How Closing the HR-Finance Gap Can Scale Up Workforce Planning

Coordination is crucial in today’s business world. With the fast pace of change and uncertainty, organizations must have good communication and collaboration across departments to ensure a quick response to new developments. 

Close collaboration between finance and HR can close the HR-finance gap and offer organizations valuable insights. With real-time data and a shared mission, finance and HR can make informed decisions about the workforce and support the growth of the organization. 

However, many organizations today still struggle with siloed workforce planning, where each department operates independently and lacks coordination with others. It can result in incomplete data and conflicting analysis, making it difficult for organizations to make informed decisions and achieve goals.  

To overcome this challenge, organizations need to adopt an enterprise-wide planning approach that aligns all functions and ensures that data is comprehensive and consistent. Go through the article to get a better idea of how to close the HR-finance gap so that you can strengthen your workforce planning strategy. 

Combine HR-Finance Functions Into One 

According to a 2022 global survey by Workday, 49% of leaders reported a lack of connectivity between operational, people, and financial data and business outcomes hinders their organization’s agility. Additionally, only 12% of the leaders said that their organization’s data is fully accessible to those who need it. This highlights the need for organizations to prioritize the integration of data and ensure it is easily accessible for decision-making. 

The key to success in closing the HR-finance gap is to make sure that the HR and finance practices lead to effective, integrated workforce planning. 

Workforce planning is a comprehensive approach that goes beyond just budgeting for and hiring talent. It’s about ensuring that the entire workforce is supported with a feedback mechanism between business goals and the acquisition, retention, and development of employees.  

By creating connections between shifting talent needs and available resources, organizations can tackle ambitious strategic challenges and achieve their goals. While each department needs to have its own planning processes, it’s also important to integrate these processes into a unified plan.  

This allows for clear accountability, improved strategic planning, and better overall business performance. By combining the efforts and resources of different departments, organizations can achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively. 

A Workforce Strategy that is Beyond the Spreadsheets 

Finance and HR leaders can drive powerful results by collaborating on complex workforce planning models. This approach allows organizations to respond to internal and external changes, align operational workforce plans with strategy, and meet the demands and objectives of ongoing talent needs.  

Thus, by working together, finance and HR leaders can ensure that the organization’s workforce planning is strategic, flexible, and effective.