Human Resource Planning According to Mondy et (1996) Human Resource Planning is a systematic analysis of HR needs in order to ensure that correct number of employees with the necessary skills are available when they are required. Human Resource PlanningHuman Resource Planning

Objective and Benefits of HRP Human Resource Planning at Different Levels HRP Process HR Demand Forecasting HR Supply Forecasting

o Succession Analysiso Markov Analysis

To understand the Human Resource Planning First, we will see what is Planning? and why is it needed?What is planning? Plans are methods for achieving a desired result. Goals or objectives are specific results you want to achieve. Planning is thus “the process of establishing objectives and courses of action prior to taking action.”

What is planning concerned with? Planning provides a sense of purpose and direction. It is a comprehensive framework for making decisions in advance. It also facilitates the organizing, leading, and controlling functions of management. Planning: allows you to make your decisions ahead of time, it helps you to anticipate the consequences of various courses of action, it provides direction and a sense of purpose, it provides a unifying framework against which to measure decisions, and thus helps you avoid piecemeal decision making. Planning also helps identify potential opportunities and threats, and facilitates control. It is concerned with the end (what is to be done) as well as with means (how it is to be done).

Human Resource Planning (HRP) may be defined as strategy for acquisition, utilization, improvement and preservation of the human resources of an enterprise. The objective is to provide right personnel for the right work and optimum utilization of the existing human resources. HRP exists as a part of the planning process of business. This is the activity of the management which is aimed at co-ordinating requirements for and the availability of different types of employers. The major activities of HRP include: forecasting (future requirements), inventorying (present strength), anticipating (comparison of present and future requirements) and planning (necessary programme to meet future requirements).

Human Resource Planning involves gathering of information, making objectives, and making decisions to enable the organization achieve its objectives and goals. Surprisingly, this aspect of HR is one of the most neglected in the HRM field. When Human Resource Planning is applied properly in the field of Human Resource Management, it would assist to address the following questions:

1.   How many number of staff does the Organization have?2. What type of employees as far as skills and abilities does the organization have?3.   How should the Organization best utilize the available human resources?4. How can the organization keep its employees?

Human resource planning has been defined by various authorities on this subject as under:

"It is almost as difficult to keep a first class person in a fourth class job, as it is to keep a fourth class person in a first class job."

-- Paul H. Dunn

Definitions:

Human resources planning is the process by which management ensures that it has the right personnel, who are capable of completing those tasks that help the organization reach its objectives. It involves the forecasting of human resources needs and the projected matching of individuals with expected vacancies. -----International Labour Organization

According to Coleman, "Manpower planning is the process of determining manpower requirements and the means for meeting those requirements in order to carry out the integrated plan of the organisation".

According to Jeisler, "Manpower planning is the process including forecasting, developing and controlling— by which a firm ensures, it has the right number of people and the right kind of people and at the right places at the right time doing things for which they are economically most useful"

According to Dale S. Beach, "Human resource planning is a process of determining and assuring that the organisation will have an adequate number of qualified persons, available at the proper times, performing jobs which meet the needs of the enterprise and which provide satisfaction for the individuals involved."

According to Wickstron, "Human resource planning consists of a series of activities viz.:

Forecasting future manpower requirement either in term of mathematical projection of trends in the economic environment and development in industry or in term of judgmental estimates based upon the specific future plans of a company.

Making an inventory of present manpower resources and assessing the extent to which these resources are employed optimally.

Anticipating manpower problems by projecting present resources into the future and comparing them with the forecast of requirements to determine their adequacy, both quantitatively and qualitatively; and

Planning the necessary programs of recruitment, selection, training, development, transfer, promotion, motivation and compensation to ensure that future manpower requirements are properly met.

Hiring the right kind of people was cited as the most important challenge by 98 per cent of HR and business leaders in a survey. The second most-cited concern was retaining this talent, backed by 93 per cent of respondents. 

Facts [+]

48% of Indian employers struggle to find the right candidate

June 2012,BANGALORE: The battle for the right candidate continues to rage as 48% of Indian employers struggle to find the right candidate for the job. A study on Talent Shortage by staffing firm Manpower Group shows that although down by 19% from last year, India's hunt for suitable employees is high compared to global average of 34%.

