2 – Human Resource Planning

Introduction

Human resource planning describes how businesses ensure that their employees are qualified to do their tasks. Subtopics include staff retention, candidate search training, skills analysis, and more.

Human Resource Planning is “the process by which management ensures that the organisation has the necessary individuals capable of accomplishing those duties that enable the organisation to achieve its objectives.”

It’s a method for anticipating and mapping out the effects of a company’s business strategy on its human resources. This is apparent in both skill and competency planning and total headcounts.

The human resource function has the following functions:

1. To contribute to the decision-making process by providing information and opinions on each option, including:
   1. Redundancy or recruitment costs
   2. Morale consequences
   3. Redeployment/outplacement opportunities
   4. Availability of skilled personnel within the organisation
   5. Availability of suitable people on the job market
   6. Time constraints
   7. Development/training needs/schedules
   8. Management requirements.

This is included in the data gathered from the entire organisation.

2. Individuals as numbers: The method of personnel planning that tackles questions such as:
   1. How many employees do we have/need?
   2. How do they get around?
   3. What is the age distribution?
   4. How many people will leave during the next five years?
   5. How many will be required in one, five, or ten years?
3. Forecasting approaches: Human resource planners can use extrapolation (of historical patterns), anticipated production/sales, employee analysis, and scenario creation to forecast.
4. Turnover of employees: Turnover refers to the entire input-output process, from recruiting through dismissal or retirement, and includes the effects of promotion and transfer.
5. ‘Soft’ planning: HRM suggests that planning must extend beyond the ‘numbers game’ to include employee attitudes, behaviour, and commitment. These elements are crucial for HR development, performance evaluation, and change management.

2.1 Human Resource Planning

“The process through which management determines how an organisation should transition from its existing manpower position to its target manpower position,” according to Wikipedia. Through planning, management aims to have the correct number and types of people in the right locations at the right time to do things, resulting in the most significant long-term benefits for both the business and the person.

According to Stainer, people resource or manpower planning is “a strategy for acquiring, utilising, improving, and preserving an enterprise’s human resources.” It involves defining work specifications or the quantitative needs of a job, determining the number of people needed, and developing manpower sources.

According to Coleman, human resource or manpower planning is “the process of determining manpower requirements and means of achieving those requirements to carry out the organization’s integrated strategy.”

Human resource planning, according to Wickstrom, entails the following activities:

1. Making an inventory of current manpower resources and assessing the extent to which these resources are being used optimally, either in terms of mathematical projections of trends in the economic environment and development in industry or based on the specific plans of a company;
2. Forecasting future manpower requirements, either in terms of mathematical projections of trends in the economic environment and development in industry or based on the specific plans of a company;
3. Projecting current resources into the future and comparing them to forecasted requirements to establish their sufficiency, both quantitatively and subjectively;
4. Developing the appropriate requirements, selection, training, development, usage, transfer, promotion, motivation, and compensation programmes to ensure that future manpower needs are satisfied.

2.2 Requirement of Human Resource Planning

According to Narayanrao, human resource planning is practical at several levels.

1. At the national level: This is usually done by the government and includes things like population estimates, economic development plans, educational facilities, occupational distribution and growth, and personnel mobility in terms of both industry and geography.
2. At the sector level, the government—either central or state—can address agricultural, industrial, and service sector workforce demands.
3. At the industry level, this could include workforce forecasts for specific areas such as cement, engineering, heavy industries, consumer products, and public utilities.
4. At the level of the particular unit, it could be related to its staffing requirements for various departments and people types.

For one or more of the following reasons, human resource planning is believed vital for all organisations:

1. Human resource planning is required to identify areas with a surplus of staff or a deficit of personnel.
2. Existing personnel must be trained, or new people must be hired to address the difficulties of new and changing technology and new production practices.
3. Each company requires individuals with the credentials, abilities, knowledge, work experience, and aptitude for work to carry out its mission. Effective workforce planning is used to provide these services.
4. Human resource planning is required to deal with the unavoidable high labour turnover rate.
5. The organization’s human resource requirements must increase to meet the need for expansion programmes (which are required for the organization’s growth).

