Taslim Ahammad :
Human Resource (HR) planning is now an integral part of the main business strategy. On no account business can afford the risk of a critical skills shortage. Thus, HRP helps to ensure that business has right people within the team those with the skills to compete, innovate, or grow the company.
Plans are methods for achieving a desired result; it provides a sense of purpose and direction. It is a comprehensive framework for making decisions in advance. It also facilitates the business, leading, and controlling functions of management. Planning: allows the business to make decisions ahead of time, it helps to anticipate the consequences of various courses of action, it provides direction and a sense of purpose, it provides a unifying framework against which to measure decisions, and thus helps to avoid haphazard decision making. Planning also helps identify potential opportunities and threats, and facilitates control.
HR Planning is the systematic analysis of HR needs in order to ensure that correct numbers of employees with the necessary skills are available when it required. This process involves the critical task to balance the supply and demand of HR to optimally utilise the resources.
Main objectives of HRP: (i.) Guarantee plenty supply of resources, whenever there is a need. (ii.) It makes sure that the current manpower in the company is being used properly. (iii.) To foresee the potential requirements of manpower at various skill levels. (iv.) Evaluate excess or scarcity of resources that are available at the given point of time. (v.) Predict the impact of technological changes on the resources as well as on the kind of jobs they do. (vi.) Manage the resources that are already employed in the business. (vii.) Ensure there is a lead time available to pick and train any added human resource.
HR Planning model: Forecasting recruitment needs – There are a number of ways in forecasting business needs to know the exact number of employees required to run business. Factors to be considered are the economic situation of any given country, internal and external factors of a business and demand for products. Evaluate supply – In assessing this, there are aspects, one is the evaluation of the internal resources and the other is the prospective or external resources. Among the two, external factors require extra care; these include education, unemployment rate and law that are in existence. Evaluating these factors very closely will help the business in filling the right resources at the right time with the right skill set. Supply and demand balance – This element of HR planning is very important, as striking a balance between these two forces will help the business in understanding if there is shortage or excess of employees available in a particular group. It also helps in understanding as to the need of full time or part time needs of the business.
Steps in the HRP process: Current HR supply -Evaluating the current HR availability in the business is the foremost step in HR Planning. It includes a comprehensive study of the HR strength of the business in terms of numbers, skills, talents, competencies, qualifications, experience, age, tenures, performance ratings, designations, grades, compensations, benefits, and so on. At this stage, the consultants may conduct extensive interviews with the managers to understand the critical HR issues they face and workforce capabilities they consider basic or crucial for various business processes. Forecast HR requirements – Next step is to match the current supply with the future demand of HR, and create a demand forecast. Here, it is also essential to understand the business strategy and objectives in the long run so that the workforce demand forecast is such that it aligned to the business goals. Identify HR gaps- An effective HR plan walks the fine line between supply and demand. By evaluating the current HR capacity and projecting future requirements should have a clear picture of any gaps that exist. Using HR forecast can better judge if there will be a skills gap. Make sure all current employees being utilised in the right areas or would their skills be better suited to different roles.
Future HR demand -Investigation of the future workforce requirements of the business is the vital step in HR Planning. All the known HR variables like attrition, lay-offs, foreseeable vacancies, retirements, promotions, pre-set transfers, etc. are taken into consideration while determining future HR demand. Further, certain unknown workforce variables like competitive factors, resignations, abrupt transfers or dismissals are also included in the scope of analysis. Integrate the plan with your organisation’s overall strategy -After measured current human resources capacity, projected future HR demands and identified the gaps, the final step is to integrate HR plan with business strategy. On a practical level, business will need a dedicated budget for HR recruiting, training or redundancies, and business will also need management buy-in across the business. Business will need cooperation and the necessary finances in order to implement the plan and a collaborative approach from all departments to put it into practice.
The HRP should not focus only on filling the vacant positions, but should emphasize on hiring the right person for the right job. It must also focuses on developing the skills of an existing employee through an interactive training program, with the intention to make them well equipped with the skills required in the future, for the attainment of the business objectives.
Therefore, a properly conducted process of HR Planning by an HR expert helps the business organisation in meeting its goals and objectives in timely manner with the right HR strength in action.
