HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

What is Planning?
Planning is a process of deciding in advance what is to be done, how, when and by whom it is to be done. Planning is a task expected of a manager. He can never perform his job without any amount of planning, especially when he takes responsibility and accountability for seeing to it that the right resources (the five Ms: men, money, machines, methodologies and materials) are made available and properly put to productive use.

What is HR Planning?
the process for ensuring that the human resource requirements of an organization are identified and plans are made for satisfying those requirements Bulla and Scott (1994) a systematic analysis in order to ensure that correct number of employees with the necessary skills are available when they are required. Mondy et (1996) human resource planning is a decision making process that combines three important activities: (1) identifying and acquiring the right number of people with the proper skills, (2) motivating them to achieve high performance, and (3) creating interactive links between business objectives and peopleplanning activities. Quinn Mills (1983) Human resource planning (HRP) is the term used to describe how companiesensure that their staff is the right staff to do the jobs Human resource planning determines the human resources required by the organization to achieve its strategic goals.

Why is HR Planning important for an organization?

EMPLOYEES ARE THE MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE IN AN ORGANIZATION and HR PLANNING SPECIFICALLY CONCENTRATES ON THE ORGANIZATIONS MOST IMPORTANT RESOURCE: PEOPLE EVEN AN ORGANIZATION THAT HAS EXCELLENT EQUIPMENT/TOOLS/WORK AREAS/POLICIES and RULESWILL NOT PERFORM AT ITS BEST IF IT DOES NOT HAVE EMPLOYEES WITH THE RIGHT COMPETENCE WHO ARE NOT IN THE PROPER JOB HR PLANNING RELATES TO ALL ASPECTS OF MANAGING PEOPLE/EMPLOYEES EFFECTIVELY (examples: staffing, training, performance, recruitment, competence, policies productivity) GIVES A RELIABLE PICTURE OF THE CURRENT WORKFORCE AT AND INDICATES THE MEASURES TO HAVE THE WORKFORCE NEEDED IN THE FUTURE

HELPS ALLOCATE HUMAN RESOURCES ACCORDING TO THE PRIORITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION CAN IMPROVE THE MANAGEMENT OF THE ORGANIZATIONS STAFF

Steps in HR Planning
1. Demand Forecasting The steps to HR Planning start with forecasting the number and type of employees needed in the future. This requires a good understanding of the internal and external environment of the enterprise. Correct forecasting of human resource requirements contributes significantly to the competitiveness of the enterprise. Organizations forecasting more workers than required retain surplus or under-utilized staff, and organizations that fail to grasp the full extent of human resources required find themselves overstretched and unable to seize opportunities. 2. Inventory Analysis and Supply Forecasting The second step in HR planning is inventory analysis or keeping track of the current employees in the organization to determine the extent to which this meets the forecast. The HR inventory analysis entails Skill inventory, or keeping track of the number of employees, and the age, locations, qualifications, and skills of each employee to determine the specific role each employee would fill in the short term and long term Forecasting resignations and recruitment and understanding their impact on the skill inventory levels Forecasting leaves, transfers, dismissals, sabbaticals, prolonged illness, and deaths of employees and their impact on inventory levels

3. Audit The third step in HR planning is audit, which includes reconciling inventory with forecast through a systematic analysis of demand and supply forecasting, and identifying areas where shortages and surpluses exist. The audit phase also involves, among other tasks: Identifying reasons for resignations, the cost of such resignations such as recruitment and training costs of new hires, cost of lost experience, skills and knowledge of the departing employee, and the like, and devise retention plans to retain key talent, if required Review the effectiveness of the recruitment activities, training and development initiatives, career planning exercises, succession planning, and other interventions

4. Reconciliation The next step in HR Planning is developing action plans to bridge the gap between forecast and supply.
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The various alternatives include: Strategy to recruit new employees Retrenchment of downsizing strategy to shed excess workforce Training and Development plans to right-size the workforce Career Planning and Succession Planning to identify key personnel Changes in work regulations such as timings, overtime policy and the like

5. Control The last step in HR Planning is monitoring and controlling implementation of the HR plan. This entails ensuring implementation proceeds in accordance with the plan and taking timely course corrections. The external and internal environment of an enterprise always remains in a state of flux, and a good HR Plan incorporates mechanisms to make timely revisions in accordance with such changes.

Human Resource Forecast

Human Resource forecasting is an exercise of projecting or anticipating what changes and needs in the organization will crop up in the future in terms of human resource. It determines how the established profit and sales goals can be met through the provision of the appropriate human resources over the same period of time. It also concerns on determining future job requirements.

Types of HR Forecast
1. Forecasting Manpower Requirements To protect and compute how many and what types of personnel are needed when and where (or what organizational unit/s), it is important to first know the demand of the of the companys products or services. 2. Forecasting Supply from inside The tendency in filling up vacancy is to supply it with qualified candidates within the organization. In smaller companies where people work closely with each other and individual qualities (personal, professional, and otherwise) are known to almost everyone, there need not be difficulty in forecasting the inside supply of manpower. 3. Forecasting supply from outside When the company cannot find the right person(s) within the company to fill up its vacancies, it can always turn to outside sources for its supply of manpower.

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