2.3  Process of HRP

Human resource planning is one of the most important, complicated, and ongoing managerial functions. With the growth in the scale of businesses, the complexity of industrial processes, and the adoption of professional management practises, this process has become more important in India. It’s a step-by-step procedure.

2.3.1 Steps in HR Planning

1. Investigation:

In any organisation, this is the first stage of HRP. In this stage, organisations attempt to raise knowledge of the detailed personnel scenario from a holistic perspective, considering their current manpower. A SWOT analysis can give a more accurate picture with proper consideration of the external environment, performance and productivity trends, working habits, and operational and strategic plans. At this time, scientific assignments can assist in identifying current and prospective skill deficits. SWOT analysis can be improved using a cause-and-effect (fishbone diagram), which is easy to understand.

When conducting an external personnel evaluation, macro-level issues must be grasped while considering relevant literature such as the Annual Economic Survey. Year Book on Indian Labour, Survey of Indian Industries, International Year Book on Labour, different Planning Commission publications on manpower, etc. Internal manpower reviews must be conducted using operational data from across the organisation, such as marketing, finance, performance statistics, current employment policies and procedures, etc. Internal manpower reviews are also conducted futuristically, taking strategic plans and objectives into account.

2. Forecasting:

Following a thorough study, the next step in the HRP process is to analyse the demand for and supply of people. Demand forecasting can be done in a variety of ways. The examination of manpower supply takes into account both internal and external sources. Internal supply analysis considers elements such as career planning and development, training and development, succession planning, and business policies and processes. For example, a corporate policy of “promotion from within” may or may not exist in a given organisation. Where it exists, it must be determined for which levels it applies, whether it is a time-scale (seniority) promotion or a merit-based promotion, whether there is a policy in place, and so on. Interestingly, because promotion decisions are made at the discretion of management, an employee cannot challenge such a choice in court unless he or she can show that the decision has damaged his or her interests.

The employee in question bears the burden of proof. To combat the problem of personal bias in promotional decisions, many organisations adopt a codified promotion policy. External supply analysis takes into account macro-level challenges to determine their availability. Because it is common practice to hire workers for a set amount of time, job status must also be evaluated in terms of availability. Demand forecasting aids in the identification of workforce requirements for various positions at various times. The nature of the position will play a role in determining the employment status (permanent, temporary, part-time contract labour, subcontracting, etc.). While they can hire for all roles from employee leasing businesses on an assignment basis abroad, such engagement is limited in our country.

Furthermore, people are naturally sensitive to contractual job terms. On the other hand, this practice is catching up slowly, and because it is a complete shift in mindset, it will take some time to settle down. Job mobility may increase in 5-10 years, and individuals of the younger generation will accept it as usual.

To plan HR, we must collect data about the organization’s goals and objectives. It’s important to know where the company wants to go and how it plans to get there. Employee requirements are drawn from the organization’s corporate objectives. They are the result of converting shorter—and medium-term objectives into action budgets.

3. Inventory:

After determining what human resources are needed in the organisation, the following stage is inventorying the current workforce. The HR inventory should include data on numbers, ages, and locations, as well as an analysis of individuals and talents. The skills inventory gives accurate information on the firm’s professional and technical talents and other qualifications. Compared to the anticipated HR requirements, it displays the instantly available talents.

4. Audit:

We do not live in a static world, and our human resources can change drastically. The HR inventory necessitates gathering data, while the HR audit necessitates methodical review and analysis of that data. Regarding labour turnover, age and sex groups, training costs, and absence, the audit examines what happened in the past and what is happening now. Based on this information, one may forecast what will happen to HR in the organisation.

5. Human Resource Plan:

People are an organization’s most valuable asset. The firm is free to grow its employees at their speed in ways that are most suited to their unique abilities. The primary reason is that the organization’s aims should be as closely aligned as possible or matched to provide the best opportunity for its personnel to realise their full potential. As a result, career planning is often known as human resource or succession planning.

