Workforce Planning Analyst

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.   

Successful support of Operations Business partners in the execution in establishment of daily work direction, real-time inventory routing management, and execution of staff forecasting and planning to support multiple back-office operations with their inventory service level requirements and business objectives.

You’ll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Partner with Operations, putting customer experience at the forefront when managing challenges. Know your business. Build a Trusted Advisor Relationship
  • Work independently and have strong business ownership, while serving as a resource to others
  • Take specific actions to collaborate and build trusting relationships with business partners and those we serve
  • Be a Trusted Advisor to Operations, team members and management as needed, as well as being a resource to all Business Partners -   A trusted advisor is someone who has exceptional, targeted knowledge in a particular industry; one you can expect to provide unbiased advice
  • Proactively plan according to current trends; strategize based on anticipated trends and projections
  • Enable data-driven decisions that establish Workforce Planning & Support as a 'trusted advisor'
  • Plan and facilitate effective meetings, providing clear communication of tasks at hand and appropriate follow-up to keep channels of communication open across stakeholders
    • Adjust meetings as necessary to fit within the business schedule
    • Provide an agenda, as well as notes with appropriate action items after each meeting
  • Collaborate with all workforce planning functions to support WPS unification efforts and streamlining services provided
  • Improve inventory planning and alignment between Workforce Analysts (WFA), Short Range Planning (SRP), Long Range Planning (LRP), Scheduling & Configuration, and Industrial Engineering (IE) teams by analyzing data, identifying opportunities to planning partners to ensure appropriate staffing and inventory/aging service levels
    • Work with business partners to understand their general processes and workflow, using shadowing as an opportunity to strengthen our products and services
  • Analyze inventory and performance against targets and determine corresponding work direction and identify opportunities for operations
  • Effectively communicate the daily work direction plan for/to Operations, Supervisors, Managers, Directors, and VPs, verbally and/or in writing
  • Administer skills/profiles database and routing prioritization logic to ensure accurate work assignment
  • Conduct data analysis of current state inventory, receipts, completions, capacity, and agent performance including intraday data and metric monitoring, detect inventory and performance issues, and immediately communicate concerns. Collaborate with Operations partners to make necessary adjustments to solve the broken process, routing, or other issues causing stalled inventory/service, which includes ensuring that roadblocks, holds, and other issues are escalated with appropriate urgency
  • Perform ad hoc analysis to identify trends, patterns, and opportunities to improve overall business performance
  • Support the preparation, maintenance and analysis of reports, dashboards and monthly packages relating to staffing, inventory, and production levels, aging of inventory, and effectiveness of performance
  • Support business areas during reported system outage and latency
  • Provide guidance to operations on appropriate scheduling practices to achieve 95-105%25 conformance, utilizing appropriate processes; or realize a 2%25 improvement throughout the year. Oversee the development, testing and implementation of technical solutions
  • Educate Operations supervisors, managers, and directors on the WPS tools to help them gain an understanding and appreciation of the tools and how they can be used to more effectively help their team members become as successful and efficient as possible
  • Assist Business Partners in preparing talking points for remediation plans on misses and action plans for remediation of issues
  • Take the initiative on projects, committees, and special requests
  • Apply an understanding of the technical and business solutions available to optimize daily work direction, constructively offer suggestions related to staffing forecasts. Identify and provide potential solutions to address issues in performance, systems, processes, or skills, whether in planning processes or intra-day management
• Deliver Quality the first time, every time
  • Eliminate mistakes, increase credibility, reduce rework, maintain our Brand, Live our Cultural values
  • Rigor, Discipline and Consistency in our daily to weekly support of our operational teams, ensuring deadlines are met and commitments are honored, while supporting an overall accuracy of work
  • Escalate issues when goals may be compromised, there is risk of financial targets not being achieved and/or the customer experience may be unsatisfactory unless deliberate actions are taken. Analyze performance and make recommendations to ensure financial goals are achieved. (PGs, Financial OT)
  • Engage in productive discussions with operations regarding the analysis of data for their respective teams
  • Drive scheduling and capacity planning accuracy through the use of WPS tools
  • Mentoring within WP&S - tips and tricks, knowledge share, best practices 
• Demonstrate innovation and improve processes
  • Offer creative solutions to improve processes
  • Develop solutions to improve the execution of WP&S support for Business Operations and drive departmental initiatives
  • Demonstrate an innovative mindset
  • Seek innovative ways to streamline and increase efficiency in our overall processes
  • Identify ways to simplify processes/reporting/communication/tools/products so it is most effective
  • Seek automation opportunities

You’ll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear directions on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications: 

• 2+ years of experience in business/finance analysis or workforce forecasting and planning
• 2+ years of experience using advanced level of proficiency in MS Excel working with large data sets, including the ability to utilize VLOOKUPs, create pivot tables and graphs, and incorporate standard formulas and functions
• 2+ years of experience analyzing information from multiple data sources to identify trends and outliers for issue detection and problem resolution
• 1+ years of experience with either back-office or call center transaction and production tracking applications
• Access to reliable transportation and valid US driver’s license

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Previous experience in capacity modeling, six sigma/process improvement, or project management
• Previous experience leading medium-sized projects
• Previous experience with MS Access with the ability to understand queries
• Previous experience maintaining an automated work routing application in a back-office environment, i.e. enterprise work router
• Previous experience working with scheduling applications, e.g., IEX
• Previous experience in Tableau with skills in creating adhoc reports
• Previous experience using MS Visio for process flows/mapping
• Experience in the healthcare industry with products and services

Soft Skills: 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including proven ability to effectively present data and trend analysis, work direction, concerns regarding performance, action plans, solutions, and opportunities
• Intermediate level proficiency in MS Word and MS PowerPoint
• Adaptable and able to quickly move with change while maintaining a positive attitude
• Ability to work a flexible schedule as needed for infrequent occasions, including early hours, weekends, and holidays
• Previous experience communicating with, and presenting to, VPs and Directors to provide performance status and recommendations as well as collaborating on solutions

*All Telecommuters will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy.

Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, we offer benefits such as, a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). No matter where or when you begin a career with us, you’ll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives. The hourly pay for this role will range from $29 - $52 per hour based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. 

Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants. 

At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone–of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location, and income–deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups, and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes — an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.

UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer under applicable law and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.

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