OrgChart’s latest report, The State of Workforce Planning: 2026, reveals significant challenges faced by HR leaders as they navigate workforce planning amid economic uncertainty and inadequate tools. According to an extensive survey conducted among more than 400 American HR professionals, the study reveals that 90% find existing workforce planning tools difficult to use due to challenges such as unreliable data, inability to aggregate data, and manual data aggregation through spreadsheets and homegrown organizational charts. Almost half of the participants (47%) reveal insufficient workforce data, whereas 46% list economic instability as one of the significant barriers a higher percentage compared to the fear of AI’s impact.
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Therefore, 84% of the participants seek new tools for workforce planning. These results clearly demonstrate that although AI has become a popular topic, fundamental problems persist. As CEO Tom McCarty noted, “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,” emphasizing the need for more reliable, data-driven planning technologies.