6. Plan Execution:

There are three basic requirements for this step:

i. Have a clear idea of where you’re headed.

ii. The planning must have the approval and support of high management.

iii. A thorough understanding of the available resources (financial, physical, and human) is required (management and technical).

Once implemented, HR plans become corporate plans. After being developed and approved by top management, the plans become part of the company’s long-term strategy. Failure to meet HR goals due to cost or a lack of understanding could jeopardize the long-term strategy.

7. Utilization:

At this point in the HRP process, success is measured statistically and qualitatively regarding achievement trends. Quantitative achievement can be shown in productivity trends, labour costs, and so on, whereas qualitative achievement is a subjective assessment of the achievement of organisational goals. Qualitative achievement can also be examined in current industrial relations, motivation and morale levels, grievance patterns, etc.

2.3.2 Human Resource Strategic Planning

Human resources planning involves defining an organization’s existing and future human resource requirements, establishing and implementing plans to meet these requirements, and monitoring its overall performance.

Human resources planning should link human resources management and an organization’s overall strategic strategy. The need for good Human Resources Planning has been highlighted by the ageing worker populations in most Western countries and the growing demand for qualified personnel in developing economies.

1. Employment:

The employment situation of the nation impacts HRP. For example, in countries with higher unemployment, the government may put more pressure on businesses to hire more staff. Similarly, some companies may face a labour shortage and be forced to hire employees from other nations.

2. Technological advancements in society:

Technology advances at a breakneck pace, necessitating the hiring of new employees with the necessary skills. In certain circumstances, the company can keep existing staff and train them on the latest technology, but in others, the corporation must fire existing employees and hire new ones.

3. Organizational changes:

Organizational changes occur occasionally, such as the company diversifying into new goods or closing down business in specific sectors, and the HRP process, such as appointing or dismissing individuals, will change to reflect the scenario.

Stages of Implementation:

The following implementation steps are recommended for mid-to large enterprises applying competencies to support Strategic Human Resource Planning.

Human Resource Planning for the Short-Term

Stage 1

1. Create a Competency Architecture and Dictionary to assist with Strategic Human Resource Planning.
2. Define the roles and career paths for each group to be profiled to identify present and future human resource needs.
3. Figure out how competencies will be integrated into the current HR planning process and processes (e.g., Human Resource Information Management systems; other computer-based tools, for example, forecasting models).

Stage 2

1. Create or update HR Planning tools, templates, and processes to include items identified in Stage 1.
2. Provide management training and assist with the corporate HR planning process.
3. Continually monitor and improve HR Planning procedures, tools, and systems.

Organizations ranging in size from medium to big

Stage 1

1. Determine the infrastructure and system requirements for a complete implementation (e.g., Human Resources Information Management System; other online software tools needed to support various CBM applications).
2. Create a set of competency profiles.
3. Stage the implementation of the competency profiles to demonstrate benefits and gain buy-in (e.g., as soon as profiles for a group are developed, implement quickly within a low-risk, high-benefit planned application for the group).
4. As competency profiles are deployed, share success stories.

Stage 2

1. Create, edit, and update competency profiles to meet changing demands.
2. Monitor and assess applications to verify they meet organisational needs and adjust programs/plans to meet changing needs.

2.3.3 Factors Influencing Human Resource Management

A variety of factors influence human resource management. However, the following are the top four:

1. Political Climate:

The political climate can significantly impact any company and its subsequent departments, such as human resource management. If the government decides to cut expenditures or raise taxes on firms, this will significantly impact how the company operates. Department funding may need to be cut, or the department may have to be eliminated.

2. Economic Climate:

The political and economic climates are inextricably linked. It also concerns how banks are faring and whether or not they are prepared to lend to firms. Again, if banks are wary of lending and instead strive to recoup their funds quickly, it can spell disaster for a company. As a result, significant changes in how human resources are managed in a corporation will be necessary.

