Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer & Financial Projections
What Is Workforce Planning for a Small Business?
By the Time You Need Help, the Help Is Gone.
Every busy season, you swear you will hire someone this year. Then the rush starts, you post a help-wanted sign, and every good worker in town was hired weeks ago. Business plan writer Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, walks you through how to plan your staffing months ahead, so the help is trained before the rush arrives.
Last Updated: 11/08/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Definition
How Would You Define Workforce Planning?
Short Answer
Workforce planning is forecasting how many labor hours a business will require, when it will need them, and where those people will come from. It compares the hours the work will require week by week with the hours the current team can give, and plans how to close the gap before it opens.
The gap = hours the work needs − hours your team has, week by week
Doctor Owl, in Plain English
“You have known about this harvest for nineteen years. The schedule did not surprise you. The empty bench did. Count the hours first.”
How This Guide Works
Need the answer fast? Read the Short Answer above and the numbered steps. Want the full picture? Follow Cal, a camel with a desert trading post from Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, as he tries to hire harvest help in the first week of harvest. His story shows up in a few short gold notes along the way. The math sits in one section, clearly marked.
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Free guides, videos, and the Fabled Forest Business School books on hiring, training, pay, and keeping good people.
Start learning →From Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest
Meet Cal: A Camel One Hand Short Every Harvest
Some lessons stick better as a story. Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series teaches business through a forest full of small business owners. Doctor Owl, a dry-witted consultant who lives in the Lone Oak, helps them fix the same problems real owners face.
Today he travels to the desert to visit Cal the Camel, who has run a trading post at the Oasis for nineteen years. In normal months two caravans a week stop at his post. During the eight weeks of harvest, it is six. Every year Cal promises himself he will hire help. Every year he has not.
Why It Matters
Why Is It So Hard to Hire When You Are Busiest?
Busy seasons are busy for everyone. When the rush arrives, every business in town is hiring at the same time, and the best available workers are taken in the first week. The owner who starts looking when the work arrives is competing with everyone for whoever is left.
The cost shows up as work you cannot take. Customers wait, go elsewhere, or do not come back. Workforce planning moves the hiring decision weeks or months earlier, while there is still someone to hire and time to train them.
In the Fabled Forest
Last harvest, two caravans a week went on past Cal’s post because he could not serve them. That was sixteen caravans at about twelve coins each: 192 coins of business gone down the road to the next well.
Count the Hours
How Do You Forecast Staffing Needs?
- List the weeks ahead. The next few months, including the run-up to your busy season and the season itself.
- Hours needed. For each week, estimate the labor hours the expected work will take.
- Hours you have. For each week, add up what your current team can actually give. Be honest about the owner’s hours.
- The gap. Subtract. A positive gap is the help you need, and when.
- Check capacity too. Space and equipment matter. See capacity planning.
In the Fabled Forest
Cal ruled three columns in his stock ledger: hours needed, hours he had, and the gap. Before harvest, 52 hours needed and 52 available. During harvest, 76 needed and the same 52. A gap of 24 hours a week, for eight weeks.
Find the People
Where Do You Find Help When Everyone Is Hiring?
Look where nobody else is looking. Experienced workers are taken first, so consider people who are newer but willing to learn, part-time workers, and people your customers and neighbors can vouch for. Then hire them before the rush, while you still have time to train.
The weeks before a busy season are the cheapest time to teach. The pace is calm, mistakes cost less, and by the time the rush arrives, the new person already knows the basics. Do the job analysis first, so you know exactly what to teach.
In the Fabled Forest
When Cal finally pinned his help-wanted card at the Oasis post office, the only two drivers available walked straight across the square to the caravan masters. Thelma, his neighbor, suggested a young camel from the well who had never driven a caravan. Nobody else would think to ask him, she pointed out, so he would still be available.
The Numbers
How Big Is the Staffing Gap?
Here is Cal’s plan, week by week, in his own three columns.
| Weeks | Hours needed | Hours Cal has | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five weeks before harvest | 52 (12 caravans + 40 counter) | 52 | 0 |
| Eight harvest weeks | 76 (36 caravans + 40 counter) | 52 | 24 a week |
| Last year, no plan | 16 caravans lost, about 192 coins |
Step 1: Find the gap. 76 hours needed − 52 available = 24 hours a week during harvest.
Step 2: Price the lost work. Without help, about two caravans a week went elsewhere: 16 over the season, at about 12 coins each, 192 coins.
Step 3: Your version. Hours needed − hours you have, for each week of your busy season. Compare the wages for the gap with the profit on the work you are turning away.
Illustrative numbers in forest coins, from the book. Use your own schedule and hours.
Step by Step
How Do You Build a Simple Workforce Plan?
Four steps, done well before your busy season.
List the weeks ahead.
Run the calendar through the end of your next busy season.
Estimate hours needed and hours you have.
For every week, in two columns. Include your own hours honestly.
Circle the gap.
Note how many hours, which weeks, and what skills the gap needs.
Decide who, from where, by when.
Hire or cross-train early, while there is time to teach and people to find.
In the Fabled Forest
Doctor Owl left Cal a scroll that turned his ledger columns into a standing habit, with one more line added: the name of the helper and the date they start.
Cal’s Full Story
Was the Young Camel Ready by Harvest?
This page gives you the short version. The book gives you the whole trip: five days on a tortoise’s cart, the schedule pinned to the post door, the card at the post office, two drivers who walked across the square, three columns in a stock ledger, and a gangly young camel who could not lift a water skin on day one.
Every chapter of Human Resources for Small Businesses works the same way. One owner, one problem, one real idea you can use on Monday, plus a one-page worksheet to do it.
A Business Plan Writer’s View
How Should a Staffing Plan Show Up in a Business Plan?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA · Business Plan Writer
In a business plan, Dr. Paul shows staffing as a schedule, not a single headcount. Lenders want to see when each position starts, what it costs, and what work it supports. A seasonal business that hires the week the rush begins looks like a business that will turn away revenue. One that shows hiring and training weeks before the busy season, tied to a forecast of hours needed, looks like a business that understands its own calendar. He builds the payroll lines month by month to match, so the projections and the staffing plan tell the same story and the lender can check one against the other.
FAQ
Which Questions Come Up About Planning Your Staff?
What is workforce planning in a small business?
How far ahead should I hire for a busy season?
How do I show staffing in a business plan?
Keep Going
What Should You Read Next on Building the Right Team?
This is foundation 2 of 20. These pages build on it. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the human resources glossary.
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant and author with 14+ years of experience and 1,000+ clients served. Need your staffing and payroll written up for a lender? See business plan writing services.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, employment, or other professional advice. Figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.