Revision

Developing workforce plans, objectives and

strategies
 Staffing objectives and strategies that might arise from
workforce gap analysis

 Job description and person specification actions,

including rewriting job descriptions to better reflect future
functional requirements and re-designing jobs to achieve higher
levels of motivation and job satisfaction..
 Remuneration actions, including equity adjustments,
promotions, and merit increases that may be needed.
 Recruitment and selection strategies to source and recruit
qualified candidates.
 Performance management or appraisal strategies that
allow for performance improvement and identification of staff
with the potential to fill future vacancies.
 Staff training and development strategies to prepare
employees for specific positions, roles or occupations.
 Retention strategies to encourage employees to remain with the
organisation, for example, modifying working arrangements for pre-
retirees.
 Organisational interventions such as the transfer and
redeployment of staff or downsizing and staff redundancies or
restructuring and work re-design that is intended to achieve an
organisation's objective of encouraging greater staff participation and
involvement, improving productivity, developing two way
communication, and increasing self management or control.
 Succession planning strategies to ensure that there are highly
qualified people within the organisation who are capable of filling
critical positions.
 Knowledge transfer strategies to capture the knowledge of
experienced employees before they leave the organisation.
How organisations can manage high or unacceptable
levels of staff turnover

Assess recruitment and selection procedures

Evaluate the effectiveness of
orientation/induction/socialisation processes
Consider job enrichment/work redesign
Review compensation and benefits practices
Determine if leadership and management styles used are
appropriate
Develop realistic job previews for prospective employees
Evaluate the effectiveness of communication and
consultation processes within the organisation
Conduct exit interviews
 Staff retention strategies

When developing strategies for retaining employees, giving thought to

the following questions may prompt relevant retention strategies:
What changes would make the organisation a more attractive place
to work in, improving the quality of "work life"?
Is the workplace clean, orderly, and professional? If not, what can be
done to address these issues?
Does the organisation use a "mentor" or "buddy" system to welcome
new employees into the organisation?
Is there diversity among staff? If not, what changes should be made
in recruitment and staff development strategies to enhance
diversity?
How can relationships between colleagues, team leaders and
managers become more collaborative, positive, and rewarding?
Is the organisation "family friendly"? What options are available to
support employees in balancing their work and home lives? Does the
organisation provide flexible working arrangements including flexi-time,
four-day workweeks or telecommuting, for example?
Does the organisation provide on-site child care?
Is staff offered opportunities to learn and develop, such as job rotation,
project work, mentoring programs and training and development
assignments?
What promotional opportunities exist in the organisation and how can
they be enhanced?
What avenues does the organisation use for recognising outstanding
employee performance? How frequently are such recognitions given?
Does the organisation value and make changes based on the information
shared by employees in exit interviews?
 Employee engagement

The concept of employee engagement is a relatively

new term but not a new idea. Employee engagement
describes the relationship or emotional connection
between a person and their job and organisation.
Studies are showing that there are links between
higher levels of employee engagement and superior
organisation performance and productivity.
An engaged employee has:
a belief that their organisation enables them to perform well,
a line of sight between their job performance and
organisation performance,
a capacity and inclination to act in ways that further
organisational interests when given discretion or autonomy
to act or behave,
pride in the organisation’s mission, its products and services
and
an understanding of the ‘big picture’ and a willingness to
contribute beyond job requirements.
One method for developing employee engagement
(and retention) is to develop a personal engagement
plan for each of an organisation’s top performing
employees. A confidential discussion with an
employee can explore the perceived strengths and
weaknesses of the organisation, the employee’s level
of personal and professional satisfaction, what the
employee wants from the next few months, how long
they plan to remain with the organisation and factors
or issues that might persuade them to leave or to
stay.
An engagement plan might include:
preferences for learning and development,
access to internal or external coaches and mentors
and
changes in management practices to facilitate higher
levels of performance.
The outcome of the ‘engagement interview’ should
include a clear picture of what the talented employee
expects or demands from the job (eg diversity of
tasks/challenges) and organisation (eg involvement
in decision making).
 Why creative recruitment strategies

