Human Resource Planning Strategies
Human Resource Planning (HRP) is the process of forecasting the company’s future workforce needs and determining how the company’s current workforce capacity can be used to meet those needs. It, therefore, focuses on the basic economic concept of supply and demand in the context of the company’s workforce capacity.
It is the workforce planning process that helps the company’s management to meet future workforce needs within the company by providing the right people in the right numbers, at the right time and in the right place. In addition, the recruitment and selection process can only be initiated after an appropriate analysis of the personnel requirements by the management. In addition, HRP is essential to achieving the company’s strategies and objectives. As the element of the company’s long-term strategies and objectives is now largely linked to personnel planning, personnel planning has become strategic personnel planning.
While workforce planning appears to be a fairly simple process of managing figures based on the company’s workforce needs, and actual activity can create many barriers for the HR manager due to the impact of the company’s current workforce, the pressure to achieve business objectives and current labour market conditions. HR planning, therefore, helps the company in many ways, as follows:
- HR managers are in a phase of anticipating labour demand and are not surprised by the change in events.
- Prevent the company from falling into the trap of changing labour market conditions common to all sectors and industries.
- Work proactively, as labour market expansion does not always match the company’s labour needs in terms of work experience, talent needs, skills, etc.
- Growing companies may face the challenge of meeting the need for critical skills, competencies and talents to achieve their strategic goals so that they are well prepared for the needs of HR.
- Based on the company’s objectives, HR Planning identifies, selects and develops the talents or capabilities needed within the company.
It is therefore appropriate that the company chooses workforce planning to avoid unnecessary barriers to staffing needs. An HR consulting firm can provide the company with comprehensive HR assessment and planning to meet its future needs as cost-effectively and timely as possible.
A personnel planning process includes only the following four main steps:
Current HR care: Assessing the current availability of staff in the organization is the most important step in staff planning. It includes a comprehensive review of the company’s workforce in terms of number, skills, talents, competencies, qualifications, experience, age, the term of office, performance appraisal, duration, rank, compensation, benefits, etc. At this stage, consultants can conduct in-depth interviews with managers to understand the critical personnel issues they face and the employee competencies they consider fundamental or essential to the various business processes.
Future labour requirements: The analysis of the company’s future workforce needs is the second step in workforce planning. All known HR variables such as fluctuations, redundancies, expected vacancies, retirements, promotions, pre-established transfers, etc. are taken into account in determining future staffing needs. In addition, some variables unknown to the workforce, such as competitive factors, departures, sudden transfers or layoffs, are also included in the analytical framework.
Demand forecasting: The next step is to compare the current supply with future HR needs and create a demand forecast. Again, understanding the company’s long-term strategy and objectives are essential to ensure that employee demand forecasts are aligned with the company’s objectives.
HR Procurement Strategy and Implementation: After reviewing the gaps between supply and demand, the HR consulting firm develops plans to address these gaps based on the demand forecasts it has developed. These programs may include employee communication, relocation, talent acquisition, recruitment and outsourcing, talent management, training and coaching, and policy review. Plans are then implemented with confidence in managers to make the execution process smooth and efficient. It is important to ensure that all regulatory and legal requirements are met by the consultants in order to avoid an undesirable situation for employees.
Therefore, a properly executed personnel planning process by a personnel consulting firm helps the company to achieve its goals and objectives in a timely manner with the right HR force in action.
Introduction to strategic HRM planning
To improve the strategic alignment of employees and other resources, it is important to understand how a strategic workforce planning process works. At the most basic level, strategic workforce planning ensures adequate staffing to achieve your company’s business objectives and bring the right people with the right skills at the right time.
It is important to ask yourself where your company stands now and where it will remain flexible. Each company’s plan will be slightly different depending on its current and future needs, but there is a basic structure that you can follow to ensure that you are on the right track.
The strategic human resource planning process begins with an assessment of current staffing, including whether it meets the company’s needs, and then moves on to forecast future staffing needs based on the company’s objectives. From there, you must align your company’s strategy with employment planning and implement the plan not only to hire new employees but also to retain and train new and existing employees as a result of operational changes.