The profiles on demand have also altered since same period last year. While it was difficult to hunt for R&D, sales manager and IT staff last year, this year the positions are for IT staff, marketing/public relations/communication staff and engineers. Personal assistants, call centre operators, researchers are also hard to find this year. Professions like labourers, doctors that had made it to the list have been struck off this time.

Lack of available candidates, technical competencies amongst those present,refusal to move to another location, poor image of the occupation, weak soft skills and demand for a higher salary have been key reasons in Asia Pacific for the posts to remain vacant. 

PROBLEMS IN HRP PROCESS

The main problems in the process of HRP are as follows:

a) Inaccuracy: Human Resource Planning is entirely dependent on the HR forecasting and supply, which cannot be a cent per cent accurate process. b) Employee resistance: Employees and their unions feel that by Human Resource Planning, their workload increases so they resist the process. c) Uncertainties: Labour absenteeism, labour turnover, seasonal employment, technological changes and market fluctuations are the uncertainties which Human Resource Planning process might have to face. d) Inefficient information system: In Indian industries, HRIS is not much strong. In the absence of reliable data it is not possible to develop effective Human Resource Planning. e) Time and expense: Human Resource Planning is time consuming and expensive exercise, so industries avoid.

Objective and Benefits of HRP

Human Resource planningHuman Resource Planning

Objective and Benefits of HRP Human Resource Planning at Different Levels HRP Process HR Demand Forecasting HR Supply Forecasting

o Succession Analysiso Markov Analysis

Objectives of Human Resource Planning (HRP)

1. To recruit and maintain the HR of requisite quantity and quality.2. To predict the employee turnover and make the arrangements for minimizing

turnover and filing up of consequent vacancies.3. To meet the requirements of the programmes of expansion, diversification etc.4. To anticipate the impact of technology on work, existing employees and future

human resource requirements.5. To progress the knowledge, skill, standards, ability and discipline etc.

6. To appraise the surplus or shortage of human resources and take actions accordingly.

7. To maintain pleasant industrial relations by maintaining optimum level and structure of human resource.

8. To minimize imbalances caused due to non-availability of human resources of right kind, right number in right time and right place.

9. To make the best use of its human resources; and 10. To estimate the cost of human resources.

So, human resource planning is required to achieve the objectives of estimating potential human resources requirements; to cope with changing requirements of the organisation taking into consideration the changing technology; to make full utilization of the existing and potential workforce of the organisation; and career planning of employees.

Facts [+]

According to a recent study on workforce engagement, nearly one-third of the U.S. workforce fits the category of “unengaged.” Unengaged employees perform their jobs in ways that do not contribute to organizational success, performance, and profitability. The productivity loss of unengaged workers equals nearly $300 billion a year.

Benefits/Importance of Human Resource Planning

Human resource planning or manpower planning is necessary for ail organisations because of following reasons:

To meet up requirements of the organisation: To do work in the organisation, every organisation needs personnel of desired skill, knowledge and experience. This human resources requirement of organisation can be effectively fulfilled through proper human resource planning. It helps in defining the number of personnel as well as kind of personnel required to satisfy its needs. It ensures the reservoir of desired human resources as and when required.

Counterbalance insecurity and change: There must be proper utilisation of human and non-human resources in the organisation. Sometimes the organisation may have adequate non-human resources e.g. machines, materials and money but inadequate human resources as a result, manufacturing process/production cannot be started. Human resource planning helps to offset uncertainties and changes as far as possible and enables to ensure availability of human resources of the right kind, at right time and at right place.

It helps in checking labour imbalance: Human resource planning helps to anticipate shortages and/or surpluses of manpower in the organisation. The shortage of manpower as well as surplus of manpower is not good for the organisation. It proves very expensive for the organisation. In case of shortage of human resources, physical resources of the organisation cannot be properly utilized. In case of surplus of human resources, this resource may remain under-utilized It helps in counter balancing the problem of shortage and surplus employees very comfortably. Human resource planning helps in correcting this imbalance before it become unmanageable and expensive.

