ABSTRACT
A critical component of adopting a strategic human resource management (HRM) focus is a commitment to workforce planning. This chapter examines forces of turbulence that affect government organizations at the local, state, and federal levels, along with existing and emerging workforce planning models that may help to guide a strategic yet adaptive process. It addresses four prominent forces that impact workforce planning at the local, state, and federal levels: economic forces, demographic shifts, organizational barriers, and crises. When adopting logic models, it is undoubtedly difficult to predict the external factors that will introduce turbulence into public sector workforce planning. As the call for increased diversity, equity, and inclusion is embraced across public sector organizations, it is necessary to think about how workforce planning can play a role in this pursuit. To effectively achieve the benefits of workforce planning, agencies must invest in building their HRM capacity.
