Managing the human resource flow

HR planning is about thinking ahead so that staff have the right balance of the right skills in each year into the future. They key components of HR planning are:

• Audit what you have at the moment; how many staff and what their skills are. 
• Analyse the corporate plan to turn plans into people. 
• Take into account the changes on the way fro here to there. How many will retire, have kids or have a career change. 
• Calculate the gaps that need to be filled between now and two years time. This can be done through the following sum:
  • Staff needed in 2 years - staff now plus staff leaving between now and then = extra staff required. 

Having completed this process, it is time to put it into practice. The process of HR planning includes recruitment and selection, training and development, and planned reduncancies. 

A HR plan emphasises quantity (the right number of people with the right skills) plue quality (the soft skills shown by staff, such as the ability to collaborate and communicate). The plan provides a structure within which effective recruitment can take place. Within this, the character and personalities of the new staff should be treated as of equal importance as their skills and aptitudes. 

The recruitment process may be triggered by a number of events, including retirement or finding employment elsewhere. At this point, it would be worth analysing the vacant job role; do they even need to hire someone or can other employees pick up the slack. 

Once the firm has established its HR requirements, the next step is to consider the nature of the work and workers required in order to draw up a person specification and job description. 

Training is the process of instructing an individual about how to carry out tasks directly related to his or her current job. Development includes helping an individual to realise his or her full potential. 

The four key objectives ofr training and development are:

• To help a new employee reach the level of performance expected form from an experienced worker. Known as induction training. Contains info such as dealing with the precise nature of the job, layout of the firm's operating facility, health and safety measures, and security systems. 
• To provide a wide pool of skills available to the organisation, both at present and in the future. 
• To develop a knowledge and committed workforce. 
• To deliver high-quality products or services. 

On-the-job training - Employees are not required to leave their workplace but actually recieve instruction while still carrying out their job. This means that workers can recieve training while remaining productive to some extent. Common methods include mentoring, coaching and job rotation. 

Off-the-job training - Leave the workplace to recieve instruction. Tempoary loss of production but will allow access to more experienced instructors than those available within the workplace. 

+ of training:

• Increases level & skill of employees - improvements in productivity & quality
• Increases degree of flexibility - faster rapid response to change
• Lead to more motivated workforce by creating opportunities for development and promotion.

- of training:

• Expensive, production disrupted, newly-trained employees may be poached by rivals.

Even in the most successful businesses, changes in market demand or in technology can make certain tasks or responsibilities redundant. 

Redeployment has saveral benefits for the organisation:

• saves the cost of redundancy payments
• helps internal morale, as staff see the organisation trying its best to avoid redundancy
• avoids recruiting from outside, when existing employees already understand the culture and procedures within the business - thereby avoiding the induction learning curve. 

HR plans are as important in downturns as in the good times. Whereas it may be necessary to dismiss an incompetent employee at any time, redundancies only occur when there is a reduced need for staff - usually because sales are declining or technology is changing labour requirements. 

HR managers are the ones who have to cope with the task of selecting those to be made redundant - and then informing them.