Workforce planning is a tool business owners can use to plan the company staffing levels effectively and within budget. Planning calculates the correct number of employees for the business, as well as the appropriate skill sets to meet company goals. Workforce planning is a continuous process that ensures a business has the appropriate staff levels at all times.
Define Job Roles and Responsibilities
Workforce planning must identify and define job roles in all departments in the company. Defining the job roles in the business is a step toward identifying the staffing needs of each department in the organization. To identify the job roles or positions in the business, human resource professionals must link the business objectives of the company to the talent pool within the organization and identify areas that require additional employees with expertise. For example, if a company objective is to expand research and development in the company, human resource professionals may identify the need for a new position to manage the research and development department or the need to increase the engineering staff.
Identify Staffing Levels
One of the objectives of a workforce planning strategy is to identify appropriate staffing levels for all departments in a business during all shifts. This requires the business owner to determine the appropriate levels for current sales or workload, as well as to prepare for increases in business and sales. Workforce planning seeks to anticipate future staffing requirements based on sales forecasts for other forecasts of company staffing needs. Human resource workers must have a recruiting and hiring plan in place to meet the needs of the business. This preparation ensures that the business is ready to increase staffing levels when the company ramps up production. A workforce planning strategy ensures that the company always has the appropriate level of employees regardless of economic conditions.
Increase Efficiency in Human Resources
An effective planning strategy must also plan to use workers effectively in the business. The strategy can include training workers to move into higher skilled positions and promoting from within the business. The effective use of current staff ensures that the company can operate with fewer workers during difficult economic times. Some companies choose to cross train employees to maintain a flexible workforce that can perform in multiple roles when necessary.
Improve Resource Allocation
When a business determines the staffing levels and skills required for specific departments in the company, the business owner can allocate resources in the budget to fund recruitment, hiring and training costs as well as finance salaries for new employees. Workforce planning analysis can also determine that the current staffing levels are adequate, but existing employees require additional training to keep up with changing technologies. In this case, the business owner can shift funding from recruitment and hiring to training and education for current employees. Workforce allows the business to determine the future needs of the organization and to allocate resources to these needs.
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