As companies begin to feel the effects of the economic downturn, they are ramping up their workforce planning activities, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a global consulting firm.

Survey findings show that four out of 10 companies (40 percent) believe workforce planning has become more important to their organization's business success since the economic slowdown, and almost a third (31 percent) have already begun to increase activity around it. Watson Wyatt's Workforce Planning Survey, conducted in October 2008, includes responses from 129 North America-based employers across a variety of industries. Workforce planning is the process by which an organization aligns its workforce requirements to the business strategy using business analytics.

The most prevalent concern among employers is the scarcity of critical talent. Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of those surveyed are taking action to address this concern. Other workforce planning challenges that employers are taking action around include those arising from restructuring (42 percent) and layoffs or hiring freezes (20 percent).

"The current environment is bringing several workforce planning challenges to the surface," said Jamie Hale, national practice leader of workforce planning at Watson Wyatt. "While companies are under enormous pressure to cut short-term costs, it's important to consider the implications their actions will have on a firm's future workforce needs as well."

Although the scarcity of critical talent is seen as a major challenge, 50 percent of employers surveyed said they will respond by maintaining their status quo in terms of replacing talent, while one in three (33 percent) is scaling back replacing talent across the organization.