Creative recruitment strategies may need to be

developed for hard to fill vacancies. Using the
recruitment sources that have historically been
employed, or using recruitment methods that can be
afforded or that are convenient to use may not
provide solutions in a market where particular skills
are in limited supply and in high demand.
Different strategies for undertaking recruitment include:
Look at vacancies from different perspectives. For example there presently
is a worldwide shortage of qualified candidates in the accounting industry.
However, smart organisations are re-evaluating the real need for higher
level qualifications in the positions they are seeking to fill. Does an
applicant have to possess a degree in accounting to complete the tasks in a
specific position? Can duties be rearranged or new positions created that
require vocational qualifications or experience but not necessarily a
degree?
Develop a learning organisation or environment. Many prospective job
applicants are looking for employers that will provide them with
opportunities to develop existing as well as new skills. Applicants are
seeking employers that will allow them to continue to grow and learn. The
stronger an organisation’s learning culture, the more attractive that
organisation will be to candidates.
Communicate your organisation’s vision and strategic plan
with prospective applicants. Applicants want to know that the
employer they are considering has long-term objectives, has
developed strategies for achieving them and how the job
vacancy contributes to those objectives. Applicants want a clear
picture of how they will make a difference for the prospective
employer.
Evaluate and strengthen the technology available in the
organisation. Job applicants want to go to work for
organisations that have up to date technology and tools to help
them do their jobs more efficiently. Competitive technology and
a learning culture are extremely attractive to job seekers.
Check recent staff selection reports for candidates
who were unsuccessful but who may well be suited
to other vacancies. Consider contacting employees
who left your organisation for other opportunities as
some may now be interested in returning.
Use current employees as recruiting agents as no
one knows the organisation, its culture and benefits
better than existing staff. Seek their assistance in the
recruitment process and rewarding them for
successful outcomes
'Net' working is vital. Placing vacancies with
Internet based recruitment firms has become
commonplace across all industries. However,
developing a website for the organisation that
provides information regarding job opportunities
and a user friendly means of making application
electronically is an efficient and effective strategy for
many organisations.
Create an experience at job and careers expos.
Recruiting through job expos is becoming
increasingly popular as labour markets have become
very competitive. However, simply providing
brochures at a table or booth is not sufficient.
Outgoing people who will represent the organisation
in a professional manner are needed to create an
experience that will attract passers by to your
organisation.
Non routine or non traditional approaches to recruitment include:
Networking with other managers and team leaders to find internal
applicants
Recruitment bonus for current employees
Recruitment bonus for consumers, families, board members and other
stakeholders
Employment bonus
Developing relationships with career transition/outplacement service
organisations
Work experience programs for high school students
Previously rejected applicants
Web site recruitment
Marketing to non-traditional sources
Community clubs and organisations
Community and/or ethnic group newspapers
Career presentations
Job Expos (with “giveaways” such pens, lanyards, caps with
organisation name)
Direct mailings
Using wrapped vinyl advertising and signage (designed to attract
candidates) on employee cars
Internet job search agencies/firms
Employer branding eg “Special people – special place.”
Accommodation provision or assistance, with or without slogans
such as “Dream house, Dream job” and “No house, No problem.”
 Communicate workforce plan objectives and
strategies to relevant stakeholders

One of the key means for achieving successful WP

outcomes is to ensure that all staff and relevant
stakeholders understand their role in the overall
planning process, and that all managers and team
leaders are involved in, comfortable with and
committed to the process.
HR should ensure that the rest of the organisation is
committed to the workforce plan, objectives and
related strategies. To achieve this objective, HR
practitioners should consult all stakeholders on the
nature and purposes of the WP and emphasise the
benefits that are being derived from the WP through
talking to and influencing others, and by promoting
the benefits of the WP with specific examples of how
it has helped and can help in the future. HR should
cultivate and develop allies and supporters of the WP
through a thorough consultative process.
Developing an effective communication strategy to
inform staff about the benefits of WP, steps involved
and how the information will be used, is a critical
aspect of successful WP. The quality of an
organisation’s workforce profile data will be directly
related to the level of engagement and participation
of employees in the workforce profiling process.
The probability of achieving worthwhile outcomes from WP will be
enhanced by:
engaging the workforce in WP from the beginning;
using established and proven communication strategies for your
organisation to explain to employees the WP method that has been
adopted;
correcting misinformation and addressing any concerns about the
level of confidentiality applying to information provided by staff
and the role of the internal WP team;
identifying any language or literacy issues that may prevent staff
from completing surveys and developing alternative data
collection strategies, such as focus groups or telephone interviews;
providing examples of the types of questions that
will be asked;
explaining why the questions are being asked;
giving examples of how information collected will be
used;
demonstrating the advantages of participating in the
workforce profile for individual employees, for work
teams, for the organisation’s growth and
development and for the future workforce and
keeping the workforce informed of WP progress.
Obtaining agreement to and authority to implement
a workforce plan

