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Workforce planning · 4 Feb 2026 · Cando Personnel
Every peak we work has the same shape: a comfortable forecast, an optimistic assumption about returners, and then three weeks of firefighting. The businesses that avoid it plan backwards from the first heavy week.
Six weeks out: fix the numbers
Agree headcount by role and shift, not a single total. "Forty people" is not a plan; "twenty-four packers on lates, eight QCs across both shifts, two shift leaders" is.
Five weeks out: start screening
Right to Work checks, references and inductions take time, especially in volume. Screening started in the week you need people is screening that fails.
Four weeks out: lock transport
Vehicles and drivers are the constraint nobody budgets for. Routes and pick-up points booked early are routes that run.
Two weeks out: run a live shift
Bring a small crew in early. It surfaces the induction gaps, the PPE shortages and the gate problems while they are cheap to fix.
Through peak: measure daily
Fill rate, attendance and hours against plan, every morning. Small daily corrections beat one large weekly panic.
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