3. Business Strategies:

Businesses will have plans and strategies in place to help them move forward. Of course, the two preceding factors will significantly impact them. Whatever the corporation decides, it will significantly impact human resource management.

4. Technological Advances:

Technological advancements will significantly impact how human resource management departments perform their operations. Instead of needing to bring employees in for face-to-face meetings, they can now use video conferencing, email, or even text messaging. The external environment comprises external elements that impact an organization’s human resources. These external influences, alone or in combination, can affect an organization’s HR function. An HR manager’s role is to combine the needs and expectations of external groups with internal requirements to achieve the assigned goals efficiently and effectively.

The internal environment also has an impact on an HR manager’s role. Functional areas, structural changes, unit-specific cultural difficulties, HR systems, corporate policies, and many other factors impact the HR function. The HR manager must engage closely with these constituent pieces, thoroughly understand internal dynamics, and design strategies for surviving and progressing. Aside from that, the personnel manager must deal with the issue of worker diversity. Let’s take a closer look at these difficulties.

Globalization:

In every way, the world is getting smaller. Thanks to improved communication, transportation, and financial flows, people, products, capital, and information are moving around the world quicker than ever. National borders are dissolving, and the world is becoming a borderless market. Global corporations appear to dance all over the place in the twenty-first century. National boundaries do not bind them. When trying to capitalise on a business opportunity in any region of the world today, most firms cover a lot of ground. In China, McDonald’s sells hamburgers. Coca-Cola sells more than 80% of its products outside its home market. Nestle has a 50% stake, Proctor & Gamble has a 65% stake, and Avon has a 60% stake. They locate and coordinate resources and operations in the most appropriate regions to provide clients with cost-effective products and services worldwide.

Acquisitions and Mergers:

Global firms frequently employ mergers and acquisitions for various reasons, including (a) incorporating new technology, (b) entering new markets and gaining market share, and (c) improving their market position and remaining at the top. Marriages between known and unknown creatures have become increasingly common in recent years. As a result, M&A activity is increasing in industries such as pharmaceuticals, health care, telecommunications, software, steel, aluminium, power, and energy.

Downsizing:

In today’s business world, downsizing is a way of life. It’s proven to be a worldwide annoyance. Despite its noble intentions, downsizing causes more harm than good to the workforce. Downsizing leaves a wounded workforce that is anxious, demotivated, and fractured. HR can play a vital leadership role before, during, and after the downsizing exercise and take a constructive approach to alleviating feelings and restoring normalcy.

Technology’s Influence:

Without question, technology has altered the way machines are placed, tools are handled, data is processed, things are made, and services are provided. What about the human impact? The effects are dramatic, especially when computers began infiltrating factory space. According to some analysts, technology will potentially displace employees in all businesses, particularly those in the low-skilled group, in the future. For example, voice recognition is assisting in the replacement of telephone operators; address-reading devices have significantly reduced the demand for postal workers; and cash-dispensing machines can perform 10 times more transactions per day than bank tellers, allowing tellers to be reduced in number or even eliminated in the future. For instance, American Express has a system that performs credit analysis similar to what financial analysts with college degrees used to do. Expert systems can identify some ailments, and doctors and robots capable of conducting specific surgeries are beginning to be deployed in the medical industry.

TQM

In the business world, quality has become the most crucial term. Businesses have discovered the value of investing in processes that improve quality and customer connections. The word ‘quality’ refers to admiration for anything superior to something else. It entails completing things correctly the first time instead of creating and repairing mistakes. As defined by Edward Deming, TQM is a method of establishing an organisational culture dedicated to continually improving skills, teamwork, procedures, product and service quality, and customer satisfaction. Because successful TQM is profoundly integrated into practically every facet of organisational activity, it is rooted in organisational culture.

TQM is based on four fundamental principles: do it right the first time, focus on the customer, make continuous improvement a way of life, and foster collaboration and empowerment among employees.