Not obtaining a clear authority to proceed is one of

the most common WP stumbling blocks. The WP
team needs to ensure that senior management have a
common understanding of WP, have reached
agreement on the approach and methods to be used
and have determined how they will integrate WP into
normal business practice. One of the tests of
integration might be that every new project or
initiative proposed must include thorough
consideration and proposals to manage any related
workforce issues.
Authority to proceed will typically be premised on:
identifying a WP 'champion', or perhaps, a team of WP 'champions', to lead
the WP initiative; clearly defining role and responsibilities for the WP team;
engaging employees using communication strategies relevant to the
workforce;
analysing the quality of existing data and developing a workforce profiling
survey to address information gaps;
implementing the workforce profiling survey;
undertaking data analysis and data reporting;
developing WP strategies;
resourcing WP strategies;
integrating WP into normal business practice; and
monitoring and measuring outcomes.
Where possible, the WP team should build into the workforce plan measurable
outcomes that can be easily monitored and evaluated, so that it is possible to
show cause and effect.
There are a number of possible criteria for assessing the WP process. These
include:
the actual cost of staff as compared to the amount which was ‘budgeted’ by the
organisation,
the level of output (or productivity) as compared to the output or production
target set by the organisation,
the actual staffing or employment level compared to what the organisation was
expecting or had anticipated, and
comparing actual outcomes with expected outcomes for various performance
indicators. An example may be comparing actual staff turnover with the
number of staff that the organisation expected to leave (planned staff
turnover).
Success criteria are objective measures used to assess how well
workforce plan objectives have been achieved. The success or
failure of strategies implemented can only really be evaluated if
success and evaluation criteria have been determined prior to
the implementation.
The evaluation of HR strategies is sometimes problematical and
challenging given that inter-related variables often impact on
the level of success of interventions or programs. While plans by
definition have defined objectives and ‘deliverables’, outcomes
such as improved productivity and higher retention rates may
take time to manifest themselves. Therefore, evaluation will
need to continue into implementation and beyond.
The success criteria need to be documented within the business case.

Inputs to developing targets or success criteria include:

The organisation's strategic plan documents, vision and culture statements;
Business case for the proposed strategies/actions; and
Assessment of the development of competencies and workforce profile trends.
Relevant and important questions to consider when establishing targets or success
criteria include:
What do we want to ultimately achieve with these strategies?
What will success look like overall in the long-term, in the short-term and at
critical project/strategy implementation milestones?
How will we know if we are successful in addressing these gaps/issues? What will
change and how? What are the indicators that we are looking for?
What systems, processes and data currently exist in the organisation that can be
used to monitor the success of the strategies and projects?
 Contingency plan

In addition to a workforce plan or as a component of it,

it is advisable to develop contingency plans to cope
with extreme staffing situations that have been
identified through a thorough and realistic risk
management and assessment process. Human
resource risks include:
High level of staff turnover
High level of absenteeism
Employee death or incapacity
Urgent and unplanned leave of absence
The loss or absence of key staff can be devastating to
an organisation. A contingency plan is a set of
procedures that offer solutions or define how a
business’ normal operations will continue or recover
when faced with unplanned disruptions to business
activities.
When developing contingency plans it is important
to draw on the knowledge and experience of the
organisation’s key employees.
A contingency plan, according to Marshall and Alexander (2006), consists of six
sections:
Executive summary
Risk management objectives – may simply be to ensure the continuity of
business.
Risk assessment – involves identifying and evaluating risks to an
organisation. What are the events that could do harm to an organisation and
limit its capacity to achieve its objectives? How likely is it that the event will
actually occur?
Business impact analysis – events can impact on an organisation’s
operational efficiency, its financial performance and its legal and contractual
obligations. What are the critical functions performed by each employee?
How will the event impact on each function? What are the consequences
(operational, financial and legal) if the functions are not carried out? How
long can the function remain impaired before impacts are felt?
Business impact analysis – events can impact on an
organisation’s operational efficiency, its financial
performance and its legal and contractual
obligations. What are the critical functions
performed by each employee? How will the event
impact on each function? What are the consequences
(operational, financial and legal) if the functions are
not carried out? How long can the function remain
impaired before impacts are felt?
Risk management strategies – risks need to be
prioritised and management strategies developed.
What are the resources required to ensure continuity
of function? How can the likelihood of an event
occurring be decreased? How can the impact of an
event be reduced? What are the roles and
responsibilities of management and employees in
responding to an event and what procedure is to be
followed?
Plan maintenance – contingency plans need to be
reviewed and revised as needed to be kept relevant.
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