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The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook

Design, Implement and Measure Workforce Plans to Drive Business Results

Design and implement a strategic workforce plan to meet your business goals with this practical guide written for senior HR practitioners.

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EAN: 9781398623590

Edition: 1

Published: 03 Jan 2026

Format: 234 x 156

296 pages

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About the book

Build a future-ready workforce that delivers strategic results and protects long-term business performance.

The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook is an executive guide for senior HR leaders and board-level decision makers who need to ensure their workforce is designed, resourced and aligned to meet both current and future business demands. Written by workforce strategy expert David Edwards, this book shows senior leaders how to turn strategic workforce planning into a powerful lever for resilience, growth and risk mitigation.

With clear guidance on assessing your current workforce, identifying future capability needs and designing a robust workforce plan, this book equips leaders to make informed investment decisions, address critical talent risks and prepare their organizations for continuous change.

You'll learn how to:
- Translate business strategy into actionable workforce requirements
- Build executive alignment and secure stakeholder commitment
- Use data, technology and metrics to forecast demand and strengthen decision making
- Navigate internal politics, ethical considerations and D&I priorities in workforce planning

Covering everything from financial modeling and organization design to communicating change with confidence, The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook gives senior leaders a practical roadmap to build a workforce that delivers sustainable performance and long-term competitive advantage.

Themes include: strategic workforce planning, organization design, leadership, workforce analytics, risk mitigation, diversity and inclusion, future skills

About the authors

David Edwards is a global authority on Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP). He has been the Head of Workforce Planning at Ericsson, Strategic Workforce Management Programme Manager at NatWest Group and the Head of Resource Management for CIB Technology at RBS. Based in Basingstoke, UK, he is an advisor and conference speaker on all aspects of SWP.

David Edwards

Section - One: Why it Matters
- Chapter - 01: Why I Love Doing This;
- Chapter - 02: And What Do You Do?;
- Chapter - 03: SWP Is Not a Cure-All;
Section - Two: How to Practise It
- Chapter - 04: The Truth is Out There – and it’s Hidden in Plain Sight;
- Chapter - 05: Emotively Captivating;
- Chapter - 06: Making Friends with Finance and Benefits;
- Chapter - 07: Lining Up the Anseriformes, aka Getting Your Ducks in a Row;
- Chapter - 08: Turn and Face the Strange;
- Chapter - 09: Siren Voices;
- Chapter - 10: What Has SWP Ever Done for Us? – Part 1;
- Chapter - 11: What has SWP Ever Done for Us – Part II;
Section - Three: How to Land It
- Chapter - 12: Politics – will the force be with you?;
- Chapter - 13: Strategy, Scenarios, Scale, Scope…and Sheena;
- Chapter - 14: The Challengeable Orthodoxy of Third Parties, Headcount and Skills;
- Chapter - 15: TechNo;
Section - Four: Where Its Heading
- Chapter - 16: Future Perfect;
- Chapter - 17: A Painful Passion;
- Chapter - 18: Reflections

Reviews

Dr. John Boudreau, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Scientist, Center for Effective Organizations and Marshall School of Business University of Southern California

This book offers a rich vision of what HR can be, through the lens of strategic workforce planning. David Edwards brings his wealth of unique experience, personal stories, and strolls through London and beyond, to create marvelous observations and analogies that encourage and inspire the community of strategic workforce planners to play their important role in shaping the future of work and HR.

David Green, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Insight222, co-author Excellence in People Analytics

In The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook, David Edwards adroitly demystifies strategic workforce planning, transforming a topic often perceived as abstract or overly technical into something genuinely accessible, practical, and, most importantly, human. This book serves as a vital bridge, showing leaders how to master the transition from the what of people analytics-those crucial insights-to the how of strategy, turning mere data into powerful foresight that shapes the future of the organization. Given that we are now fully entering the Age of AI and unprecedented workforce disruption, The Strategic Workforce Handbook is not just timely; it is essential reading. Highly recommended for anyone serious about building a resilient, future-fit workforce.

Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan Partner, the RBL Group

David's eclectic experiences and astute observations illustrate the relevance of SWP. With wit and practicality, he demonstrates how caring for and investing in people continues to be a cornerstone of successful organizations. This is not a handbook but a user's guide.

Priyanka Anand, India HR Leader of the Yea

David takes a subject that usually feels distant and makes it close, real and practical. His clarity, practicality, and uniquely human lens makes this an outstanding contribution for anyone shaping the future of work.

