HR PLANNING PROCESS:

HR planning process begins with considering the organizational objectives and strategies. The HR plan is guided by larger term organizational plan. For example, in planning for HR, an organization must consider the allocation of people to job over larger period of time, not just for the next month or even the next year.  This level of planning requires knowledge of strategic expansion or reduction in operation and any technological change that may affect the organization. On  the basis of  such analyses plans can be made for shifting  employees  within the organization, laying off or otherwise  cutting back  the number of employees,  retraining  present employees  or increasing   the number of  employees  in certain areas. Factors to consider include the current employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities in the organization and the expected vacancies resulting from retirement, promotions, transfer or discharge.

HR plan provides a road map for the future, identifying where employees are likely to be obtained, when employees will be needed and what training and development of employees must occur.

The various activities involved in the process of HR planning are as follow.

How to  restructure job  positions i.e. how to abolish the old or boring jobs  and replace these by challenging ones?

How to downsize the organization I the light of  changing  business and industrial environment?

EXTERNAL                         ORGANIZATIONAL                      WORKFORCE

 Economics                              Strategic Plans                                    Retirement

SSocio-ploitical legal              Budgets                                               Resignation

Technology                             Sales and production forecasts           Termination

Competitors                            New  Ventures                                                deaths

                                                Organization and  job design              leaves of  absence.

SCANNING GOVERNMENT INFLUENCES:

A major  element that affect labor supply and therefore  HR planning  is the government. Today HR managers are confronted with many  government regulations. As a  result  HR planning  must be done  by  individuals  who understand the legal requirements of various government  regulations especially firms operating globally.

Tax  legislation  at local, state and federal levels  also affects HR planning. Pension provision and social security legislation may change retirement patterns and funding options.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS:

 The general business cycle of recession and economic booms also affects HR planning. Factors such as  interest rates, inflation and economic growth affect the availability of workers and should figure  into organizational and HR plans and objectives. Decisions on wages, overtime and hiring or laying off workers may be affected by economic conditions. E.g. economic conditions  lead to decrease in  the unemployment  rate. There is a considerable difference between finding qualified applicants in a 3% unemployment market and in a 7% unemployment market. In the 3% unemployment market , significantly fewer qualified  applicants are  likely to be available  for any kind  of position. Applicant still available may be less employable because  they are less educated , less skilled  or unwilling to work.

GEOGRAPHIC  AND COMPETITIVE CONCERNS:

 Employer  must consider the following geographic and competitive  concerns in marking the HR  plan, including  other employers in the area , employee resistance  to geographic  relocation,  direct competition in the industry  and the impact  of international competition . the net  migration into a particular region is important also.

Other employer in a geographic region can greatly expand or diminish the labor supply.

Direct  competitors are another important  external force  in HR  planning. Failure to consider  the competitive labor market and to offer pay scales and benefits competitive in the same general industry and geographic  location may cost a company dearly in the long run.

Finally, impact of international competition as well as numerous other factors must be considered as a part of scanning environment. Global competition for labor intensifies as global competitors shift workers and jobs around the world.

TECHNOLOGY:

Changes are difficult to predict and assess but may radically alter strategic and therefore HR plans. Many thought the computer would cause mass unemployment.  Today the computer field is a large one, employing millions of people directly or indirectly.  Technology complicates HR planning because it tends to reduce employment in one department while increasing it another.

ORGANIZATIOANAL DECISIONS:

 As organizations respond to these changes in their environment, decisions are made to modify the strategic plan. The strategic plan commits the firm to long range objectives such as growth rates and new products, markets or services.  These objectives dictate the number and type of employees needed in the future.

Budget increases or cut are the most significant short term influence on HR needs.

New venture mean changing the HR demand. When a new venture is begun internally, the lead time allows planners to develop short run and long run employment plans. But new ventures begun through acquisition and mergers cause an immediate revision of HR demands and can lead to a new organization and job design.

WORKFORCE FACTORS:

 Demand is modified by employee actions such as retirements, resignations, terminations deaths and leave of absence. Changes in the composition of work force combined with the use of different work patterns have created workforce and organization that are notable different from those of a decade ago. Many organizations face major concerns about having sufficient workers with the necessary capabilities and the flexibility to expand and contract the workforce as needed.

The use of part time employees can add flexibility through temporary or more permanent arrangements. To address those concerns organizations are implementing flexible staffing arrangements that include temporary workers, job sharing, part time and   outsourcing. These arrangements are used to meet workload fluctuations, replace an absent employee, and work on project with a definite end point and as a way to preview whether an employee might work out well before formal hiring.

FORECASTING SUPPLY OF HUMAN RESOURCES:

 Having forecast HR demand, the next task involved in HR planning is to forecast human resource supply. There are two sources of supply; internal and external. The internal supply consists of present employees who can be promoted, transferred or demoted to fill expected openings.  The external supply consists of people who do not work for the organization.

Estimation of internal supply of HR involves more than merely counting the number of employees. Planners audit the present workforce to learn about   their capabilities. This information allows these planners to estimate tentatively which openings can be filled by present employees. These tentative assignments usually are recorded on a replacement chart.

Audits and replacement charts are also important additions to the information base of the HR department. With greater knowledge of employees, the department can plan recruiting, training and career planning activities more effectively.

HUMAN RESOURCE AUDIT:

 It summarizes each employee’s skill, knowledge and abilities. Audits of non managers are skill inventories. Audit of managers are known as management inventories.

A skill inventory form is divided into four parts.

Part 1 can be completed by Hr department from employee records it identifies the employee’s job titles, experience, age and previous job.

Part 2 seeks information about the skills, duties, responsibilities and education of the worker. The employees’ future potential is briefly summarized by the immediate superior in part 3. Performance, readiness for promotion, and any deficiencies are noted here. The supervisor’s signature helps ensure that the accuracy of form is reviewed by someone who knows the employee better than the HR specialist.

Part 4 added as a final check for completeness and for the addition of recent employee evaluation.

Replacement charts are a visual representation of who will replace whom if there is a job opening. The chart much, like an organization chart, depicts the various jobs in the organization and shows the status of likely candidates. Replacement status consists of two variables. Present performance and promo ability .present performance is determined largely from supervisory evaluation.  The opinions of other managers, peers and other subordinates may contribute to the appraisal of present performance. Future promo ability is based primarily on present performance and estimates by immediate superiors of future success in a new job.

SUCCESSION PLANNING:

 It is a process of identifying a larger term plan for orderly replacement of key employees. Given complexities and time demands involve in developing these plans, succession planning is usually limited to key employees and those identified as having long term potential.

LABOR MARKET ANALYSIS:

 Success in finding new employees depends on the labor market and the skills of managers and employment specialist in the HR department. The relevant labor market is the market from which the organization recruits; its size depends upon the skills being sought. For highly skilled job, the relevant labor market may be the entire country. The labor market for unskilled jobs is generally the local community.

MATCHING DEMANDS AND SUPPLY:

 Once demand for and supply of HR of an organization is forecast, the two needs to be reconciled.  Such reconciliation will reveal either shortage or surplus of HR in future. Accordingly action plans will be prepared to meet the situation. In case of shortage of HR. This will be met through recruitment, transfer, promotions training and development, retention.

In case of surplus of HR, it can be made through schemes like redeployment. Voluntary retirement through golden hand shake.

MONITORING AND CONTROL:

 The final step involved in HR planning is monitoring and control. Once the action plans are implemented these needs to be reviewed, regulated, and monitored against set standards. Monitoring of action plans and programs help reveal deficiency.