HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Unit 2
Human Resource Planning
 ORIENTATION ACTIVITY
Let’s watch a Video entitled:
“Success in the Workplace – Career Readiness – The
importance of having a positive Attitude at Work”
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QUESTIONS??
1. What is the importance of displaying a good attitude at
work.
2. Can we be certain of our attitude at all times?
3. Do you display a good attitude all the time?
4. Can HR plan for employee attitude/s displayed on the
job?
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Explain the importance of HR planning (HRP).
2. Identify factors that influence HR plans.
3. Examine the stages/steps in human resource planning
process.
4. Evaluate strategies for HRP outcomes.
5. Examine the use of talent acquisition in HR planning
6. Develop a human resource plan for an organization
(student)
HR PLANNING - DEFINITION

Human Resource planning is the process by which

an organisation ensures that:

 It has the right number and kinds of people,

 At the right places,
 At the right time,
 Capable of effectively and efficiently completing
those tasks that will help the organisation
achieve its overall strategic objectives.
HR PLANNING - DEFINITION

 HRP is a process of determining their company’s

manpower to ensure that the organization will
have an adequate number of qualified persons,
available at proper times, performing jobs which
meet the needs of the enterprise and which
provides satisfaction for the individuals involved –
stakeholders.

 Through planning, management strives for the

organization and individual to receive maximum
long run benefits.
HR PLANNING

 Human resource planning is important for helping

both organizations and employees to prepare for
the future.

 The basic goal of human resource planning is to

predict the future and based on these predictions,
implement programmes to avoid anticipated
problems.
 HR PLANNING

 Very briefly, human resource planning is the process of

examining an organization‘s or individual‘s future human
resource needs.

 Ascertaining the knowledge and skills the company

needs for future jobs compared to future human
resource capabilities (such as the types of skilled
employees you already have) and developing human
resource policies and practices to address performance
management challenges and implementation of training
and development programmes to avoid skill deficiencies.
FOUR (4) PHASED PROCESS OF HRP

 The first phase involves the gathering and analysis of

data through manpower inventories and forecasts,

 The second phase consists of establishing manpower

objectives and policies and gaining top management
approval of these.

 The third phase involves designing and

implementing plans and promotions to enable
the organization to achieve its manpower objectives.
FOUR (4) PHASED PROCESS OF HRP

 The fourth phase is concerned with control and

evaluation of manpower plans to facilitate
progress in order to benefit both the organization
and the individual.

 The long run view means that gains may be sacrificed

in the short run for the future grounds. The planning
process enables the organization to identify what its
manpower needs is and what potential manpower
problems required current action. This leads to more
effective and efficient performance.
 IMPORTANCE OF HR PLANNING PROCESS

 It is the process of assessing the future supply of and

demand for human resources.

 It also provides mechanisms to eliminate any gaps

that may exist between supply and demand.

 It is a process of determining what positions in the

firm will have to be filled and when
IMPORTANCE OF HR PLANNING PROCESS

 Human Resource planning translates the

organization’s overall goal into the number and types
of workers needed to meet those goals.

 Without clear-cut planning, estimation of an

organization’s human resource need is reduced to
mere guesswork.

 Thus, HR planning determines the number and types

of employees to be recruited into the organisation or
phased out of it
FACTORS AFFECTING PLANNING

1. Organization HR policies on recruitment and

selection, promotion, succession management
and career development planning, retirement,
training and development .

2. Organizational values and strategies

 Values - If it values longevity of employees, then
the HR plan might adopt that a strategy to
recruit and promote from within.
FACTORS AFFECTING PLANNING

Strategy – a plan of action to achieve, short,

middle and long-term goals.
 How does the organization intend to use HR to
achieve business strategy?

 If an organization is pursuing a diversification

strategy, then the HR plan should ensure that it is
prepared with staff that can help the firm achieve
its strategy, e.g. new organisation structure,
recruitment and selection, training.
FACTORS AFFECTING PLANNING

 Changing demographic - more young, more old,

more educated, higher skilled.

