The Best Workforce Planning Software List
Here’s the list of the best workforce planning software that I’ll cover in this article:
- 1. Connecteam — Workforce planning software with shift scheduling, time tracking, and GPS location tracking
Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.
Workforce planning is essential to identifying what your organization will need in the future as you continue to grow.
It’s about identifying the right talent pool to pull from, identifying gaps and opportunities, and ensuring you get the right people to fill the right roles.
If this sounds daunting, it’s because it is! Luckily, there is plenty of workforce planning software on the market to help you.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with what to choose. In this article, we’ll go over a number of the best workforce planning software available on the market, and which ones would be the best choice for your organization.
Comparison Criteria
When it comes to identifying the best workforce planning software, what do I look for?
- User Interface (UI): It's very easy for workforce management software to be convoluted and difficult to use. I look for software that allows you to create high-level dashboards with ease, and quickly dig through the many data layers at your disposal.
- Usability: The last thing I want you to do is spend a large portion of time learning yet another software solution. The software featured in this article is focused on usability to allow you to spend less time learning the software, and more time making use of it.
- Integrations: When it comes to integration, I look for workforce planning solutions that integrate with a number of common software applications. Your employee data will be spread out across a number of sources, so you'll want workforce planning software that can pull from these data sources. This includes people analytics, talent management, workforce scheduling, employee time tracking, and payroll software.
Workforce Planning Software: Key Features
In regards to key features of workplace planning software, here are three key features that will provide your organization great benefits.
- Modeling What-If Scenarios: Workplace planning software can offer some quick adjustments to test a number of what-if scenarios and see what future impact they may have on your organizational chart and your bottom line.
- Identifying gaps and opportunities: Workplace planning software will help you identify where you currently are, and the steps required to get where you want to go.
- Integrations: Workforce planning software can pull data from a number of sources through APIs, eliminating the pain of trying to import and export data manually.
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Overviews Of The 10 Best Workforce Planning Software
Here’s a brief description of each workforce planning software to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
Connecteam
Workforce planning software with shift scheduling, time tracking, and GPS location tracking
Connecteam is a workforce planning software with a centralized platform to align teams and monitor business objectives. Executives can define key performance indicators, set goals, and track real-time progress. Team members have visibility into how their work contributes to broader company goals. The software facilitates collaboration and communication across departments, enabling leaders to make data-driven decisions that keep the entire organization moving in the same direction. With Connecteam's analytics and reporting tools, executives gain actionable insights to optimize team performance, resource allocation, and strategic planning.
Connecteam provides companies with access to customizable forms and reports. These reports can be tailored to track employee productivity, hours worked, and feedback. The platform allows executives to send targeted messages and notifications to their employees through its communication tools. Employees can also receive essential real-time updates, reducing the need for constant follow-up and allowing managers to focus on more strategic initiatives. Connecteam simplifies shift management with scheduling tools that enable users to create and manage shifts. Employees can view their schedules and request time off or schedule changes through the app, providing a more streamlined communication process. This feature ensures everyone is held accountable for their work schedules without confusion.
Connecteam provides an easy-to-use platform for employee training and onboarding. It allows businesses to create custom employee training modules covering essential skill sets and company-related information. It also enables executives to track employee training progress, ensuring everyone is on the same page, and there are no skills gaps within the team. Connecteam’s GPS tracking feature allows users to track employee location and movements on the go. This feature will enable executives to better monitor employee whereabouts and manage their assignments. The feature provides a real-time overview of employees' location, ensuring they are safe and working efficiently.
Integrations include Google Calendar, Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, and others.
Deel
Workforce planning software for worldwide compliance, payroll, and HR in 150+ countries
Deel is an impressive HR tool that makes it easy for teams looking to streamline their workforce planning processes. One of Deel’s standout features is its ability to support a complete view of the entire workforce, including both employees and contractors, no matter where in the world they’re located. Having this single source of truth gives teams a current and complete picture of their workforce without having to compile data from various sources.
Employees can use Deel's clean interface to generate reports, view time off requests, and manage other important aspects of workforce planning. Deel's advanced payroll capabilities and global coverage for benefits administration are also valuable tools for executive teams looking to manage their HR needs more effectively. There’s also comprehensive reporting and analytics, allowing you to make informed decisions quickly about your entire workforce. These features help you consolidate administrative costs and ensure your workforce is managed in the most efficient and effective way.
