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Planning for the future of the business

Human capital is one of your greatest assets. You have probably heard this before but the reality is that more than with other assets, human capital has to be planned for. Like any other plan it needs to be well thought out and carefully implemented. With a constantly changing labour market and a volatile economy, human resource planning is vital to prepare for the future of your business.

Why do you need a Human Resources plan?
An HR plan is a vital part of determining the future directions and success of your company.

Some of the most obvious benefits of HR planning include:

  • Helps identify the HR requirements for specific objectives;
  • Identifies and predicts future workload;
  • Reduces the cost and stress of last-minute staffing;
  • Aids retention by promoting career development;
  • Identifies potential resignations and retirements, assisting with secession plans; and
  • Helps to predict and adjust for potential shortages in the labour market.

Planning for the future is a vital Human Resources role, yet is often neglected.
What are some of the planning tools available?
There’s a variety of tools available to HR managers. The key is to highlight the ones which best fit your organisation’s needs.
Below are a few that might help your company get the edge on the competition:

Fast and flexible redeployment plans: 
Business changes fast, so you might need a plan to allow you to quickly move people into productive new areas.

Excess head count plan:  
This tool will help you know in advance if your organisation is getting `top heavy’.

Trouble predictors: 
HR needs to be able to predict `trouble’ early. It might give your company enough time to either avoid it or minimise its effects.

Departmental succession plans:
These are designed to find and develop people who can replace an employee who leaves. In a normal situation, finding a replacement should be the responsibility of the department manager.

Employee retention plans: 
The two main factors influencing retention rates are remuneration and career development. A retention plan will directly address these issues, and identify valuable employees in danger of leaving.

Skills plans:
To quickly fill needs in special areas, HR should be aware of all the skills available across the workforce.

Turnover forecast plan: 
The recently strong local economy coupled with worldwide instability means it has been difficult to predict the labour supply. This forecast should be used to forecast short-term labour shortages and adjust recruitment and development activities accordingly.

Important elements for creating an HR plan?
Your company may already have well-established and effective HR planning tools in place. If not, or if your company is looking at reviewing them, you might like to consider some of the following issues:

  • Have we done a SWOT analysis of our current human resources?
  • Have we identified employees who can step into others’ roles?
  • What are our employees' career development needs, plans and aspirations?
  • Have we estimated the head count required to meet future objectives?
  • What will we require from our human resources to meet our current and projected goals and objectives?
  • Which specific qualifications and skills will be required?

 

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