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HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Human Resource Planning is a process of forecasting and strategizing to meet the
organization’s demand and supply of manpower needs in the present and future. It is
a process to ensure that you have the right people with the right skillset in your team
thereby building a strong workforce capability in your organization. 
No business strategy can succeed without an abled workforce that innovates and
competes to grow your organization. Human resource Planning helps to take care of
any critical shortages in manpower hence mitigating business risks. 
Human Resource Planning is no science but an approach based on ideas and
processes that help to forecast and manage operations effectively. Before we study
how we can create a robust Human Resource Plan, let us understand and answer
why we need it and the benefits thereof.
Building resilience to the dynamic economic environment
Our world is going through metamorphic changes in technology. Globalization and
cultural shifts are a reality. Consequently, product shelf life is shortening and the skill
gaps are rising high. Not just the physical or financial capital, human capital needs to
adapt to this new reality. The world’s socio-economic structure has changed to a
knowledge-based economy and having talent superheroes is fundamental to survival.
An effective Human Resource Planning enables us to build resilience in combating
volatile business situations like mergers and acquisitions, increased offshore jobs,
industry competition, changes in government legislature, etc.

Improving operations in your human resource planning process

Workforce analysis and human resource planning process helps to streamline various
business functions as you can plan the right deployment of the workforce according to
need. You know well in advance potential shortages in any discipline of business and
are prepared to take care of it. This avoids any potential operational danger that may
result due to the shortage or surplus of manpower. 
Good HR planning also supports the distribution of talent across geographies and
culture in a planned way hence creating a positive value proposition. Introducing
training and proper succession plans reduces risks of talent void thereby increasing
productivity.

Adapt to technology changes

Millennial is a huge 50 percent of the workforce distribution and the future belongs to
a technologically advanced human resource team that can learn and adapts to meet
the expectations of these millennials. Data-driven analysis has become imperative for
future-ready businesses. A correct Human resource plan is instrumental in
introducing and distributing talent across diverse business functions and technology
groups thereby supporting growth.
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Also, technology changes require organizations to keep evolving the way you do
business. Current skills may become obsolete in the future. New technology requires
a new skill set that is not readily available in the labour market. A proper plan to scout
and hire for the required skillset is vital. 

Here it is also important to note that technology change initiatives fail due to
employees’ resistance towards it and poor communication. Change management is
effective in minimizing adverse effects only when it involves people’s plans in it.
Enable growth phase for small and mid-size businesses
Small businesses’ growth is often sudden and dynamic. They get impacted by the
external environment the most.HR planning for small businesses is not just an
additional adjustment but an integral part of the overall growth strategy. Often small
businesses need to plan when to outsource, how many people to recruit, what are the
compensation benefits on offer etc.
A small business may initially start with 2-3 people, but their business strategy needs
to involve the human plan to know how they are going to grow in team size to meet
business goals.
Anticipating changes in the labour market
As per Deloitte’s 2017 report on Global Human capital trends, the digital age is
changing the skill requirements constantly. Acquiring the right talent has become
quite a challenge and pose a growth risk for many companies. The economy has
become Knowledge-based and the expectations of the employees have changed
manifold. They have become equal opportunity stakeholders and have their voice in
defining the growth strategy.
Hence it is an advantage to create a sound strategy involving talent
management, team management, succession planning, training, etc to cater to the
ever-changing staffing demands.
Human resource planning process involves the following steps
You can’t deliver business strategy without the right human capital in the right places
for the task at hand. After you are ready with your reasons to have effective Human
Resource Planning, create a planning process which will act as a roadmap to add
value to your strategy and forecast. 

Though there is no one size fit all strategy, you can customize and build your own
strategic process to plan your HR goals in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

1. Define the HR planning goal

It is fundamental to align the HR practices to the business goals at large. Human

resource planning that does not encompass the holistic vision and mission of the
business function is unstructured and unreliable. 

So, the best practice involves setting out a clear objective guideline to know what
are your Human Resource Planning goals. This may include:

 Goals around building a strong recruitment strategy.

