Human resources planning is a process that identifies current and future human resources
needs for an organization to achieve its goals.
Human resources planning should serve as a link between human resources management and
the overall strategic plan of an organization.
Aging worker populations in most western countries and growing demands for qualified workers
in developing economies have underscored the importance of effective Human Resources Planning.
As defined by Bulla and Scott, human resource planning is ‘the process for ensuring that
the human resource requirements of an organization are identified and plans are made for satisfying
those requirements’.
Reilly defined workforce planning as: ‘A process in which an organization attempts
to estimate the demand for labour and evaluate the size, nature and sources of supply which
will be required to meet the demand.’
Human resource planning includes creating an employer brand, retention strategy, absence
management strategy, flexibility strategy, talent management strategy, recruitment and
selection strategy.
Best practices
The planning processes of most best practice organizations not only define what will be
accomplished within a given time-frame, but also the numbers and types of human resources
that will be needed to achieve the defined business goals.
Competency-based management supports the integration of human resources planning with business
planning by allowing organizations to assess the current human resource capacity based
on their competencies against the capacity needed to achieve the vision, mission and
business goals of the organization.
Targeted human resource strategies, plans and programs to address gaps are then designed,
developed and implemented to close the gaps.
These strategies and programs are monitored and evaluated on a regular basis to ensure
that they are moving the organizations in the desired direction, including closing employee
competency gaps, and corrections are made as needed.
This Strategic HR Planning and evaluation cycle is depicted in the diagram below.
Human resource planning is the ongoing process of systematic planning to achieve the best
use of an organisation's most valuable asset - its human resources.
The objective of human resource planning is to ensure the best fit between employees and
jobs, while avoiding workforce shortages or spares.
The three key elements of the HR planning process are forecasting labour demand, analysing
present labour supply, and balancing projected labour demand and supply.
Implementation stages The following implementation stages are suggested
for mid to large organizations implementing competencies in support of Strategic Human
Resources Planning.
Stage 1 Short - Term HR Planning
Establish a Competency Architecture and Competency Dictionary that will support Strategic Human
Resource Planning.
For each group to be profiled, define the roles and career streams to help identify
current and future human resources needs.
Determine how competencies will be integrated with the existing HR Planning process and
systems.
Stage 2 Build or revamp HR Planning tools, templates
and processes to incorporate elements as determined in Stage 1.
Train managers and / or facilitate corporate HR Planning process.
Continuously monitor and improve processes, tools and systems to support HR Planning
Overarching policy, process and tools Human Resource Information Management Infrastructure
Governance/accountability structure Organizations that have effectively implemented competencies
on a corporate-wide basis have ensured that there is an appropriate project management,
governance and accountability framework in place to support the development, maintenance
and revision/updating of the competency profiles to meet changing demands.
Process implementation stages The following implementation stages are suggested
for mid to large organizations.
Stage 1 Identify the infrastructure and system requirements
to support full implementation.
Develop the competency profiles.
Implement the competency profiles in a staged-way to demonstrate benefits and create buy-in.
Communicate success stories as competency profiles are implemented.
Good for organization.
Stage 2 Develop, revise/update competency profiles
to meet changing demands.
Monitor and evaluate applications to ensure that they are meeting organizational needs,
and adjust programs/plans, as needed, to meet evolving needs.
References