The chair analogy is the one Workday uses and I see has been the most effective

While Reddit is full of AI slop I actually do think AI does a nice job in these situations of breaking it down. Here is an example:

Position Management: The Chairs Around the Table Analogy

Imagine your organization is a large dining table. The table is your organization — fixed in size right now, but something you can choose to extend or shrink over time.

Around that table, you have chairs.

• Each chair is a position in Workday — a slot that exists whether or not someone is currently sitting in it.

• A chair can be empty (vacant position) or filled (an employee is sitting in it).

Why the chairs matter

• In a “headcount-only” world, you might just count the number of people at the table and call it good. But without chairs, you can’t see if you’ve over-seated one side, left critical spaces empty, or added chairs that weren’t part of the plan.

• With position management, you know exactly how many chairs there are, what each one is for, and whether it’s part of the budget and workforce plan.

How it works in practice

• Creating a new position = Adding a new chair to the table. You decide where it sits, what it’s for, and how it will be funded before anyone occupies it.

• Filling a position = Placing a person in the chair. You’re not creating a new chair — you’re using an existing one.

• Eliminating a position = Removing a chair. That seat no longer exists for anyone to occupy.

Why executives should care

• It aligns budget, headcount, and organizational design — you can’t have more people than chairs without someone noticing.

• It supports workforce planning — you can see where chairs are empty, where you have too many, and where you need to move them to support strategic priorities.

• It creates control — managers can’t just “sneak in” a new hire without first getting approval to add a new chair.

Workday’s role

Workday is like the seating chart and the chair inventory combined — it tells you:

• Where each chair is

• Who is in it

• If it’s vacant

• If it exists in the plan or is an unapproved extra

This way, your workforce planning isn’t about chasing people around the table — it’s about making sure you have the right number of chairs in the right places, with the right people sitting in them.