Workforce Planning Essay Example

bulldlng understanding and capabllltles in Workforce Planning, supported by simple tools, templates and techniques.

Once established and practiced, these tools, templates and techniques can become more sophisticated and link to existing or new IT systems to enable Workforce Planning to be integrated into normal business practice Actlvltles conducted under workfore planning There are five fundamental actlvltles that make up a Workforce Plan: Workforce planning must be based on reliable and accurate data contained within the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) as well as information collated through environmental scanning and benchmarking activities.

Workforce Profile data can include: * Workforce demographic/turnover/recruitment data * Workload measurements * Position establishment information * Financial data * Labor market data, for example unemployment rates, local skills base information * Legislative/regulatory parameters. Why is workforce planning important? * Budget The case for greater attention to workforce planning is persuasive. We live in an age of unprecedented change - and the scope and scale of these system wide changes requires us to think differently about our workforce. These challenges will almost certainly demand and involve new skills, knowledge and attributes.

Amongst these many challenges are: * The ongoing effects of an ageing population means fewer people of working age * The formidable challenges of skill shortages and competition for talent * The need to increase workforce participation, particularly among excluded groups * VET and Higher Education reform * Increasing importance of the contingent workforce A tighter fiscal environment and the push for greater productivity * Rise in community expectations and a focus on citizen confidence * Globalisation of the economy and financial markets * Rapid growth in Information Technology

* Growth in the knowledge industry and in

knowledge workers We need to be cognisant of these realities and thinking consciously and deeply about how we compete for talent in this environment. This widening gap between our ability to meet demand will only intensify pressure for workforce planning initiatives to meet the needs of the population. In this way, workforce planning is a critical enabler for gencies to attract and retain the talent they require now and in the future.

Developing and implementing a workforce plan Workforce planning enables us to look forward strategically and deal with expected labor shortages or surpluses. Once we have identified and analyzed your workforce gap, it is now time to develop our workforce plan. our workforce plan will identify areas to focus on and initiatives needed to attract skilled workers and retain key staff. Developing a workforce plan involves the following five steps: Documentation Documenting the results of our gap analysis and highlighting the workforce issues hat will impact on your organization's ability to achieve its goals This first step builds on the workforce gap analysis.

For example, we may have a number of workers nearing retirement who have many years of experience and hold significant skills and knowledge. Assess the risk of not resolving the identified workforce issues Scenario planning is a useful technique to assess risk by asking What will I do if ...? For example, if we rely on particular skilled workers we might consider the impact of these workers taking extended leave, choosing to reduce their hours, resigning or retiring. What are some of the options you could take to avoid losing valuable people? How could these options be managed? Develop initiatives aimed at improving

attraction and retention At this stage we need to work out how to address each workforce issue that has been raised in your gap analysis.

For example, you may decide to address an ageing workforce by offering work experience or traineeships to younger people along with appointing key older workers as mentors. One proven method for developing initiatives to attract and retain staff is simply to ask our current staff - they are in the best position to offer advice on what will keep them appy and productive in the workplace. Succession planning Succession planning is the identification and tracking of employees potentially capable of filling other roles or higher-level managerial positions. Succession planning is an important tool to ensure that key roles can be filled from within your business when the time comes to replace employees who are retiring, resigning or going on extended leave such as long service or parental leave.

This helps to maintain corporate knowledge and transfer this knowledge internally, reducing the risk of corporate memory loss. Establishing an action plan with timeframes An action plan will identify what needs to be done (for example, offering more flexible working hours for staff with families or caring duties), who needs to take charge of it (for example, the general manager) and when it needs to be done. There may be a need for additional resources (for example, some training in using spreadsheet software for the person responsible for staff rosters). There may be a need for redeploying existing staff to accommodate greater flexibility in the workplace.

Establish how and when we will evaluate the effectiveness of your initiatives To etermine whether we are successfully managing

workforce issues it is useful to set quantitative goals, which are goals expressed in numbers. For example, in your workforce gap analysis you may have identified a critical work area with high turnover and discovered that staff have left or are finding it difficult to stay because their working hours interfere with family commitments. You may have developed an initiative to offer flexible working arrangements to address this issue. Such a plan can be evaluated by using measurements based on turnover percentage fgures.