 Government policy - Requirement for gender

balance, disability employment, mandatory
retirement age.

 The type of people employed and the task they

perform. eg. unskilled labour.
FACTORS AFFECTING PLANNING

 Political factors are very important in planning. It

is important to take into consideration likely
changes to markets, budgets and availability of
suitable applicants because of recent, anticipated
political influences.
 FACTORS AFFECTING PLANNING

7. Economic Conditions/Changes: One of the biggest

external influences is the shape of the current
economy.

Not only does it affect the current talent pool

in the organization, but it might affect the complete
selection, hiring ability, compensation structure of the
organization.
PROCESS OF HR PLANNING

1. Review your current organizational strategic

plan
2. Review the current human resources situation
3. Forecast on the future HR needs ( supply and
demands)
4. Planning on meeting HR needs
5. Implement the plan – recruit, select, training ,
downsizing
 1. REVIEWING THE CURRENT STRATEGIC
PLAN
 HR planning goes hand in hand with the organizational
strategic planning.

 Strategic planning refers to the organizational

decision about how it wants to accomplish its mission
and strategies.

 The first stage of HR planning is the point at which

HRM and strategic planning initially interact.
 1. REVIEWING THE CURRENT STRATEGIC
PLAN

 What is the future direction of the company and what

are the implications of HR.

 Future direction in terms of technology, markets,

organizational structures.
2. REVIEW THE CURRENT HUMAN RESOURCE
SITUATION

 This is done by studying HR records to determine:

 How many do we have in what category? Quality

and quantity.

Who is leaving the organization and when (project

turnover as result of resignation and termination)
2. REVIEW THE CURRENT HUMAN RESOURCE
SITUATION

 HR Analyics
3. FORECASTING FUTURE HUMAN
RESOURCE NEEDS

I. Forecast Staff demand

II. Forecast Staff supply

FORECASTING DEMAND

 Review the approved organizational

structure/approved positions. How many
positions, what levels and grade?

 The demand is closely tied to the strategic

direction that the organization has decided to
take. – Are we engaged in reengineering?
technological changes? Will these new approaches
shrink/change the workforce in the coming years?
 FORECASTING DEMAND (2)

 Consider:

 Major customer requirements and hence forecast on

revenue and seasonal fluctuations

 Projected staff turnover ( as a result of resignation,

termination or retirement)

 Strategic decisions to upgrade the quality of products or

services or enter new markets

 Technological and other changes resulting in increased

productivity
TECHNIQUES OF FORECASTING DEMAND

 Experts estimates - provide the organisation with

demand estimates based on experience, guesses,
intuition, and subjective assessment of available
economic and labour force indicators

 Trend Projections - Developing a forecast based

on past relationship between a factor related to
employment and employment itself
TECHNIQUES FOR FORECASTING (2)

 Statistical modeling -Using sophisticated

forecasting and modeling techniques, using factors
such as sales, GDP, incomes etc and develop
mathematical models for forecasting

 Unit demand forecasting - The unit manager

analysis - person by person, job –by-job needs in the
present as well as in the future
 FORECASTING SUPPLY

Internal supply
 The main task is to determining which current
employees might be qualified for the projected
openings
 This determines how many, and what kind of
employees are currently available in terms of skills
and training necessary for the future.
 FORECASTING SUPPLY

The major tool used to assess the current supply of

employees is the skills inventory.

 In some organizations, there will be a separate

inventory just for managers called a management
inventory.
 SKILLS INVENTORY

 Purpose: to note what kind of skills, abilities,

experiences, and training the employees currently
have.