Alessandro Alessandrini, SWP Director, Airbus

David combines deep knowledge with a sharp sense of humor, making tough topics easy to grasp. His willingness to share this expertise enriches the entire network, inspiring everyone to adapt and improve further in today's fast changing context.

Paul Milner, ex MD, international infrastructure group

I picked up this book as an SWP neophyte. Not only have I learned about the scale, reach and benefits that SWP can deliver. But more than that, I believe this book offers insight, learnings and tools for anyone looking to effect positive change in a corporate environment and navigate the complexities of functional and hierarchical structures. All HR professionals seeking to move beyond transactional into strategic leadership would do well to learn the lessons from David's extensive experience.

Jane Datta, ex-Chief Human Capital Officer, NASA

This handbook is everything a treatise on Strategic Workforce Planning usually isn't - clear, practical and refreshingly funny. Drawing from his years as a practitioner, David blends real stories, clever analogies and just the right amount of humor to make the concepts easy to understand and apply. His care and steadfast commitment to excellence in SWP is obvious, but rather than keeping hard-won wisdom to himself, he is sharing it with us in the role of seasoned guide - teaching, inspiring and lightening the load while elevating this essential craft.

Adam Gibson, Author, Agile Workforce Planning

Brilliant and funny, David has produced a work of art - albeit more René Magritte than Johannes Vermeer. In The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook, he expertly blends his own leadership experience with the successes and struggles of the practitioner community to create a must-have survival guide. Friends and fans will instantly recognize his irreverent, unique voice shining through this highly accessible book, which I wholeheartedly recommend to both newcomers and seasoned practitioners. Even the most experienced amongst us will uncover genuine gems of wisdom - and more than a little catharsis along the way.

Cole Napper, Vice President of Research, Innovation & Talent Insights at Lightcast, Author of People Analytics, and Host of the Directionally Correct Podcast

At a time when workforce planning is more consequential, and more misunderstood, than ever, The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook arrives to bring clarity. David Edwards has created more than a guide; he's curated a global conversation among the brightest minds in Strategic Workforce Planning, weaving together his expertise with their collective wisdom into something both practical and profound.

This book captures the essence of SWP at a critical inflection point. David has long been one of the field's sharpest thinkers, but his genius here lies in convening the community-the practitioners, the innovators, the skeptics-and distilling their insights into a handbook that will shape how Strategic Workforce Planning is practiced for years to come. Well done.

Toby Culshaw Vice President of Strategy - Talent Intelligence, Lightcast

David Edwards has written the rarest of things: a book on workforce planning that's as engaging as it is essential. His informal, passionate style makes even the most complex strategic concepts feel approachable and actionable. This isn't just informative-it's genuinely inviting, drawing you into a subject that too often feels technical and distant. David proves that rigorous planning and human insight aren't opposing forces but powerful partners. An enriching read for anyone who believes people should be at the heart of business strategy.

Stela Lupushor, Chief-Reframer, Reframe.Work Inc., co-Author of Humans at Work and Humanizing Human Capital

Finally, a book for those who would rather do literally anything else than read a workforce planning book. David proves that rigor, personality and humour can coexist. His writing is engaging and accessible without compromising on complexity. And 'anseriformes' is the best (nerdy, taxonomically correct) way of saying 'getting your ducks in a row' that I'll be stealing immediately.

Betsy Summers, Principal Analyst, Future of Work & HCM, Forrester Research

This isn't just an HR book: It's a new standard text for anyone thinking seriously about the future of work. Grappling with AI, risk, global volatility and skill shortages, leaders will feel a weight fall from their shoulders reading this. Bringing each theory to life though real-world stories from practitioners, humour and data, David transforms theory into something tangible and useful. It's a rare gem in the world of strategic workforce planning-equal parts insightful, practical and genuinely enjoyable to read.

Alise Rupeka, EDHEC Online

While SWP might not sound the most thrilling endeavour, David's storytelling and conversational tone really takes you by the hand and kindly guides through the intricacies of what we believe is a way to prepare better for the uncertain future ahead. Equally welcome as light reading for your commute and as a comprehensive guide to what might be the most complex and important work of HR and people profession.

Liz Jurcik, CEO, Workforce Strategy Partners

You make what we do human.

This book offers a rich vision of what HR can be, through the lens of strategic workforce planning. David Edwards brings his wealth of unique experience, personal stories, and strolls through London and beyond, to create marvelous observations and analogies that encourage and inspire the community of strategic workforce planners to play their important role in shaping the future of work and HR.
Dr. John Boudreau, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Scientist, Center for Effective Organizations and Marshall School of Business University of Southern California

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