Benchmarking

The first step towards effective TQM is benchmarking. It is relatively new to Indian businesses. Benchmarking is defined as attempting to be the best of the best in one’s field of expertise. It’s a continual process of comparing products, services, and practices to the most robust competitors or industry leaders to improve mutually.

1. Benchmarking is an ongoing procedure. Because industry procedures change regularly, it’s not a one-time deal. Suicide might be a result of complacency.
2. Benchmarking determines the gap between two firms’ procedures to identify significant differences.
3. Benchmarking can compare products, services, processes, and methodologies.

Consequently, benchmarking is a methodical inquiry and a rewarding learning process that ensures the best industry practices are discovered, examined, adopted, and applied.

Reengineering

The phrase reengineering (which refers to a radical, quantum transformation in an organisation) stems from dismantling an electrical product and constructing a better version. The term “organisation” was coined by Michael Hammer. When he discovered that businesses were using computers to automate outmoded procedures rather than finding fundamentally better ways of doing things, he concluded that the same concepts might be applied to business. Reengineering evaluates and modifies more than 70% of an organization’s work processes. It forces people in the organisation to reconsider what work should be done, how it should be done, and how best to put these judgements into action. The emphasis is on streamlining operations and increasing their efficiency.

Offshoring and Outsourcing

The virtual organisation movement is propelled by outsourcing. However, outsourcing is obtaining work that corporate employees had previously completed from other suppliers. It is better to get it from outside if someone has specialised in an activity that is not strategically vital to our organisation and can perform it cost-effectively. Excellent quality, consistent supply, and bargain pricing are all advantages. You can also focus solely on your skills (so-called mission-important activities) to improve your competitive edge. Dell, for example, outsources its computer manufacturing. It focuses all of its efforts on strengthening its web-based direct sales capacity and doesn’t waste time in other areas of the game. Nike and Reebok have successfully concentrated on their core design and marketing skills and outsourced their footwear manufacturing to outside vendors.

Outsourcing also affects the way HR departments work. By providing service providers with real-time internet-based access to the employer’s human resource information database, technology makes it simple to outsource HR operations to specialists. Payroll, benefits, application testing and screening, reference checks, departure interviews, and employee training are typical human resource duties currently outsourced. Companies are outsourcing more HR functions because transactional functions can be delegated to a service provider with process and technology expertise, allowing the core company to focus on strategic talent acquisition, motivation, and retention, which is critical to business success.

Offshoring is the relocation of jobs offshore (also known as global sourcing). In this era of low-cost telecommunications, practically any task, whether professional or blue-collar, may be performed in India for a fraction of the cost of labour in the United States. To stay ahead of the competition, MNCs must engage in this type of ‘labour arbitrage.’ The primary motive for doing so is to save money.

Diverse Workforce

Diversity can be defined as the scenario that occurs when personnel differ in age, gender, ethnicity, education, and other factors. As we use it in the twenty-first century, the term’ diversity’ refers to far more than skin colour, gender, and sexual orientation. In addition to gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality, it encompasses differences such as religious affiliation, age, disability status, sexual orientation, economic class, educational background, and lifestyle.

In the hands of a manager who is not sympathetic to a diverse work group’s needs, problems, and expectations, diversity can become a significant disadvantage. When a group of employees feels ignored, it can cause many issues.

Work-Life Harmony

This is the era of frantic timetables, high-stress work assignments, and lethal targets. To be noticed and counted, you must run against the clock. If you don’t, you’ll be hanged with a tag around your neck that says “bad performer.” The twenty-first century has significantly altered executives’ lives. Due to causes such as the intense competitive environment, the invasion of information technology, and the race to be the first and best type of performance culture, they appear to have been entirely thrown out of gear, especially in their private lives. A healthy work-life balance

Before things get out of hand, an executive must balance his or her profession and ambition on the one hand and his or her pleasure, leisure, family, and spiritual development on the other. Executives are burning their candle of energy too soon, with 50–70-hour work weeks becoming usual (it’s simply not enough to work; you need to work hard and work smart to move ahead of others). To achieve results, you must sacrifice family, children, relationships, friends, community service, leisure, pleasure, and everything else that gives life meaning, happiness, and fulfilment. In the case of dual-career couples, a regular occurrence in the twenty-first century, things get much nastier because they are reduced to ‘weekend parents.’ Working unusual hours and putting in extra hours without looking at the clock would turn even ordinary people into workaholics—those who suffer from ‘hurry illness,’ live alone, have little time for recreation, and never go to parks or museums.

