Economic uncertainty paired with ineffective workforce planning tools is impacting the ability to strategically plan for the future
- 90% of HR leaders face challenges with their current workforce planning tools
- 47% of HR leaders say their workforce planning tools do not have accurate workforce data
- 46% of HR leaders struggle to plan due to economic uncertainty versus 36% who struggle to plan due to the unknown impact of AI on their workforce
The report, The State of Workforce Planning: 2026, was based on survey responses from more than 400 HR leaders in the US. Although HR leaders said they are actively planning for the future, they also acknowledged that planning is becoming an increasingly difficult task. In particular, workforce planning technology options used today are not meeting the needs of HR leaders.
In the survey, 90% of HR leaders said they faced a variety of challenges with their current workforce planning tools, ranging from the ability to easily consolidate data, to not having accurate data, to having to do manual work to keep their plans updated, such as drawing org charts themselves. More than half of leaders are planning on spreadsheets or outsourcing their planning tools to HR consultants. As a result, 84% said they are interested in using different workforce planning tools and are looking for alternative solutions beyond traditional tools within the current landscape.
A lack of acceptable tools combined with economic uncertainty and tighter budgets is compounding the difficulty of the strategic planning process. Although AI dominates headlines, leaders did not list it as a top challenge when strategic planning. Instead, they are focused on addressing basic challenges like data accuracy. And, if HR cannot adequately address these challenges, they say the results will be significant. Over half of respondents said their organizations will face lost productivity, employee turnover, and miss strategic goals if they do not have solid workforce plans in place.
“Future workforce planning has always been a difficult task, but the speed at which today’s economic, social, and political landscape is changing can make planning seem especially overwhelming,” said Tom McCarty, CEO of OrgChart. “We can’t control outside forces, but we can control the technology used in workforce planning. Today’s leaders need workforce planning tools that provide an accurate visualization of their workforce and enable them to easily scenario plan with multiple data points so they can feel empowered to make data-driven decisions.”
OrgChart will discuss findings from the survey in a webinar on April 30, 2026.
For more information about OrgChart, visit theorgchart.com.
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