such as a seasonal fluctuation in demand or a trend of turnover. This helps companies to make evidence-based recruitment and budgeting decisions.
3. Reduces Costs
By using AI predictions, businesses do not have to over- or under-hire someone and save a lot of money annually. It is also useful in predicting the salaries, bonuses, and training costs correctly.
4. Supports Scenario Planning
AI allows firms to experiment with what-ifs. As an example, “And suppose we employ 10 new salespeople tomorrow? Or what will we do to save our marketing budget? These decisions immediately impact costs and performance, and managers can see these effects instantly.
5. Improves Communication
With the AI tools, all these HR, finance, and leadership teams can access the same data as it is placed on a single platform. This enhances transparency and assists teams in collaborating.
6. Profiling and Retention Assistance
The AI tools may even be predictive of which employees are likely to leave or which jobs may require new talent in the foreseeable future, which would enable the HR teams to plan.
The best AI tools for workforce planning
The three most popular and efficient AI tools that simplify the workforce planning process are listed below. These tools make it accurate and cost-effective.
1. Agentnoon
What it does:
Agentnoon assists companies with real-time planning, analysis, and forecasting the costs of employees.
It is an artificial intelligence-powered platform specifically designed to help HR and finance teams understand how job changes can impact overall expenses.
How it works:
When a firm hires a new worker, promotes or increases, or decreases salaries, Agentnoon automatically recalculates the total cost. It considers AI to determine the full “people cost,” which includes base salary, bonuses, benefits, and taxes.
Example:
Suppose that you are an HR manager with a software organisation employing 200 people. You will employ another 10 individuals in the next quarter.
You can update this change in Agentnoon instead of doing it manually in Excel. It will compute your total new budget of salary within seconds and indicate the impact of the same on your monthly and annual expenditures.
Why companies like it:
- It brings HR and financial information together.
- It can handle large teams and complex pay scales.
- It minimises errors in the manual calculations.
AI Features:
- Cost forecasting
- Real-time budgeting updates
- Scenario simulation
Pricing:
- Begins at 4 dollars per employee per month for smb<2500 employees
- For the enterprise plan, visit their website.
2.ChartHop
What it does:
ChartHop is an effective people analytics and workforce planning platform that AI powers. It allows you to view your company structure (org chart), track employees, manage salaries, and plan for the future.
How it works:
ChartHop is a visual depiction of your organisation. You can see who reports to whom, the cost of each department, and the impact of adding or removing people on your budget.
Example:
Consider the case of a company director who wants to see what happens if he increases the number of sales team members to 20. Looking at ChartHop, you can create another version of your organization with AI in the future.
It will immediately reflect your new number of people, structure, and aggregate expense before you take any action on it.
Why companies like it:
- It provides an excellent visual picture of your employees.
- It enables the HR, Finance, and leadership to work together easily.
- It helps coordinate promotions, salary increases, and hiring plans, all from a single tool.
AI Features:
- Semistatic analysis (what-if analysis)
- Headcount forecasting
- Incentive and performance planning
Pricing:
- Full plan (headcount and pay):$8/employee/month.
- It offers other packages too. You may visit their website for more information.
3. Workeen AI
What it does:
Workeen AI specialises in intelligent scheduling and human resources. It is geared towards the business sector, such as the healthcare, hospitality, and retail sectors, where the employees work in shifts.
It automatically generates balanced and fair shift schedules using artificial intelligence to calculate these schedules based on the skills and the availability of the employees and the workload.
Example:
If you’re running a restaurant with 50 employees, you’ll need a weekly shift schedule.
Workeen AI can automatically create schedules so that no one is overworked, every shift is covered, and all employees get the right working hours, rather than having to do it manually.
If someone goes on leave or there’s an unexpected event, AI can quickly reallocate shifts to fill the void.
Why companies like it:
- Eliminates hours of manual scheduling
- Minimises intra-employee disputes
- Enhances flexibility and accuracy in workforce management
AI Features:
- Smart shift scheduling
- Absence and change auto-adjustments
- Workload optimization
Pricing:
- Approximately $2 per employee per month (when charged on an annual basis)
Real-life example of using AI tools
Before using AI tools, the company’s HR team relied on Excel sheets for workforce planning. Each time someone was hired or promoted, expenses had to be manually updated. Estimating the next quarter’s budget would take days.
After introducing AI tools:
- All cost forecasting was automatically undertaken by Agentnoon.
- The whole company structure was visualised with the assistance of ChartHop.
- All shift schedules were handled at Workeen AI with nearly zero human intervention.
The company saw:
- Planning and budgeting became 30 percent faster.
- A 25 percent reduction in salary forecasting errors.
- Better relationship between HR and finance units.
- Increased employee satisfaction due to fair scheduling and planning.
- This case demonstrates that AI saves time, money, and enhances accuracy.
Future of workforce planning with AI
The data-driven nature of workforce planning will dominate in the future. AI will not only assist companies in planning but also predict workforce-related problems before they occur.
For example:
- AI will warn managers about the possibility of excessive resignation.
- It will help HR know the employees who require training.
- It will suggest the most appropriate hiring schedules and salaries.
In the coming years, AI tools will be integrated with additional systems (such as payroll, learning, and performance management) and form a completely automated HR ecosystem.
Guidelines for Selecting the Correct AI Workforce Planning Tool
1. Know the needs and size of your company
Some simpler-to-use tools, such as Workeen AI, can be used by small enterprises, whereas larger organisations might require tools such as ChartHop.
2. Check integration options
Ensure that the tool is connected to your HR software, payroll, and finance.
3. Make a price and feature comparison
Compare the cost of each tool per user, per employee, or per month, and the features provided.
4. Begin with a trial or a demo
The majority of AI tools have free trials. Test their ease of use by using them.
5. Inclusiveness to HR and Finance
The planning of the workforce is most effective when the teams plan and use the same tool.
Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence does not take over HR and managers; it is making them work smarter. AI tools speed up and reduce the cost of workforce planning.
Using platforms such as Agentnoon, ChartHop, and Workeen AI, companies can estimate the costs of their employees, manage headcount, plan shifts, and make more accurate decisions in a single location.
In short, AI simplifies the task of workforce planning like having a brilliant assistant that never gets tired, never makes mistakes, or, in some cases, does not forget your information.
As businesses grow, using AI-based tools will no longer be optional. It will become essential for staying efficient, competitive, and future-adaptable.