Heart problems, cardiovascular issues, sleep disorders, melancholy, jitteriness, irritability, insecurity, poor concentration, and even nervous breakdowns are prevalent among those who are unable to achieve a balance between job obligations and personal and family issues.

They will lose emotional equilibrium, become agitated over minor issues, and engage in verbal abuse. When stress starts to get on their nerves, they will begin to wreck their personal lives by smoking, drinking, gambling, and so on.

2.3.4 HRIS (Human Resource Information System)

The Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a software or online solution for the Human Resources, payroll, management, and accounting functions of a company’s data entry, tracking, and information needs. Hundreds of companies sell some version of HRIS, which is usually bundled as a database, and each HRIS has its own set of capabilities. Choose your HRIS carefully based on the skills your firm requires.

The improved Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) provide the following benefits:

1. Keeping track of all personnel data.
2. Employee information reporting and analysis
3. Employee handbooks, emergency evacuation plans, and safety rules are all examples of company-related publications.
4. Enrollment, status adjustments, and personal information updates are all part of the benefits administration process.
5. Full integration with payroll and other financial software and accounting systems within the organisation.
6. Management of resumes and applicant tracking.

The HRIS that most effectively serves companies tracks:

1. Attendance and PTO use,
2. Pay raises and history,
3. Pay grades and positions held,
4. Performance development plans,
5. Training received,
6. Disciplinary action received,
7. Personal employee information, and occasionally,
8. Management and key employee succession plans,
9. High potential employee identification and
10. Applicant tracking, interviewing, and selection

An efficient HRIS delivers data on almost anything a firm wants to track and analyse about current and past employees and applicants. Your business must choose and configure a Human Resources Information System to fit its specific requirements.

Human Resources professionals can use an appropriate HRIS to enable employees to update their benefits and address changes independently, freeing HR staff to focus on more strategic tasks. Data for personnel management, knowledge development, career growth and development, and equal treatment is also made more accessible. Finally, managers have access to the data they need to support their reporting employees’ achievements legally, ethically, and effectively.

The Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a system that allows a company to collect, analyse, and report data about employees and occupations. It relates to both macro and micro information requirements. HRIS stands for Human Resource Information System, and it is a database system that stores critical information about employees in a central and easily accessible area. The data can be accessed and used to help with human resource planning decisions when they are needed.

Need of HRIS

Costly Exercise

Personnel records do not provide up-to-date information when stored manually at a moment’s notice. It is tough to make continuous entries on forms and returns daily while keeping up with ongoing changes. The clerical job is both time-consuming and expensive.

Inaccurate

Manual data transfer from one record to another may raise the risk of human mistakes. Entries may be made twice, and data may be moved to the wrong papers, resulting in errors.

Fragmentation

Because records are held in several locations and handled by different people in different departments, information is not available in a central, easily accessible area.

Difficulty to Analyse

Manual data analysis takes time and is not always readily available for decision-making. When a company grows, manual processes can no longer provide dependable, accurate data on quick notice. (IGNOU study guide)

The purpose of a computerised HRIS is to fulfil the following goals:

1. Provide a comprehensive, up-to-date, and suitable information system regarding individuals and employment.
2. To provide current information at a fair price.
3. Provide data security and privacy. Data security is a technical issue that can be addressed in various ways, including using passwords and complex codes. Personal privacy is an ethical and moral issue in the information age.

