As cybersecurity teams face increasing demands in 2025, security leaders are struggling to balance limited cyber budgets, high workloads, and talent burnout. Many organizations lack the necessary visibility into workforce distribution, making it difficult to allocate tasks effectively and secure leadership buy-in for additional resources.
In a recent LinkedIn Live webinar, CyberSN Founder & CEO, Deidre Diamond was joined by Carriag Stanwyck, VP, Head of Global Cybersecurity and Compliance, and Kelly Haydu, VP, Information Security, Technology & Enterprise Applications, to discuss how security leaders can optimize their cybersecurity workforce, improve operational efficiency, and secure executive buy-in through data-driven cybersecurity workforce planning strategies.
Many security leaders struggle with gaining visibility into their team's workload, making it difficult to distribute tasks effectively and prevent burnout. Without real-time tracking, cybersecurity job responsibilities often become unevenly assigned, leading to overwhelmed employees and operational inefficiencies. Kelly said, “Many security leaders don’t actually know what their team is working on in real-time. They just know they’re overwhelmed. We need visibility into tasks to distribute work efficiently."
By visualizing cybersecurity talent utilization, workload distribution, and cyber capabilities, organizations can ensure that responsibilities are assigned evenly and prevent team burnout before it becomes a bigger issue. “If we had better insight into what people were working on, we could take preventative action before someone gets burned out or disengaged,” said Carriag. Implementing real-time job documentation helps track daily tasks, identify disengaged employees, and reallocate tasks based on skillsets without requiring additional hires.
When communicating cybersecurity staffing needs to executive leadership, security leaders often struggle to justify additional hires and are told that their cyber talent budget is like “wack-a-mole.” As Deidre noted, “Workforce risk is one of the top two business risks companies face, and yet it’s still not measured properly.” Without clear visibility into workload and gaps, headcount requests can be dismissed.
Carriag emphasized the power of data to shift leadership perspectives: “When we can show executives the actual workload, the inefficiencies, and the gaps in coverage, they start to understand why we need additional staff.” Real-time job documentation and cyber workforce planning tools enable leaders to visualize operational strain and present staffing needs with credibility.
Before organizations can align talent to their cybersecurity strategy, they must understand how their cyber team is currently being utilized. Job titles alone don’t reveal what cyber tasks are being performed, where time is going, or where gaps exist. By visualizing talent utilization alongside cyber capabilities, security leaders gain the clarity needed to reassign work, upskill team members, and reduce cyber risk.
Organizational capability mapping builds on this visibility, allowing leaders to align current cyber talent to both short- and long-term security goals. As Deidre noted, "Without capability mapping, security teams struggle to mature. If you don’t understand your team’s strengths and gaps, you can’t build an effective long-term security strategy."
With cybersecurity workforce challenges on the rise, cybersecurity leaders must adopt proactive workforce planning strategies to stay ahead. By documenting and updating job responsibilities, organizations can reduce burnout, improve talent retention, and optimize workforce efficiency.
For more insights, watch the full webinar here.
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