HR strategy and workforce planning for Cultural trusts: core posts, project posts and the funding calendar
A trust's workforce moves with its calendar and its grants. Planning means knowing which posts are permanent, which depend on funds and when the next gap will fall.
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Share your requirementsWhy HR strategy and workforce planning matters in cultural trusts
The trust has a core of six, project staff for two grants and visiting artists for the winter season. Funding for one project ends in March, another is still being decided, and a new exhibition needs a designer in June. Without a plan, each of these becomes an emergency.
A workforce plan puts the calendar of programmes beside the calendar of funds and the list of people. It shows when more hands are needed, when money ends and which skills are missing. Trustees can then decide ahead on what to make permanent, what to buy in and what to let go.
How to set it up
1. List posts and who pays for each
Core, grant-funded and session-based, with start and end dates. Include volunteers who do regular work.
2. Lay out the programme calendar
Exhibitions, festivals and terms for the next twelve months, with the people each needs.
3. Mark the gaps and overlaps
Months with too many hands needed, months with too few, and funding that ends before the work does.
4. Decide how to close each gap
Hire, train, borrow from a partner or change the programme. Write the reason for each choice.
5. Present to trustees twice a year
A one-page picture of the posts, funding and gaps. Review after each major programme. The role design and job descriptions work sets out new posts.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Write the end date of each grant and the posts attached to it.
- Count how many people are needed in your busiest month and compare with who you have.
- List skills you buy in each year and ask whether a permanent post would be cheaper or better.
- Check whether trustees see the workforce picture before the budget is set.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach HR strategy and workforce planning in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Twelve months in detail and about three years in outline is a sensible reach for a small trust. Update the plan after each major funding decision or change of programme.
If a task returns every year and the funding is steady, a permanent post may be fairer and cheaper than repeated short contracts. Check with a qualified professional on the rules.
The director with the administrator, reviewed by trustees at least twice a year. It should be short enough that trustees actually read it, ideally a single page.