Right-sizing the human resource requirements of the organisation: In an existing organisation, there is a constant need for right-sizing the organisation. In the organisation, some posts may fall vacant as a result of retirement, accidents, resignations, promotions or death of employees. Consequently, there is constant need of replacing people. Human

resource planning estimates future requirements of the organisation and helps to ensure that human resources of right kind, right number, in right time and right place.

To meet expansion and diversification needs of the organisation: It helps to execute future plans of the organisation regarding expansion, diversification and modernization. Through human resource planning it is ensured that employees in right number and of right kind are available when required to meet these needs of the organisation. It ensures that people of desired skills and knowledge are available to handle the challenging job requirements.

Training and Development of Employees: There is constant need of training and development of employees as a result of changing requirements of the organisation. It provides scope for advancement and development of employees through training and development etc. Thus, it helps in meeting the future needs of the organisation of highly skilled employees.

Fulfill Individual Needs of the Employees: It helps to satisfy the individual needs of the employees for promotions, transfer, salary encashment, better benefits etc.

Helps Formulation of Budgets: It helps in anticipating the cost of human resources e.g. salary and other benefits etc. It facilitates the formulation of human resource budget for various departments/divisions of the organisation. So, it may also help in, the formulation of suitable budgets in an organisation.

To Check Joblessness: In the exercise of right-sizing of employees by the organisation, some of the employees may become surplus. It means their services are no more required in the organisation. It tries to foresee the need for redundancy. It plans to check job loss or to provide for alternative employment in consultation with various concerned parties and authorities

Human Resource Planning at Different Levels

Human Resource PlanningHuman Resource Planning

Objective and Benefits of HRP Human Resource Planning at Different Levels HRP Process HR Demand Forecasting HR Supply Forecasting

o Succession Analysiso Markov Analysis

Human resource planning is done at various levels for their own purposes by various institutions. There are various levels of human resource planning in an industrial enterprise:

1. National Level2. Sectoral Level3. Industry Level4. Unit Level5. Departmental Level

6. Job Level

1. National Level: Generally, central government plans for human resources for the entire nation. It anticipates the demand for and supply of human requirements at the national level.

2. Sectoral Level: Central and state governments also plan human resource requirements at sectoral level. It tries to satisfy needs of some particular sectors like Agriculture Sector, Industrial Sector and Service Sector.

3. Industry Level: This level of planning is done to suit manpower needs of a particular industry such as Engineering, Heavy Industries, Paper Industry, Consumer Goods Industries. Public Utility Industries, Textile, Cement/Chemical Industries etc.

4.  Departmental Level: This level of planning is done to suit the manpower needs of a particular department in a company e.g. Marketing Department, Production Department. Finance Department, etc.

5.  Job Level: This level of planning fulfills the human resource needs of a particular job family within department. For example, the requirement of number of sales executes in the marketing department.

Need for HRP at Macro Level

Major reasons for the emphasis on HRP at macro level include:

Employment-Unemployment Situation: Though in general the number of educated unemployed is on the rise, there is acute shortage for a variety of skills. This emphasises the need for more effective recruitment and retaining people.

Technological Changes: The myriad changes in production technologies, marketing methods and management techniques have been extensive and rapid. Their effect has been profound on job contents and job contexts. These changes cause problems relating to redundancies, retraining and redeployment. All these suggest the need to plan manpower needs intensively and systematically.

Organizational Changes: In the turbulent environment marked by cyclical fluctuations and discontinuities, the nature and pace of changes in organizational environment, activities and structures affect manpower requirements and require strategic considerations.

Demographic Changes: The changing profile of the work force in terms of age, sex, litercy, technical inputs and social background have implications for HRP.

Skill Shortages: Unemployment does not mean that the labour market is a buyer’s market. Organizations have generally become more complex and require a wide range of specialist skills that are rare and scarce. Problems arise when such employees leave.

Governmental Influences: Government control and changes in legislation with regard to affirmative action for disadvantaged groups, working conditions and hours of work, restrictions on women and child employment, casual and contract labout, etc. have stimulated the organizations to become involved in systematic HRP.

