HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

TOPIC: HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

BY

DR. NWAHANYE EMMANUEL

SENIOR LECTURER OF MANAGEMENT,
UNIVERSITY OF BUEA
Even the must talented mind in business needs the support
of commited and ideal employees to bring his ideas in
live.

However, building an effective workforce can be a

challenging exercice, but having a sound workforce at
hand can help an organisation to achieve easily its
objectives.

Getting a sound workforce starts with a planning for it. In

fact, whether a company is expanding, maintaining, or
downsizing, a workforce plan is an essential blueprint for
managing the direction of that company.
S1. THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

HR Planning is the process of forecasting the future HR requirements of the

organisation and determining as to how the existing HR capacity of the
organisation can be utilized to fulfill these requirements. It focuses on the
basic economic concepts of Demand and Supply in context to the HR
capacity of the organisation.

It is the process which helps the management in meeting the future

demand of HR in the organisation with the supply of the appropriate
people, in appropriate numbers at the appropriate time and place.

Simply put, HRP is anticipating your organisation’s future staffing needs,

and identifying the steps needed to build that ideal workforce.

NB: It is only after proper analysis of the HR requirements that the process of
recruitment & Selection can be initiated by the management.
S2. HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING PROCESS

STEP 1: ANALYZING YOUR ORGANISATION

STEP 2: FORECASTING YOUR FUTURE HR DEMAND

STEP 3: ESTIMATING YOUR HR SUPPLY

STEP 4: DETERMINING HR GAPS

STEP 5: GENERATING ALTERNATIVES IN RECONCILING HR DEMAND AND HR SUPPLY

STEP 6: DEVELOPING THE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

STEP 7: REVIEWING OF HR PLAN ANNUALLY

 STEP 1: ANALYZING YOUR ORGANISATION
Two aspects should be considered:
1. The existing workforce Analysis
Analyzing your organisation begins by gathering and examining information about the
existing workforce starting with the review of the current positions (current HR availability).
A comprehensive study of the HR strength should be conducted in terms of number
(broken down by jobs); skills, knowledge, abilities and experiences; specialized expertize
and qualification; age; gender; tenures; Team and leadership potentialities; potential for
flex-time or telecommuting, etc.
2. The organizational plans and objectives
HR Planning is a part of overall plan of organisation. Plans concerning technology,
production (for example launching of new products or services), marketing, finance,
expansion, diversification, etc. give an idea about the volume of future work activity.
Each plan can further be analysed into sub-plans and detailed programmes.
The future organisation structure and job design should be made clear and changes in
the organisation structure should be examined so as to anticipate its manpower
requirements.
 STEP 2: FORECASTING YOUR FUTURE HR DEMAND
HR demand is the future workforce requirements of the business, that is the number and
type of workers your organisation will need in the future at different levels and in different
departments (skills, age diversity, gender diversity, socio-professional categories,
specialized expertize and qualification, etc.). To forecast Labour Demand, managers
have to consider:
- organisational plans and objectives (Staff to meet short and long-term business goals)
- Job description,
- Job specification,
- Etc.
 STEP 3: ESTIMATING YOUR HR SUPPLY
Supply of HR means the availability of workers with the required skills to meet the
company’s HR demand. It may come from the internal labour market inside the company
or from the external labour market outside the company.
Many companies keep track of the internal supply of talent by generating a HR inventory
call a “Skills inventory” (that is a HR inventory that keep track of the firm internal supply of
talents by listing employees education, training, experience and language abilities).
This information is used to identify those eligible for promotion or transfer before trying to fill
the position from the external market, positions that can be fill internally, availability of
potential candidates, the need for training and development, the need for succession
planning. Such a process can reduce recruitment cost and increase employee
commitment to the company.
While estimating HR supply of different departments, care has to be taken to consider
appointments based on promotions and transfers, possible external recruitments,
resignations, retirements, lay-offs, demotions, etc.
Allocation of HR should be planned in a way that available manpower is put to full use (in
terms of work-load) to ensure smooth functioning of all departments.
 STEP 4: DETERMINING HR GAPS
HR gaps are identified by comparing HR demand and HR supply forecasts. Such
comparison will reveal either deficits (shortages; understaffing) or surpluses
(overstaffing) of HR in future both the side in kind and in number.
Similarly, gaps may occur in terms of knowledge, skills, aptitudes, expertise, gender,
age, qualification, etc.
STEP 5: GENERATING ALTERNATIVES IN RECONCILING HR DEMAND AND
HR SUPPLY
When the decision is to hire employees, it is very important to determine the Cost-Per-Hire
(CPH) using the following formula
Add together cost of advertising, employees referral rewards, administrative costs of
recruitment (internal & external), recruitment technology, travel expenses, background
check, potential relocation, etc.
Determine the average cost by dividing the Total cost by the number of individual hired.
This can be used in different ways including:
- Comparing hiring methods
- Determining whether to outsource recruitment
- Assessing the cost of employee turnover rate.
 STEP 6: DEVELOPING THE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

Should include
1. Timetable for filling opened and anticipated positions.
2. Design time to finalize job description and recruitment advertising
3. Separation agreement if applicable.
 STEP 7: REVIEWING OF HR PLAN ANNUALLY
Why?
TO ACCOMMODATE GROWTH AND CHANGES
- Staffing change due to growth and contraction of the business
- Management changes
- Economic changes
- Physical location changes
- Development of new products or services which require employees with
specialized skills.
- Etc.
APPLICATION
The New Deal Cie social balance sheet gives the following information’s:
Number of workers Executive Staff Middle management Skilled Workers Unskilled Workers Total
at 31rst/12/2018
21 27 65 122 235

The established hypothesis about the components of demographic evolution conduct to

look ahead 15 cases of retirement (either 2 Executive Staff, 3 Middle management, 4 Skilled
Workers and 6 Unskilled Workers); 5 cases of resignation (either 1 Middle management, 1
Skilled Workers and 3 Unskilled Workers); and 45 cases of recruitment (either 1 Executive
Staff, 2 Middle management, 3 Skilled Workers and 39 Unskilled Workers)
Within 5 years, 20 promotions of Unskilled Workers to Skilled Workers are possible, 10
promotions of Skilled Workers to Middle management, and 5 promotions of Middle
management to Executive Staff.
In 2023, the integration of investment program and economics forecasting (prevision),
permit to evaluate the needs at 5 years thus: 25 Executive Staff, 30 Middle management, 65
Skilled Workers and 150 Unskilled Workers.
Required
 Underline the problems of employment of New Deal Cie in 2023 (Use the human resources
planning steps).
 This enterprise has various correcting act to resolve these employment problems. List the
possible policies and give the implications of the one that encourage internal mobility.