 By keeping track of these, the organization can

quickly determine whether a particular skill is
available and when it will be needed

 Skills inventory are also useful in career planning,

management development and related activities
 SKILLS INVENTORY

This consolidates Basic Information on all employees so

the HR Manager can:

 Identify qualified employees for different jobs

 Determine which skills are present or lacking in the
organization – identify the gaps
 Assess long-term recruitment & selection, training and
development requirements

Can be simple and manually kept or maintained in part of a

HRMIS System
CONTENTS OF A SKILLS INVENTORY

 Once a decision has been made to create a skills

inventory, the HR manager must determine what
information will be contained in the system.
CONTENTS OF A SKILLS INVENTORY (2)

 The list of data that can be coded into the skills

inventories is endless and it must be tailored to the
needs of each organization.

Some of the most common items include:

 Name and Employees’ number
 Present location
 Date of birth, date of employment
 Job classification
CONTENTS OF A SKILLS INVENTORY (3)

 Specific skills and knowledge

 Education and field of education( formal
education and course taken since leaving school)
 Professional qualification
 A supervisors evaluation of the employees
capabilities
 Salary range,
 Employees stated career goals and objectives,
including geographical preferences and intended
retirement date
COMPONENTS OF A SKILLS INVENTORY

Content can be put into three components of as

follows:
1. Data summarizing the employees past:
2. Data summarizing status of present skills
3. Data that focus on the future
 DATA SUMMARIZING THE EMPLOYEES PAST
a) Title and brief job description highlighting positions held
in the over the years either in the organization or
previous organizations

b) Critical skills developed in these positions – manual,

cognitive, creative

c) Educational achievements – high school, job relevant

classes, college (major minor)

d) significant special project accomplished during the last

five years ( within this organisation or the previous
organisation)
DATA SUMMARIZING THE STATUS OF THE
PRESENT SKILLS

A) skill related - highlights last three performance

appraisals

B) Employee perception of what is done well on

present job e.g. skill competencies, perception of
how skills could be improved

C) Employees supervisor perception of the same

DATA THAT FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

A) Personal career goals – one year, three years,

identify specific positions and aspiration. Avoid
global generalities like “higher up”

B) View of the individuals present supervisors as

to what he or she could be prepared to become.
List specific position (part of the succession plan)

C) Specify training and development efforts that

the individual is motivated to undertake – on
the job, off the job, classroom or experiential
 MAINTAINING THE SKILLS INVENTORY

The skill inventory is maintained by continuous

gathering, handling and updating data. Decisions to be
made include:
1. Method of data gathering: The two principle method
of gathering data are interviewing and questionnaire

2. When to update: Updating must be planned – e.g.

annual update, or where changes are frequent,
monthly update
3. Manual or computerizes: A decision will also have to
be made on whether to store data manually or to
computerize it.
 FORECASTING EXTERNAL SUPPLY

From the Labour Market

 Consider: economic indicators – competition and

wage levels, cost of living, education levels,
unemployment levels

 Forecast on the availability of potential job candidates

in specific occupation e.g. IT, HR, Finance etc - is there
an under or over supply.
ACTION DECISIONS IN HR PLANNING

 After HR planning system has analyzed both the

supply and demand for future workers, these two
forecasts are compared to determine what if any
actions should be taken.

 Whenever there is a discrepancy between the tow

estimates, organizations need to choose a course
of action to eliminate the gaps
 ACTION DECISIONS ON A SHORTAGE OF
EMPLOYEES
 Use of overtime - if the shortage is small and the
employees are willing to work overtime, it can be filled
with present employees

 Recruitment for skills where there are gaps.

 Recalling employees who were laid off, retired.

 Use of part time workers, subcontracting.

 ACTION DECISIONS ON A SHORTAGE OF
EMPLOYEES

 Training and development staff to meet the resource

gaps

 Promoting employees from lower level to higher levels

where there are gaps
 ACTION DECISIONS IN SURPLUS
CONDITIONS
 Attrition and Hiring Freeze – through attrition,
individuals who quit, die, or retire are not replaced. Those
who remain must handle the same workload with fewer
people.