Legislative Controls: The days of executive fiat and ‘hire and fire’ policies are gone. Now legislation makes it difficult to reduce the size of an organization quickly and cheaply. It is

easy to increase but difficult to shed the fat in terms of the numbers employed because of recent changes in labour law relating to lay-offs and closures. Those responsible for managing manpower must look far ahead and thus attempt to foresee manpower problems.

Impact of Pressure Groups: Pressure groups such as unions, politicians and persons displaced from land by location of giant enterprises have been raising contradictory pressures on enterprise management such as internal recruitment and promotions, preference to employees’ children, displace persons, sons of the soil etc.

Systems Concept: The spread of systems thinking and the advent of the macro computer as part of the on-going revolution in information technology which emphasises planning and newer ways of handling voluminous personnel records.

Lead Time: The long lead time is necessary in the selection process and for training and deployment of the employee to handle new knowledge and skills successfully

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HRP Process

Human Resource PlanningHuman Resource Planning

Objective and Benefits of HRP Human Resource Planning at Different Levels HRP Process HR Demand Forecasting HR Supply Forecasting

o Succession Analysiso Markov Analysis

The process of HRP is entirely based on the corporate plans and objectives. HRP is a continuous process of review, control and assessment. Figure clearly indicates the HRP process.

Process

Human resources planning is the process by which management ensures that it has the right personnel, who are capable of completing those tasks that help the organization reach its objectives. It involves the forecasting of human resources needs and the projected matching of individuals with

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expected vacancies.

Steps in implementation

Human resource planning begins with answering several questions:

What new technologies are operating and how will these affect the work system?

What is the volume of the business likely to be in the next five to 10 years?

What is the employee turnover rate, and how much, if any is avoidable?

Once these questions are answered, then you have to ask further questions that can lead to specific human resources activities such as training or hiring:

How many senior managers will we need during this time period? What types of workers will we need, and how many? Are there people with adequate computer skills available for meeting

our projected needs? What administrative personnel, technicians and secretaries will we

need to support the additional managers and workers?

Answering these questions will also help to define the direction for the organization's human resources strategy. For example, if forecasting suggests that there will be a strong need for more technically trained individuals, the organisation can:

Define the jobs and skills needed in some detail. Hire and train recruiters to look for the specified skills. Providing new training for existing employees.

Other essential measures to ensure that human resources planning is an integral part of your human resources policy include:

Creating a simple database of records with basic information on each employee (full name, date of birth, address, start date, starting wage, current wage, skills etc.)

Developing job descriptions, performance standards and appraisals.

E.W. Vetter has visualized resources planning as "a process by which an organisation should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position. Through planning, management strive to have the right number and right kind of people at the right places, at the right time, doing things which result in both the organisation and the individuals receiving maximum long-run benefit."

Thus, human resource planning is a process which determines how an organisation should move from its current manpower/human resources position to its desired manpower/human resources position.

Human resource planning can be defined as the process of identifying the number of people required by an organization in terms of quantity and quality. All human resource management activities start with human resource planning. So we can say that human resource planning is the principle/primary activity of human resource management.

The process of HRP involves various steps they can be explained with the help of the following diagram.

1. Personnel demand forecast :- This is the very first step in HRP process. Here the HRP department finds out department wise requirements of people for the company. The requirement consists of number of people required as well as qualification they must possess.

2. Personnel supply forecast :- In this step, HR department finds out how many people are actually available in the departments of the company. The supply involves/includes number of people along with their qualification.

3. Comparison:- Based on the information collected in the 1st and 2nd step, the HR department makes a comparison and finds out the difference. Two possibilities arise from this comparison

No difference :-It is possible that personnel requirement = personnel supplied. In this case there is no difference. Hence no change is required.

Yes, there is a difference :-There may be difference between

supply and requirement. The difference may be

Personnel surplus Personnel shortage

4. Personnel surplus :- When the supply of personnel is more than the requirement, we have personnel surplus. We require 100 people, but have 125 people. That is we have a surplus of 25 people. Since extra employees increase expenditure of company the company must try to remove excess staff by following methods.

