Workforce Planning Guide
April 1999
1
HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING TOOLS
Human Resource Planning is a relatively traditional discipline. However the world of
business is changing rapidly and new tools are necessary if we in HR are to meet these new
challenges. This is a list of "New Age" HR planning tools that you might consider adding
to your HR "toolkit".
q
Corporate Headcount "Fat" Assessment Plan - Ever wonder why the decision that
we need layoffs seems to come up as a surprise? Why not establish a set of assessment
tools that will let you know in advance where headcount and overhead costs are
excessive.
q
Redeployment/ Agility Plans - In this changing world it is not uncommon for new
markets and products to open (and close) rapidly. Companies need to have a strategy
to remain "agile" and to be able to move people, and resources rapidly from areas of
low return to areas of a higher return.
q
"Smoke" Detectors (Predictors) - If HR is to be proactive it needs to be able to
anticipate problems. Developing HR systems and metrics known as "smoke detectors"
that indicate potential problems might give us sufficient time to develop plans and
strategies to either avoid the problem or minimize its impact.
q
Bench Strength (Back Fill) Plan) - In this time of high turnover, it's increasingly
essential to have a strategy of identifying and developing individuals that can take over
if an employee leaves. A bench strength plan differs from traditional succession
planning in that it only covers replacing key jobs within a single department. It is not a
company-wide succession plan. Individual managers are held responsible for
developing at least one individual to fill every key job.
q
Employee Challenge Plan - One of the primary reasons employees leave their jobs is
due to a lack of challenge. HR can dramatically increase retention rates if it gets
managers to develop individual "Challenge Plans" for each worker. The plan is
reviewed each month to ensure that the individual is constantly growing and feels
challenged.
q
Retention Plan - A retention plan is a corporate strategy to lower turnover. The first
step is to identify key performers and hard to fill positions. Individuals that may be "at
risk" are identified. Individuals or position -wide strategies are then developed to
increase their retention rates. Additional efforts are made to identify why people stay
in their jobs and why people leave.
q
Quality of Labor Supply Forecasts - Identifying the "quality" of the future labor
supply is a medium term strategy based on the assumption that the available labor force
will not have the competencies and skills that our company needs. Accurate
forecasting will allow a company to prepare training and development plans to upgrade
Summary :
Workforce Planning Guide April 1999 1 HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING TOOLS Human Resource Planning is a relatively traditional discipline. q Bench Strength (Back Fill) Plan) - In this time of high turnover, it's increasingly essential to have a strategy of identifying and developing individuals that can take over if an employee leaves. q Retention Plan - A retention plan is a corporate strategy to lower turnover.
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