Creating an HRIS

HRIS relies on top management’s continual support and blessings. Employees at all levels must work together to the fullest extent possible. The primary goal of ensuring quality information must constantly be remembered; otherwise, the infamous GIGO (garbage in/garbage out) concept will be in effect at work. An organisation that wants to set up HRIS should:

1. Plan: First, an organization’s information needs should be identified. This entails thoroughly examining internal operations, work patterns, and other factors.

2. Design: At this stage, the system analyst analyses the information flow, detects gaps, and establishes the processes necessary to organise it efficiently and effectively.

3. Implement: This stage entails configuring HRIS to meet the organisation’s demands. Employees are given adequate training so that they may become comfortable with the system. Facilities have been updated, and procedures have been reduced to connect HRIS with other organizational components.

4. Evaluate: This phase entails calculating the system’s contributions, identifying gaps, and taking corrective action to ensure it runs smoothly. The system is examined regularly in light of changes within and outside the organisation.

Advantages of HRIS 

The following are some of the advantages of using HRIS:

1. HRIS can process, store, and cost-effectively retrieve massive amounts of data.
2. The records can be readily updated.
3. Accuracy has increased.
4. HRIS can significantly reduce data fragmentation and duplication.
5. Information can be quickly altered, integrated, and disaggregated in response to unique and complex requirements.

2.4 Importance of Human Resource Planning

HR planning entails obtaining data, setting goals, and making decisions to help the firm achieve its goals. When HR planning is successfully implemented in the field of HR management, it can help with the following issues:

1. How many employees does the company have?
2. What kind of personnel does the organisation have regarding talents and abilities?
3. How should the organisation make the most of its resources?
4. What is the best way for the organisation to retain its employees?

HR planning allows businesses to move forward and prosper in the twenty-first century. Human resources professionals who create the HR planning programme will help the company manage its employees strategically.

The software will help the organisation and employees plan their careers and attain their goals. This boosts motivation, and the company becomes a better place to work. Human resource planning is an important component of the management information system.

HR has a lot on its plate, like keeping up with all the changes and ensuring that the right people are accessible to the company at the right time. Managers are forced to pay attention to HR planning when the workforce mix changes. Changes in the workforce composition affect not just employee hiring but also selection, training, compensation, and motivation processes. It becomes essential when firms merge, plants are relocated, and operations are reduced due to financial difficulties.

2.5 Prerequisites for HRP Success

1. Organizational Culture:

The culture of an organisation has a significant impact on the creation of HR policies. Organizational attitudes regarding policies range from positive to negative. On the one hand, some companies have policies for everything. That’s a lot like banking. Despite banking deregulation attempts in the 1980s, U.S. banks remain heavily regulated enterprises, requiring rules to govern all parts of operations. Companies with only a few policies are on the other end of the range (only those required by the laws relevant to that company). The majority of businesses are somewhere in the middle. Any management developing a policy should know where his or her company lies on the spectrum and how the policy might be tailored to meet the organization’s culture to improve compliance.

2. Employee assistance:

Staff participation is also essential in improving policy compliance. Most firms that have undergone process reengineering have discovered that new policies are more readily adopted and implemented by employees who have played a significant role in their formulation. You can increase the chances of compliance by presenting these parts as drafts, soliciting feedback, and then incorporating improvements into the sections. Employees and managers at all levels are more likely to support a policy that makes sense, is simple to implement, and minimises disruption to work. The best way to design such a policy is to include all concerned stakeholders. Allowing involvement during the policy creation stage is a common cause of policy implementation and compliance failure.

Support can also be increased if the policy’s impact on the organisation is clearly described; the financial loss from failure to implement the policy will be most meaningful to management. The ideal situation is when management and employees can see how a policy contributes to attaining the organization’s goals and mission.

3. Procedures and Forms: Many people mix up procedures and policies. A policy is a predetermined path of action that serves as a roadmap to the organization’s acknowledged goals and strategy. It’s on a different level than a method. Procedures are procedures or ways of putting a policy into action. Forms may be required to carry out a technique; in other words, completing one or more forms may be required. For example, your company may have a policy that requires every employee who is terminated or wishes to leave to complete an exit interview. Procedures for conducting that interview can be devised, and a form or checklist can be used to ensure and document that policies and procedures did an exit interview.

