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Workforce Planning for Transformation – How Housing Providers Can Avoid Critical Talent Gaps

Over the next five years, housing providers will need to deliver more change than in the previous two decades combined.

Challenges include:

Building Safety Act compliance and cladding remediation
Damp and mould prevention
Retrofit and decarbonisation at scale
Digital modernisation and data strategies
Strengthened consumer regulation
Cultural, leadership and operational change

Despite this, workforce planning remains underdeveloped in the sector. Across Adecco’s client base, over 70% of housing organisations tell us they don’t have the time or resources to prioritise future workforce planning – even when they are embarking on major transformation programmes.

This article shows how housing providers can close the gap: putting workforce planning at the heart of change, so you can avoid critical talent shortages, manage risk, and deliver.

The Transformation Challenge in Numbers

London Homes Coalition calculates over 31,000 extra workers are needed to deliver London’s social and affordable housing initiatives over the next five years.
CIOB data shows 61% of construction companies are facing skills shortages, leading to delays for nearly half of new building projects.
The same data shows 64% of organisations are struggling to recruit staff with building safety knowledge, while 59% cannot find talent with sustainable building expertise.

Against this backdrop, a proactive approach to workforce planning is critical.

Here are our recommendations:

1. Workforce Planning Must Begin with Capability Truth – Not Assumptions

Many housing organisations overestimate their internal capability in:

Data and analytics – often limited to reporting, with little capacity for predictive insights or advanced analysis.
Digital delivery – strong vendor relationships, but insufficient in-house change and integration expertise.
Building safety and property compliance – reliance on a small number of specialists, with minimal cover.
Change and transformation management – projects overseen by already stretched teams, with their own day-to-day priorities.
Leadership capacity – leaders spread too thin across regulation, customer standards and transformation.

Conducting a proper workforce audit replaces assumptions with evidence. It should identify:

Critical roles – so you can identify which roles you cannot afford to leave vacant.
Capability gaps – so you can decide where to recruit, where to reskill, and where to redesign roles.
Areas of risk (including employment legislation) – so you can see where processes or documentation may not be adequate.
Succession issues – so you can spot where gaps will leave you exposed and build pipelines and interim plans to deal with them.
Equality impact assessments – so you can understand how transformation impacts your ED&I goals.
Cost pressure points – so you can model the financial impact of different workforce scenarios.
Transformation dependencies – so you can identify which areas of focus are competing for the same skills.

Without this level of forward planning, transformation programmes inevitably begin with blind spots. By taking the time to audit, you can achieve a far clearer picture of the workforce you actually have – and how far it can take you on your transformation journey.

2. Link Your Workforce Strategy to Your 24 to 36 Month Change Pipeline

CIPD’s 2024 Resourcing and Talent Planning report shows nearly a third of organisations plan workforce needs only six months ahead, while less than a quarter look beyond two years.

The most resilient providers plan workforce needs in parallel with their transformation roadmap. For example:

Building Safety Act – building teams of Safety Specialists and investing in Asset Data Leads, so you can evidence compliance and keep residents informed.
CRM upgrades – investing in Business Analysts, Product Owners, and Integration Engineers to redesign customer journeys and integrate repairs and management.
Retrofit and decarbonisation – appointing Retrofit Coordinators, EPC Assessors, Technical Surveyors and Resident Liaison Officers, so you can sequence works, protect vulnerable residents, and hit targets.
Data Strategy – hiring Data Governance Leads, BI Developers, and specialists in data analytics to obtain actionable insights.
Cultural transformation – assigning experts in organisational progress, change, leadership development, and talent acquisition to support prolonged transformation.

In a market where over three-quarters of UK organisations report difficulties in recruiting, this approach to workforce planning can transform hiring from reactive to strategic, reducing cost, speeding up delivery and improving compliance.

3. Use Blended Hiring Models to Reduce Cost and Risk

Relying solely on permanent recruitment to deliver transformation no longer works. High-performing organisations are shifting to blended workforce models that bring together:

Permanent recruitment for business continuity and culture – protecting core services, maintaining knowledge and building long-term capability.
Interims for transformation phases – bringing in specialised talent when you need it without committing to long-term headcount.
Statement of work (SOW) teams for high-delivery-risk projects – tying spend directly to agreed outcomes and clarifying accountability.
Graduate and apprenticeship pipelines for future capability – building a sustainable talent pipeline in a tight labour market while bringing in new skills and perspectives. Research shows 35% of social housing providers are introducing graduate schemes and apprenticeships to tackle the talent gap.

A blended hiring model ensures organisations can flex and respond to volatility without overstretching. When policy, funding, or timelines change, you can scale interim and SOW capacity up or down much more quickly than permanent headcounts.

4. Benchmark Your Salaries and EVP Against Real Market Data

The housing sector struggles to compete for digital, finance and technical talent. But many providers are working with legacy pay frameworks that pre-date recent inflation and the surge in demand for specialist skills.

Providers that succeed know exactly where they sit in the market and can articulate a compelling EVP (employee value proposition) to cut through.

Adecco supports housing clients with market insights on:

Competitive salary ranges – you can see where roles are out of step with the market and decide where to adjust.
In-demand skill sets – you can understand which skills command premium rates and where you should instead grow capability within.
Attraction drivers – you can consider them to position your organisation effectively, beyond just salary. CIPD’s research shows that an authentic EVP is increasingly important in a competitive talent market.
Flexible-working expectations – you can properly design hybrid and location-based roles that reflect candidate expectations.
Leadership behaviours that candidates value – you can recruit and develop managers who make people want to stay in your organisation.

Targeted employer branding and well-benchmarked offers can make the difference between failed hiring campaigns and a truly sustainable talent pipeline.

Workforce Planning is a Strategic Enabler – Not an Administrative Burden

Workforce planning is not admin, it is a strategic enabler of compliance, digital transformation and financial resilience.

Adecco helps providers:

Audit capability to identify your strengths, gaps, and risks.
Forecast future workforce needs, so you can align recruitment beyond the next quarter.
Build role architecture to standardise and promote truly attractive roles.
Benchmark salaries, so you can compete intelligently for scarce skills.
Enhance workplace health and inclusion, so you can reduce turnover and improve engagement.
Develop talent and leadership, ensuring a pipeline of specialists who can lead through change.
Design flexible resourcing models that scale with your needs.
Deliver recruitment, interim and SOW solutions, so you can increase access to talent without losing control of cost and compliance.

In a sector where change is non-negotiable and talent is scarce, workforce planning marks the difference between transformation success and transformation fatigue.

If you’d like to discuss your current workforce plans or explore how well your organisation is prepared for the next phase of change, our experienced housing team can help.