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 Fostering positive employee relations

 Enabling positive work culture.
 Creating an attractive employee benefit plan.

2. Analyze the current HR supply

The foremost step in an effective Human Resource Planning is to analyze and

assess the current resource availability and strength. It involves an exhaustive
study of the human resource of the organization in terms of skills, qualifications,
experience, age, tenure, performance, designations, compensation, benefits, etc. 

Extensive meeting sessions with managers and top leaders can help you identify
the critical HR issues that they face and the impact on the business growth
consequently.

3. Forecast the HR demand

Analysing the future manpower requirements of the business is a significant step

in HR Planning. There are no absolute and objective conclusions to it but a
forecast can be built around known factors like attrition, lay-offs, retirements,
promotions, etc. Further, there could also be uncertain factors and situations like
resignations, abrupt transfers, etc affection your employee retention rate, which
are integral to study from the scope of analysis.

There are broadly two types of forecasting analysis that can help understand the
future workforce demands.

 Qualitative: This includes analysing behavioural and performance-related

issues and impacts. Forecasting through manager discussions and
perspectives around employee engagement and involvement.
 Quantitative: This is more statistical and objective analysis. e.g demand
as the ratio of production achieved divided by the number of workers
deployed, work-study analysis, etc. 

Here, it is also essential to understand the business strategy and objectives in the
long run so that the workforce demand forecast is aligned to the organizational
goals.

4. Know the gaps

Once the demand forecast is complete and you are ready with the blueprint of
future needs, you will be able to identify the gaps against the previous study of the
availability of resources. Study the gaps and identify if you need to fulfil the
manpower needs through hiring full time, part-time or contractual labours
according to the business goal strategy. Map the forecast with the currently
available resources to create a suitable implementation strategy.

5. HR planning strategy and implementation

 Planning stage
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After reviewing the existent gaps between the demand and supply, it is time to
create a sound plan of action that determines to fill the needs and meet the
forecasts. Determine whether to hire, train or outsource manpower to meet the
requirement and also create a buffer. To manage surplus, you can consider
voluntary retirement, internal transfers, relocation or redeployment. HR

Training and up-gradation can also be used as an additional strategy to build

internal capability resource. Training is not only an effective retention
strategy but also serves your purpose to create a future-ready workforce with
the required skill set.

A Simple Plan will include:

 Defining goals and objectives 

 Action required with desired outcomes and the resources to be used.
 Defining timelines to achieve the outcomes.
 Scope of periodic review of the plan to know the progress.

 Implementation stage

Implementing any strategy from paper to practice is the most challenging and
daunting task. Many organizations fail to deliver when it comes to execution. Take
your managers into confidence to make the implementation process smooth.
Follow one step at a time to absorb and handle any unexpected resistance or
challenge that you may face from employees. Give gradual conditioning to the
execution plan so that your employees get to acclimate to the changes. 

Also, ensure that all necessary legal compliances and regulations are taken into
consideration while implementing the Human Resource planning strategy to avoid
any glitches.

6. Review, Feedback and Control

The process of successful Human Resource Planning is ongoing. It is important to

have a frequent review of the actionable plan to know if your strategy is moving in
the right direction and meeting the goals and objectives. Monitor the progress of
your plan regularly to mitigate any risks of failure. Create a handy and
objective project management sheet to analyze and monitor the action plan to
achieve this.

Proactively avoiding talent shortages and manage surpluses to achieve the best
talent pool based is an ongoing, systematic process. Any major change in the
business function or any new contract won will require you to re-align the Human
Resource Planning. 

Also, there could be different planning models within the same organization to
meet different departmental needs. A strong and detailed eye on coordinating all
the factors put together can help you develop a robust plan.
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CONCLUSION

The future of Human Resource planning is quite complex thanks to globalization and
greater emphasis on outsourcing and offshoring. The companies have to be agile in
responding to changing market trends and this is only possible through sound HR
planning that can lessen the impact of change. In the end, as we understand, data-
driven decision making in the future is as critical as other business functions. ROI is
essential and can be secured through a strong Human Resource Plan based on an
analytical viewpoint.