Deel is highly integrated, allowing you to streamline your HR processes and automate or sync data across your HR tech stack. Deel offers integrations with common tools like Ashby, BambooHR, Expensify, Greenhouse, Hibob, Netsuite, Okta, OneLogin, Quickbooks, SCIM, Xero, Workday, and Workable, and has an API for connecting to tools beyond their pre-built integrations.
Deel offers flat rate pricing details upon request, as well as a free demo.
Agentnoon
Best creating workforce visualizations for org ops or change management
Agentnoon is a workforce planning and org design software that helps you visualize all your people data in one place. It can be used for day-to-day operational efficiency, or to tackle changes like reorganization, cost restructuring, spinoffs/share services, mergers and acquisitions, and operating model development.
Agentnoon lets you design workplace graphics and charts ranging from org charts, hierarchy structure and distribution, manager-to-employee ratios, headcount growth/distribution, planned vs. actual headcount, and headcount costs. You can also Upload spreadsheets, overlay custom data, and a tiered review process for HR, Finance, and CEO.
Integrations include over 100 HRIS and other systems, for example BambooHR, ADP Workforce Now, bob (hibob), Gusto, Justworks, Insperity, Namely, BambooHR, BizMerlinHR, Breezy HR, CATS, Clockwork, Comeet, Lattice, Culture Amp, Google Sheet, Excel.
Agentnoon costs from $199/seat/month and offers a 30-day free trial.
ClearCompany
All-in-one platform to align business needs with workforce planning analytics
This software allows for modeling new staffing scenarios in real time, allowing you to optimize upon recommendations. ClearCompany Workforce Planning provides insights into areas like workforce diversity, gender balance, and pay equity.
ClearCompany Workforce Planning allows for quick imports from human resources information system (HRIS) data to help with headcount planning scenarios. This software includes device and equipment management, enabling easy provision for current employees and future hires.
ClearCompany is best for companies based in the U.S. and Canada.
The software offers several payroll and benefits software integrations, including ADP and BambooHR.
Customized pricing available only upon request. No a free trial is available.
Anaplan
Scalable and strategic HR planning software
Using a system they call “connected planning,” Anaplan focuses on real-time collaborations across all business functions. Anaplan makes use of hyperscale computing to make more accurate forecasts.
The software allows you to narrow down choices for the best candidate available within a company based on attributes like time in role, years of experience, and skills. With its compensation modeling, Anaplan gives you a framework to work on retention with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Anaplan Strategic HR Planning integrates with other software such as Boomi, DocuSign, Salesforce, OneCloud, and more.
Analan Strategic HR Planning offers customized pricing on request. It does not offer a free trial, but a free demo is available.
ActivTrak
Workforce planning software focused on improving productivity in the workplace
ActivTrak focuses more on employee productivity compared to other workforce planning software. It can help you track aspects like the impact of remote and hybrid models to see the differences in work productivity and well-being.
ActivTrak helps unlock productivity potential with its dashboards on productivity indicators and work habits. It allows you to see how applications are used to help determine whether you should continue using them, or remove them.
ActivTrak integrates with Salesforce, Google Workspace, Zendesk, Slack, Monday, Jira, Workday, ADP and more.
ActivTrak costs $10/person/month. It offers a free trial with no credit card required.
Lightcast
Best for in-depth actionable data by geography
Lightcast.io, previously known as Emsi Burning Glass, is a labor market analytics company created to facilitate the needs of corporate and staffing firms when it comes to understanding employment, economic trends, and training requirements across different locations. It offers robust skills taxonomy, comprehensive reports, and insights for executive talent meetings, as well as blue-collar worker representation.
Lightcast also offers access to global data to help organizations power their existing workforce planning process, providing the vital information required to find the right talent, train an entire workforce, and plan better talent strategy in a dynamic labor market.
With Lightcast, you can leverage actionable skills data to help drive your talent acquisition strategies, respond or adapt to growing skills trends, and develop robust learning and development programs. A workforce consulting service is also available to help optimize your existing workforce planning process using targeted recommendations, personalized analysis, and custom data sets.
Lightcast also offers a data API to give businesses and staffing firms direct access to the various datasets that are driving their software solutions. With the Lightcast API, users can build their custom data applications and displays for the entire organization.
Lightcast has a SaaS-based licensing model offered in standalone and packaged modules, or base price depending on the use case. Submit a request for pricing.
Planday
Employee scheduling software with payroll forecasting
Planday focuses on employee scheduling to handle vacations, availability, payroll, and more. You can set up compliance warnings to warn you when staff have been assigned too many hours, or shifts too close together.