Another crucial point raised by the policy-to-procedure-to-form relationship is that policy creation must be coordinated with processes and form management. New policies or adjustments to existing policies may result in the creation of new procedures, which may necessitate the amendment or production of new forms.

4. Clarity, Conciseness, and Coherence: Human resource policies should adhere to the 3C concept, which stands for clarity, conciseness, and coherence. The importance of clarity cannot be overstated.

Clear writing is easy to understand and read. Your readers will appreciate your message immediately if your writing is clear; they will not have to pause and think about it. HR policies should be simple. Unnecessary words should be removed with care. Redundancies, unnecessary phrases, overblown phrases, and clichés should all be removed. Each policy you develop should contain accurate and full information conveyed clearly for HR policies to be clear and to follow procedures to be precise. Sound logic, linked sentences, and recognisable mental streams are all aspects of coherence. Coherent writing will guide the reader through your policy document. It enables you to give a walkthrough of your policy model.

5. Policy training:

It is critical to provide policy training to staff. Making the policy handbook available to employees is a good start, but it isn’t sufficient. To ensure that employees completely comprehend policies, they may need to watch and listen to a presentation – an engaging experience beyond the document and e-mail.

2.6 Enterprise Right-Sizing

Infrastructure and IT functions in today’s organisations are technologically advanced. Intricate processes, partnerships, and agreements consume a lot of resources. Most businesses can expand in size, complexity, and expense as they grow but often struggle to adapt or shrink when conditions or the company change.

Rightsizing is about figuring out how to make such changes, rearranging the critical and shifting objectives of complicated business services, and squeezing the most value out of limited resources. Habits, methods, and a current or established culture frequently hamper change.

To help reduce some of the tension associated with downsizing, the outsourcing/out-tasking business has devised a new concept known as rightsizing. During an on-premises inspection, the outsourcing provider frequently discovered that the number of support workers was the same as when the overall company population was substantially bigger. Outsource providers began to use the word ‘rightsizing’ to characterise the suggested reduction in support people numbers to make a sensible manpower proposal to a management committee examining outsourcing or out-tasking. This approach is gaining traction among organisations in transition. Outsourcing, out-tasking, and rightsizing allow a company to focus on what it does best or return to its core competencies.

The rightsizing process consists of three steps:

• Phase 1: Identifying prospective change candidates
• Phase 2: Estimating costs and devising a change strategy
• Phase 3: Entails putting the solutions into action and evaluating them.

Forecasting and Planning

The primary goal of human resource planning is to estimate the number of people needed accurately and match skill needs to achieve organisational goals. It includes information on how present workers are employed, the types of skills necessary for various job categories, and human resource requirements throughout time about organisational objectives. Manpower requirements must be forecasted. Several techniques are available, including expert forecasting, trend analysis, and mathematical models.

Human resource experts usually follow three phases to continue systematically. Let’s look at these processes in the context of a commercial bank, for example.

1. Workforce Analysis:

Over the last five years, the average loss of manpower owing to leave, retirement, death, transfer, discharge, and other factors may be considered. It’s also important to consider the rate of absenteeism and labour turnover. The nature of competition, such as from foreign banks and other non-banking financial institutions, may also be considered in determining actual needs over a year.

2. Workload Analysis:

The requirement for personnel is also determined through workload analysis, in which the organisation attempts to quantify the number of people needed for specific jobs based on a projected production. Commercial banks may need to consider the following factors when determining manpower requirements through workload analysis:

(i) the number of transactions to be handled by an employee;

(ii) the number of deposits and advances per employee;

(iii) special requirements for managing extension counters, currency chests, mobile branches, and so on;

(iv) the bank’s future expansion plans.

3. Job Evaluation:

Job analysis aids in determining the abilities or skills required to do tasks effectively. A thorough examination of jobs is frequently conducted to determine the qualifications and experience required for them. A job analysis has two parts: the job description and the job specification.