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Workforce Planning |
Manpower planning |
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Workforce planning is also called manpower planning and human resource planning.
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It involves the idea of forecasting what the business's requirements for different types of workers will be, in order to obtain the correct quantity and quality of workers.
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The company makes an assessment of its internal factors based on its business plan, in order to determine its future labour needs. It also makes an assessment of external factors that affect the supply of labour, such as unemployment, changes in the structure of the population and education.
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From this the company compares the supply and demand of labour, and identifies potential shortages and surpluses of labour. With this prediction, it then forms a manpower plan — that is, a plan advocating such measures as training, redundancy and staff development. These plans are then implemented and evaluated.
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The plan in operation |
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Manpower planning involves a strategy for the:
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| • | | Acquisition
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| • | | Retention
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| • | | Utilisation
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| • | | Improvement, and
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| • | | Disposal
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of the human resources of an organisation. Manpower planners must begin with the following:
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Manpower requirements |
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The first task is to assess the current and future manpower requirements in relation to the marketing, production and capital investment plans. Manpower planners must be aware of the financial constraints on their plans. It is also essential to include productivity in the calculation of manpower needs.
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Supply of labour |
| Having calculated manpower requirements it is necessary to analyse the supply of labour. In a manpower audit the present workforce of the organisation will be analysed in terms of:
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| • | | Age structure
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| • | | Skills
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| • | | Grade
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| • | | Turnover
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| • | | Absenteeism
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| • | | Overtime
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| • | | Work practices
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| The external supply of labour is also analysed in the manpower plan. Data will be collected on:
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| • | | Local and national demographic trends
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| • | | Local housing and transport
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| • | | Migration
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| • | | The employment activities of other firms |
| • | | Changes in the local economy
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| • | | National agreements on conditions of employment
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| The result of the audit is a manpower programme
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Manpower programmes |
| These are programmes and policies designed to acquire the manpower to achieve the overall objectives of the organisation. Programmes and policies will be produced for:
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| • | | Recruitment
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| • | | Training and development
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| • | | Promotion
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| • | | Pay
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| • | | Productivity
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| • | | Retirement
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| • | | Redundancy |
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| Redundancy is included in the list because the implementation of a manpower plan may result in a reduction in the manpower needs of the organisation, and jobs will be lost. |
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