Requirements

This step is concerned with comparing demand and supply data or determining the gap or surplus situation that will exist in future years. The expected result of this step should be the identification of future gaps and surpluses in the organization, with particular emphasis on gaps in critical skills and in the identification of "at risk" occupations.

a. A gap (the projected supply is less than the forecasted demand) indicates a future shortage of needed employees, and steps will have to be taken to fill the need. The organization's critical skills should be identified and analyzed with particular care, as the workforce plan will need to reflect strategies to deal with critical skill gaps.

b. A surplus (the projected supply is greater than the forecasted demand) indicates a future excess in some categories of employees, which will also require action. Surplus data should be analyzed to determine "at risk" occupations. These are occupations where the skills required are no longer going to be needed in the future, or at least will no longer be needed to the same degree. This information needs to be shared to identify possible matches with gaps that may exist in other organizations and to help guide retraining plans.