5) Human Resource Planning

 

Human Resource Planning (HRP)?

Human resource planning (HRP) is the continuous process of systematic planning ahead to achieve optimum use of an organisations most valuable asset—quality employees.Human Resources planning ensures the best fit between employees and jobs while avoiding manpower shortages or surpluses.

Robbins (2001) defines HRP as “the process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number and kinds of people at the right places, at the right time, capable of effectively and efficiently completing those tasks that will help the fulfill organization’s overall objectives.”

Why is HR planning important?

Increases the value of current employees: 

• Human resource planning emphasizes reviewing current employees, their job titles and additional skills that make them vital to company operations along with training needs.

Helps companies adapt to industry changes:

• By making use of human resource planning, companies can anticipate changing needs in talent or the way their industry operates to adapt and continue prospering.

Enables companies to maintain a competitive advantage:

• Human resource planning helps companies make strategic hiring and training decisions when planning for the future.

Promotes the growth and longevity of the company:

• Human resource planning causes HR professionals to think about these possible changes and anticipate their hiring needs for future years.

HR Planing Process 

                                                                Image Source: Chronicles

Human Resource Plan - Factors.

Several factors affect HRP. These factors can be classified into external factors and internal factors.

External Factors:

1.  Government Policies – Policies of the government like labour policy, industrial relations policy, policy towards reserving certain jobs for different communities and sons-of the soil, etc. affect the HRP.
2. Level of Economic Development – Level of economic development determines the level of HRD in the country and thereby the supply of human resources in the future in the country.
3. Business Environment – External business environmental factors influence the volume and mix of production and thereby the future demand for human resources.
4.  Level of Technology – Level of technology determines the kind of human resources required.
5. International Factors – International factors like the demand for resources and supply of human resources in various countries.
6. Outsourcing – Availability of outsourcing facilities with required skills and knowledge of people reduces the dependency on HRP and vice-versa.

Internal Factors:

1.  Company policies and strategies – Company policies and strategies relating to expansion, diversification, alliances, etc. determines the human resource demand in terms of quality and quantity.
2.  Human resource policies – Human resources policies of the company regarding quality of human resource, compensation level, quality of work-life, etc., influences human resource plan.
3.  Job analysis – Fundamentally, human resource plan is based on job analysis. Job description and job specification determines the kind of employees required.
4.  Time horizons – Companies with stable competitive environment can plan for the long run whereas the firms with unstable competitive environment can plan for only short- term range.
5.  Type and quality of information – Any planning process needs qualitative and accurate information. This is more so with human resource plan; strategic, organisational and specific information.
6.  Company’s production operations policy – Company’s policy regarding how much to produce and how much to buy from outside to prepare a final product influence the number and kind of people required.
7.  Trade unions – Influence of trade unions regarding number of working hours per week, recruitment sources, etc., affect the HRP.

Human Resource Plan - Benefits

Human Resource Planning (HRP) anticipates not only the required kind and number of employees but also determines the action plan for all the functions of personnel management.

The major benefits of human resource planning are:

1. It checks the corporate plan of the organisation.
2. HRP offsets uncertainties and changes to the maximum extent possible and enables the organisation to have right men at right time and in right place.
3.  It provides scope for advancement and development of employees through training, development, etc.
4.  It helps to anticipate the cost of salary enhancement, better benefits, etc.
5.  It helps to anticipate the cost of salary, benefits and all the cost of human resources facilitating the formulation of budgets in an organisation.
6.  To foresee the need for redundancy and plan to check it or to provide alternative employment in consultation with trade unions, other organisations and government through remodeling organisational, industrial and economic plans.
7.  To foresee the changes in values, aptitude and attitude of human resources and to change the techniques of interpersonal, management, etc.
8. To plan for physical facilities, working conditions and the volume of fringe benefits like canteen, schools, hospitals, conveyance, child care centres, quarters, company stores, etc.
9.  It gives an idea of type of tests to be used and interview techniques in selection based on the level of skills, qualifications, intelligence, values, etc., of future human resource.
10.  It causes the development of various sources of human resources to meet the organisational needs.

REFERENCES

Anjali, j. (2022) Human Resources planing process [online] Available from https://theinvestorsbook.com/human-resource-planning-process.html.[Accessed on 25 November 2022].

Goddard,w. (2022) Why is Human Resources planning important [online] Available from https://itchronicles.com/human-resources-2/why-human-resource-planning-is-important/. [Accessed on 26 November 2022].

Hayes, A. (2022) Human Resource Planning (HRP) Meaning, Process, and Examples [online] Available from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/human-resource-planning.asp#toc-what-is-human-resource-planning-hrp, [Accessed on 27 November 2022].

Kumar, V. (2022) Factors Affecting Human Resource Planning [online] Available from https://getuplearn.com/blog/factors-affecting-human-resource-planning/.[Accessed on 27 November 2022].