Planday allows you to use all current payroll information (working hours, vacation time, overtime) to forecast your payroll costs.
Planday has a number of API integrations, such as ADP and Quickbooks.
Planday offers customized pricing on request, and a 30-day free trial.
Vena
Workforce planning software with a focus on payroll
Vean contains a number of pre-built workflows to allow for dynamic modeling in regards to changes to payroll and labor cost. Vena also allows for a number of workflows to control user access to sensitive data.
Vena offers a number of Excel templates for anything from labor expense planning, to tracking upcoming hires. Vena includes pre-built logic to help calculate benefits, whether in America, Canada, or the UK.
Vena integrates with most HRIS and payroll systems such as ADP, Workday, Bamboo, and Peoplesoft and enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) such as NetSuite and Sage Intacct.
Vena Solutions offers customized pricing on request, and a 7-day free trial.
Visier
AI-driven workforce planning software for solving urgent challenges
Visier Now allows you to identify where employees can move to with their given skillset and if they would be the right fit for the position. The software makes use of Guided Diversity Planning to help set goals for your organizations diversity initiatives.
Visier Now uses AI-enhanced analytics to help determine who is most at risk of leaving your organization, and why. This software allows you to see the impact your engagement initiatives (such as better compensation or policy changes) have on overall employee turnover.
Visier Now integrates with the most common human capital management (HCM) and applicant tracking system (ATS) platforms.
Visier Now offers customized pricing on request. It does not offer a free trial.
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The 10 Best Workforce Planning Software Summary
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Connecteam Workforce planning software with shift scheduling, time tracking, and GPS location tracking | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $29/month for 30 users (paid annually) | Visit Website |
2 | Deel Workforce planning software for worldwide compliance, payroll, and HR in 150+ countries | Free demo available | Flat rate user pricing, with a free version for businesses with up to 200 people | Visit Website |
3 | Agentnoon Best creating workforce visualizations for org ops or change management | 30-day free trial | From $199/seat/month | Visit Website |
4 | ClearCompany All-in-one platform to align business needs with workforce planning analytics | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
5 | Anaplan Scalable and strategic HR planning software | Free demo available | Price upon request | Visit Website |
6 | ActivTrak Workforce planning software focused on improving productivity in the workplace | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $10/user/month | Visit Website |
7 | Lightcast Best for in-depth actionable data by geography | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
8 | Planday Employee scheduling software with payroll forecasting | 30-day free trial | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
9 | Vena Workforce planning software with a focus on payroll | 7-day free trial | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
10 | Visier AI-driven workforce planning software for solving urgent challenges | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
Other Options
Here are a few more options that didn’t make the best workforce planning software list:
- Workday Adaptive Planning
Enterprise-grade agile workforce planning software.
- Planful
Scalable workforce planning software with platform-wide data confidentiality
- Orgvue
Centralized workplace planning platform
- ChartHop
Simplified drag-and-drop workforce planning tool
- Wrike
Best for an all-in-one work management solution
- Runn
Real-time resource management and forecasting
- Saviom
Enterprise-level workforce planning suite
- Inspire
Workforce planning software to set employee goals and track progress toward those goals over time
- Precursive
Resource management in Salesforce for staffing your projects
- Quinyx
Strategic planning for workforce management
What’s the Difference Between Workforce Planning and Workforce Management?
Some like to use the terms "workforce planning" and "workforce management" interchangeably, but they refer to different things.
Let's briefly cover the difference between the two.
Workforce management covers the following:
- Having the right people for the right roles.
- Aspects that fall under workforce management would be time tracking, employee scheduling, and payroll.
Workplace planning, on the other hand, covers the following:
- Identifying the goals of the organization and aligning them with employees.
- Identifying the steps required to prepare for future staffing needs and strategic workforce planning.
Workforce management is more about the current state, while workplace planning focuses on the future. For a more thorough explanation, check out the following article.
For more in-depth information, I recommend reading our article on Workforce Planning: What Is It and How To Do It.
To also note, while there is some overlap in regards to succession planning, there are a number of differences compared to workforce planning. Check out our article: What Is Succession Planning? How To Develop Your Next Leaders.
What Do You Think About This List?
These are just a few of the many excellent workforce planning tools on the market. Whether you’re a small business, or a large enterprise, there are a number available at your fingertips to help you deal with the difficult task of workforce planning.
If you are looking for more insights into the topic of workforce planning, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more!