 Early Retirement/ Buy Outs –a means of encouraging

more workers to leave the organisation early with some
incentives.
 ACTION DECISIONS IN SURPLUS
CONDITIONS

 Lay offs – can be temporary or permanent. A temporary

lay off occurs during slack periods when the workforce. As
soon as the work resumes to its normal level, workers are
called.. Companies have no legal obligation to provide a
financial cushion to laid-off employees
 ACTION DECISIONS IN SURPLUS
CONDITIONS (2)
 Leave of Absence without Pay – this gives workers the
opportunity to take leaves of absence without pay.
Individuals offered this leave are usually employees
whose jobs may be eliminated in the future.

 Demotions – to reduce the number of employees where

there is a surplus at a senior level and there is a shortage
at a lower level.

 Transfers – employees can be transferred from

areas/departments with surpluses to department with
shortages
ACTION DECISIONS IN SURPLUS
CONDITIONS (3)
 Creation of more work – the organisation can
expand its operations by going into other
locations or producing additional products

 Note: As an approach to dealing with a surplus,

most organisations avoid lay offs and rely more on
attrition, early retirements and creation of work
 PLAN TO MEET HUMAN RESOURCE NEED

Develop operational plans for each of the above

actions: e.g.
I. Training and development plans
II. Recruitment and selection plans
III. Retirement/right sizing plans
IV. Transfer plans
 REQUISITES FOR SUCCESSFUL HR
PLANNING
• HRP must be recognized as an integral part of
corporate planning

• Support of top management is essential

• There should be some centralization with respect to

HRP responsibilities in order to have co-ordination
between different levels of management.

• Organization records must be complete, up to date

and readily available.
 REQUISITES FOR SUCCESSFUL HR
PLANNING
 Techniques used for HR planning should be those best
suited to the data available and degree of accuracy
required.

 Data collection, analysis, techniques of planning and

the plan themselves need to be constantly revised and
improved in the light of experience.
 BARRIERS TO HR PLANNING

Human Resource Planners face significant barriers while

formulating an HRP. The major barriers are elaborated
below:
1) HR practitioners are perceived as experts in
handling personnel matters, but are not experts in
managing business. The personnel plan conceived
and formulated by the HR practitioners when
entangled with organizational plan, might make
the overall strategic plan of the organization
ineffective.
 BARRIERS TO HR PLANNING

Human Resource Planners face significant barriers while

formulating an HRP. The major barriers are elaborated
below:
2) HR information often is incompatible with other
information used in strategy formulation.
Strategic planning efforts have long been oriented
towards financial forecasting, often to the
exclusion of other types of information. Financial
forecasting takes precedence over HRP.
 BARRIERS TO HR PLANNING

Human Resource Planners face significant barriers while

formulating an HRP. The major barriers are elaborated
below:
 3) Conflict may exist between short term and long
term HR needs. Many managers are of the belief that
HR needs can be met immediately because skills are
available on the market as long as wages and salaries
are competitive. Therefore, long times plans are not
required, short planning are only needed.
 BARRIERS TO HR PLANNING

Human Resource Planners face significant barriers while

formulating an HRP. The major barriers are elaborated
below:
 4) There is conflict between quantitative and
qualitative approaches to HRP. Some people view
HRP as a number game designed to track the flow
of people across the department. Others take a
qualitative approach and focus on individual
employee concerns such as promotion and career
development. Best result can be achieved if there
is a balance between the quantitative and
qualitative approaches.
 BARRIERS TO HR PLANNING

Human Resource Planners face significant barriers while

formulating an HRP. The major barriers are elaborated
below:
5) Non-involvement of operating managers renders
HRP ineffective. HRP is not strictly an HR
department function. Successful planning needs a
co-ordinated effort on the part of operating
managers and HR personnel.
CLOSING VIDEO …

ENTITLED:
Employee Testimonials: Opportunities and Growth
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Can Proper HR Planning achieve this?

1–56
 SOURCES

• Dessler, Gary. (2008). Human Resource Management, (11

edition) NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall Inc.

• https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/human-resource-
planning.asp

• https://businessjargons.com/human-resource-planning-
process.html