| You might have heard of 'HR' also known as Human | | | | (from previous step) |
| Resources or if you are in a particularly supportive | | | | 4. any gaps in number of people or skills is turned into |
| organisation it may be called 'Human Remains'. This | | | | an action plan which HR and the Manager go and |
| department is instrumental in supporting managers to | | | | work on ahead of time |
| help get the most out of their people. As we move | | | | That, in a nutshell is workforce planning. |
| and more into the knowledge economy organisations | | | | Why do workforce planning? |
| assets are very much their people and what they do | | | | The largest single cost and budget item in that majority |
| and know. | | | | of businesses is salaries or wages. To get the most |
| How much of your day job is workforce planning? | | | | out of this expensive resource you would expect to |
| Managing this crowd of people to get the most out of | | | | need to manage and optimise it in a number of ways. |
| your human assets is a task that falls into typically two | | | | The costs to the organisation of a person leaving |
| camps: | | | | include: |
| | | | - Severance pay (depending on how they depart) |
| 1. The HR dept has this as 100% of their day job but it | | | | - Poor delivery performance (productivity) from the |
| "usually" (not always) turns into being a reactive activity | | | | individual leading upto their exit |
| with them being engaged after the fact | | | | - HR depts time to run a recruitment campaign |
| 2. The 'manager' who treats this activity as probably | | | | - Cost of advertising of new posts/roles |
| 5-10% of their day job if you're lucky | | | | - Cost of recruitment agency to help sift & source |
| Usually neither of these two options work well at | | | | candidates |
| getting the most out and optimising the crowds of | | | | - Cost of assessment centres to test out candidates |
| people that make up the organisation. Mostly because | | | | aptitude for the role |
| it ends up being fragmented across depts, or is based | | | | - Manager's time to interview and select a suitable |
| on some convoluted process or overly complex | | | | replacement |
| spreadsheets. Enter...WORKFORCE PLANNING! | | | | - Backfill cost of a temp resource to cover any gap |
| How do you do workforce planning? | | | | left between a leaver and a joiner |
| The idea of workforce planning is that the business (i.e. | | | | - Doubling up time (paying two people for the same |
| not the HR dept) actively plan and prepare for what | | | | job) for a handover to the new person if there is no |
| sort of workforce they will need over the coming year | | | | 'gap' |
| to three years. This activity can be very scientific with | | | | - Ramp-up time where a new joiner needs to get to |
| forecasts based on probabilities of when people are | | | | know the environment and the role (reduced |
| likely to leave down to the week!! Not every | | | | productivity) |
| organisation will need this level of detail or accuracy, | | | | - Baby-sitting time for the manager to induct the new |
| but it should have its workforce aligned to its financial | | | | joiner into his/her team and the organisation |
| planning cycle if only to ensure budgets are tracked! | | | | - Increased salary cost if the new hire is more |
| The high level concept is: | | | | expensive than the leaver (they almost always are) |
| | | | All of this is assuming that the huge risk being run in |
| 1. each manager has access to the full suite of | | | | employing a new person is mitigated and they turn out |
| information regarding their people and reviews the next | | | | to be a good solid performer that fits culturally and |
| 12, 24 and 36 months service needs. | | | | does not leave quickly after joining and trigger another |
| 2. demands that might impact on the level (amount of | | | | round of these costs again! |
| people) or type (skills of people) of workforce are | | | | Still think you don't need workforce planning! So now |
| highlighted for review | | | | you see the value in having a functioning workforce |
| 3. the workforce supply (number of people and skills) is | | | | planning capability as a key part of your organisation's |
| then matched to the anticipated workforce demand | | | | business planning cycle. |