Workforce Planning
The Commonwealth’s Workforce Plan for 2007 is published on the DHRM web site. The most recent version reports much of its data as of January 1, 2007, but with the beginning of a new fiscal year and receipt of updated plans from the agencies, the plan will be subject to revisions. Accordingly, agencies may receive inquiries from DHRM about their updated plans.
DHRM Policy 1.90, Workforce Planning, states that plans should be updated at least annually and that a copy of updates should be provided to DHRM “as necessary.” Several agencies have provided copies of their Workforce Plans for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008.
Agency Workforce Plans should be considered living documents. They should be amended as often as is necessary to keep pace with an agency’s strategic and operational plans. Policy 1.90 does not strictly prescribe a due date for submitting plans and updates to DHRM, but the practice has been to provide them around the beginning of a fiscal year. When preparing plans and updates, agencies may wish to consider the following:
- Workforce planning is a strategic exercise. Its purpose is to assure that agencies will have the quantity and quality of staff, within allotted resources, to meet agency goals and objectives.
- Agencies are required to produce strategic plans, and their workforce plans should support their strategic plans.
- Strategic plans are tied to the Commonwealth’s funding cycles: the biennium and the fiscal year. Agencies often begin planning for the coming fiscal year or biennium in August – 11 months before the new fiscal period begins. This budget process plus the need to make mid-year corrections in operational plans should remind HR staff that the Workforce Plan cannot be considered a static document.
Our goal is to provide practical information that supports human resource objectives across the Commonwealth and to encourage innovative strategies in the management and delivery of agency services.
To tell us what you would like to see featured in upcoming issues email us at
compensation@dhrm.virginia.gov or policy@dhrm.virginia.gov
Department of Human Resource Management
Office of Agency Human Resource Services
101 N. 14th Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Phone: 804-225-2131 Fax: 804-371-7401