Human Resource (HR) planning is now an integral part of the main business strategy. On no account business can afford the risk of a critical skills shortage. Thus, HRP helps to ensure that business has right people within the team those with the skills to compete, innovate, or grow the company.
Plans are methods for achieving a desired result; it provides a sense of purpose and direction. It is a comprehensive framework for making decisions in advance. It also facilitates the business, leading, and controlling functions of management. Planning: allows the business to make decisions ahead of time, it helps to anticipate the consequences of various courses of action, it provides direction and a sense of purpose, it provides a unifying framework against which to measure decisions, and thus helps to avoid haphazard decision making. Planning also helps identify potential opportunities and threats, and facilitates control.
HR Planning is the systematic analysis of HR needs in order to ensure that correct numbers of employees with the necessary skills are available when it required. This process involves the critical task to balance the supply and demand of HR to optimally utilise the resources.
Main objectives of HRP: (i.) Guarantee plenty supply of resources, whenever there is a need. (ii.) It makes sure that the current manpower in the company is being used properly. (iii.) To foresee the potential requirements of manpower at various skill levels. (iv.) Evaluate excess or scarcity of resources that are available at the given point of time. (v.) Predict the impact of technological changes on the resources as well as on the kind of jobs they do. (vi.) Manage the resources that are already employed in the business. (vii.) Ensure there is a lead time available to pick and train any added human resource.
HR Planning model: Forecasting recruitment needs – There are a number of ways in forecasting business needs to know the exact number of employees required to run business. Factors to be considered are the economic situation of any given country, internal and external factors of a business and demand for products. Evaluate supply – In assessing this, there are aspects, one is the evaluation of the internal resources and the other is the prospective or external resources. Among the two, external factors require extra care; these include education, unemployment rate and law that are in existence. Evaluating these factors very closely will help the business in filling the right resources at the right time with the right skill set. Supply and demand balance – This element of HR planning is very important, as striking a balance between these two forces will help the business in understanding if there is shortage or excess of employees available in a particular group. It also helps in understanding as to the need of full time or part time needs of the business.
Steps in the HRP process: Current HR supply -Evaluating the current HR availability in the business is the foremost step in HR Planning. It includes a comprehensive study of the HR strength of the business in terms of numbers, skills, talents, competencies, qualifications, experience, age, tenures, performance ratings, designations, grades, compensations, benefits, and so on. At this stage, the consultants may conduct extensive interviews with the managers to understand the critical HR issues they face and workforce capabilities they consider basic or crucial for various business processes. Forecast HR requirements – Next step is to match the current supply with the future demand of HR, and create a demand forecast. Here, it is also essential to understand the business strategy and objectives in the long run so that the workforce demand forecast is such that it aligned to the business goals. Identify HR gaps- An effective HR plan walks the fine line between supply and demand. By evaluating the current HR capacity and projecting future requirements should have a clear picture of any gaps that exist. Using HR forecast can better judge if there will be a skills gap. Make sure all current employees being utilised in the right areas or would their skills be better suited to different roles.
Future HR demand -Investigation of the future workforce requirements of the business is the vital step in HR Planning. All the known HR variables like attrition, lay-offs, foreseeable vacancies, retirements, promotions, pre-set transfers, etc. are taken into consideration while determining future HR demand. Further, certain unknown workforce variables like competitive factors, resignations, abrupt transfers or dismissals are also included in the scope of analysis. Integrate the plan with your organisation’s overall strategy -After measured current human resources capacity, projected future HR demands and identified the gaps, the final step is to integrate HR plan with business strategy. On a practical level, business will need a dedicated budget for HR recruiting, training or redundancies, and business will also need management buy-in across the business. Business will need cooperation and the necessary finances in order to implement the plan and a collaborative approach from all departments to put it into practice.
The HRP should not focus only on filling the vacant positions, but should emphasize on hiring the right person for the right job. It must also focuses on developing the skills of an existing employee through an interactive training program, with the intention to make them well equipped with the skills required in the future, for the attainment of the business objectives.
Therefore, a properly conducted process of HR Planning by an HR expert helps the business organisation in meeting its goals and objectives in timely manner with the right HR strength in action.
(Taslim Ahammad, Assistant Professor, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Gopalganj, Bangladesh)
