The demographics of the Kenyan public service are poised to change in unpredictable ways in the next few years, especially regarding diversity in the workplace. For a country with a bulging youth population whereby about 61% of the population is under the age of 24 years with those aged 14 years and below accounting for about 42% , it is worrying that the workforce components are neither inventoried nor planned for, especially in the public sector. This sector is also the largest employer as is the case in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study seeks to find out what it would take to improve the practice of a large public sector organisation, KNBS, using strategic workforce planning to tackle its workplace challenges. There is an attempt to mitigate the imminent and/or looming skills shortages in the light of the mass exit of the ‘baby boomer’ generation from the workplace on the one hand, and the government’s policies restricting the hiring of younger generation recruits, on the contrary. The study uses participatory action research to highlight the need for a strategic workforce plan (SWP) as a medium to long-term coping strategy. The study undertakes the first full cycle of the Participatory Action Research spirals involving participants within the workplace. These participants, drawn from various directorates and departments within KNBS, split into focus groups. An analysis of workplace demographics provides a baseline to enable the development of a sustainable SWP, one that could be ‘rolled out’ across the country’s public sector. While recognising that many change initiatives fail due to lack of involvement of key stakeholders, this study engages the whole spectrum of employees – not just as information sources, but also significant actors in the process of crafting a new 5-year SWP for KNBS