Read on to learn more about the different steps in the process and to understand the entire strategic planning process for personnel management.
1. Evaluation of the current HR capacity
The first step in the personnel planning process is to determine your current number of employees. Before you hire new employees for your organization, it is important to understand the talents you already have. Develop a skills inventory for each of your current employees.
This can be done in a number of ways, such as asking employees to assess themselves through a questionnaire, reviewing past performance reviews, or an approach that combines both. Use the template below to view this data.
2. Forecasting staff requirements
Once you have a complete inventory of the resources you already have, it is time to start forecasting future demand. Does your company need to increase its human resources? Do you need to stay loyal to your current employees, but improve their productivity through efficiency or new qualification measures? Are there any potential employees on the market?
It is important to assess your company’s needs for qualified personnel as well as internal and external procurement. You must carefully manage supply and demand.
- Demand forecasting
Demand forecasting is the detailed process of determining future staffing needs in terms of quantity number of people required and quality the calibre of talent required to meet the company’s current and future needs.
- Forecasting the offer
The supply forecast determines the resources currently available to meet demand. With your current stock of skills, you know which employees are available in your company to cover your current needs. You will also want to look outside the organization for potential new recruits who can meet the needs of employees already in the organization.
- Matching supply and demand
The matching of supply and demand is the phase in which the recruitment process becomes sensitive and the rest of the human resource management planning process is implemented. You develop a plan to link the need for qualified personnel in your company with the supply available on the market. You can do this by training existing employees, hiring new ones or combining both approaches.
3. The development of talent strategies
Once you have identified your company’s workforce needs by assessing your current workforce capacity and forecasting supply and demand, it is time to start the process of talent development and complementarity. Talent development is an integral part of the strategic personnel management process.
- Recruitment
In the recruitment phase of the talent development process, you begin by searching for candidates who meet your company’s requirements. This phase can include posting qualified potential employees on job sites, finding qualified potential employees on social networks such as LinkedIn, and encouraging existing employees to recommend people they know might be a good candidate.
- Selection
Once you have established links with a pool of qualified candidates, you will conduct interviews and competency assessments to find the best solution for your business. If you have correctly anticipated supply and demand, you will have no problem finding the right people for the right jobs.
- Hiring
Decide on the final candidates for the positions to be filled and expand the offers.
- Training and development
After hiring your new employees, bring them on board. Organize training to keep them informed of your company’s activities. Encourage them to develop their skills to adapt to the needs of your business as they change. Find more ideas on how to develop your own integration process for employees, then start with this integration schedule.
- Management of compensation and benefits of employees
Treat your current and new employees by offering them competitive salaries and benefits and rewarding them beyond their expectations. Retaining good employees will save you time and money in the long run.
- Human Resource Management
Carry out regular performance reviews for all employees. Identify successes and potential for improvement. Maintain employee performance through incentives to encourage employees to perform well.
- Social Relations
A strong corporate culture is essential to attract the best talent. Also, make sure your company maintains a safe working environment for all, with a focus on the health, safety and quality of life of your employees in the workplace.
4. Review and evaluation
Once your HR process plan has been created for some time, you can assess whether the plan has helped the organization achieve its goals in terms of production, profits, retention, and satisfaction. If all goes well, continue with the plan, but if there are obstacles along the way, you can change various aspects at any time to better meet your company’s needs.
Why should you document your strategic HR plan?
Now that you know the steps involved in strategic HR planning, it is time to adapt them to your own organization and determine how to carry them out.
There are a number of reasons to document your strategic personnel plan, especially in a visual format such as an organizational chart. By documenting it, you standardize the process and allow for repeated successes. Documentation also allows for better evaluation, which allows you to know which parts of your plan need to be improved. In addition, a well-documented plan allows you to better communicate the plan throughout the organization, including how each person from top to bottom can help ensure that the plan works.
Document each step of the process, from start to finish, and find opportunities for improvement in your HR process along the way.