Updated: Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) can improve human capital decisions and facilitate business careers, according to report released by The Conference Board (CB).

The independent business membership and research association has warned that in a climate of economic uncertainty, companies may be all too quick to cut costs across the board, causing long-term damage to their business.

Instead, it suggests SWP allows managers to make strategic decisions about where to invest and where to save, potentially avoiding future problems.

"SWP helps companies look beyond short-term budget or headcount planning to examine organizational capacity issues," says Mary Young, senior research associate at CB.

"Unlike older, more operational HR approaches, the primary beneficiary of SWP is the business," she adds.

The report also discusses case studies of companies that successfully employ SWP, including IBM and Starbucks.

Making strategic decisions about human resources is often the purview of those with MBA degrees. Official estimates suggests, demand for HR managers and specialists will grow at 17 percent until 2016, and the top salaries in the field already exceed $132,820.

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