Client: A large, global financial services organization

Challenge: Strategic workforce planning was fragmented across business functions, with multiple vendors engaged independently and repeated “starting from scratch” efforts. This created duplicated work, inconsistent assumptions, and wasted time - reducing confidence in plans and limiting the ability to connect workforce decisions to financial and operational outcomes.

What we did: 

Coucal's consultants:

• designed an end-to-end SWP approach aligned to the client’s “buy, not build” model

• mapped the full SWP value chain and designed an integrated solution that connected: talent sourcing, job families, capability frameworks, LXP, HRMS, finance, and operations

• aligned stakeholders on governance and decision rights, created a practical data and integration approach

• defined an operating rhythm so workforce plans could be produced, reviewed, and improved consistently across functions

Phase 1 focused on getting operational workforce planning running quickly with measurable impact.

Outcomes:

• Integrated architecture blueprint linking HR, finance, operations, sourcing, and learning systems

• Phase 1 delivered operational workforce planning in year 1

• Improved predictability for workforce demand and supply planning

• Better linkage between workforce plans and financial planning

• Reduced duplication of effort across functions and vendors through an end-to-end approach

Capability built:

• End-to-end SWP operating model with governance, cadence, decision rights

• Standard planning templates and assumptions model for consistent cross-functional planning

• Roadmap for scaling from Phase 1 operations into broader strategic planning maturity