Layoff >>

Termination VRS/CRS No recruitment

Facts [+]

Every year, India produces an estimated 10 lakh engineering graduates, of which two lakh are recruited by IT companies. In 2010, these companies hired 1.7 lakh engineers and in 2011, they offered jobs to two lakh.

5. Personnel shortage :- When supply is less than the requirement, we have personnel shortage. We require 100 people; we have only 75 i.e. we are short of 25 people. In such case the HR department can adopt methods like Overtime, Recruitment, Sub-contracting to obtain new employee

Facts [+]

48% of employers struggle to find the right candidates: Manpower Survey

Nearly half of India's employers are struggling to fill critical positions because of a severe talent crunch, according to a study on talent shortage by staffing firm Manpower Group.

Although the situation has improved over last year, 48% of employers in the country are facing hiring challenges current year as against the global average of 34%, the study said. Talent is particularly scarce in information technology, marketing, public relations and communications, and engineering, it said. While it was difficult to hunt for R&D, sales manager and IT staff last year, this year the positions are for IT staff, marketing/public relations/communication staff and engineers. Personal assistants, call centre operators, researchers are also hard to find this year.

Lack of available candidates, technical competencies amongst those present,refusal to move to another location, poor image of the occupation, weak soft skills and demand for a higher salary have been key reasons in Asia Pacific for the posts to remain vacant.

The study covered 1,500 employers in India, who were part of the 8,786 employers polled in the Asia Pacific region and 40,000 globally. Employers in Asia Pacific cited shortage of candidates, lack of technical skill, candidates' refusal to relocate, poor image of the occupation, weak soft skills and demand for higher remuneration as reasons for trouble in filling jobs.

In India electrical equipment industry is facing a major problem in getting skilled and employable manpower which is technically competent, equipped with skills and ready to be deployed.  "The industry is facing a looming skill gap, which is widening every year. Due to lack of skilled manpower, electrical equipment industry is suffering as it is affecting critical functions like R&D, consultancy, design and detailed engineering work," it added.

The technical education system in the country does not promote innovative thinking, it said adding training being provided in the ITIs is out dated and the students are not able to meet the aspirations of the industry.

"Even the qualified supervisors and engineers are not available. Those who are qualified are not well trained to meet the technical needs of the industry. Because of the above factors the labour productivity is far less than the labour productivity in China and Korea," the statement said.

It said that this is one of the important reasons for making the industry non-competitive and is also effecting the timely completion of the projects.

INDIA: There is about 40 per cent shortage of skilled manpower in the infrastructure sector, according to experts.

"The infrastructure sector is short of skilled manpower by about 40 per cent from the existing number of employed. The annual demand for civil engineers is 4.27 million against the current availability of 27,000," President and Whole-time Director of L&T Finance Holdings, N Sivaraman, said. Meanwhile, the shortfall of civil engineers in this decade (2010-2020) is expected to be 39.4 million," he said.

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HR Supply Forecasting

Human Resource PlanningHuman Resource Planning

Objective and Benefits of HRP Human Resource Planning at Different Levels HRP Process HR Demand Forecasting HR Supply Forecasting

o Succession Analysis

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o Markov Analysis

Human Resource supply forecasting is the process of estimating availability of human resource followed after demand for testing of human resource. For forecasting supply of human resource we need to consider internal and external supply. Internal supply of human resource available by way of transfers, promotions, retired employees & recall of laid-off employees, etc. Source of external supply of human resource is availability of labour force in the market and new recruitment.

external supply of human resource depends on some factors mentioned below.

Supply and demand of jobs. literacy rate of nation. rate of population industry and expected growth rate and levels technological development. compensation system based on education, experience, skill and age.

The most important techniques for forecasting of human resource supply are Succession analysis and Markov analysis.

succession analysis

Once a company has forecast the demand for labour, it needs an indication of the firm's labour supply. Determining the internal labour supply calls for a detailed analysis of how many people are currently in various job categories or have specific skills within the organization. The planner then modifies this analysis to reflect changes expected in the near future as a result of retirements, promotions, transfers, voluntary turnover, and terminations.

Demand forecasting helps in determining the number and type of personnel/human resources required in future. The next step in human resource planning is forecasting supply of human resources. The purpose of supply forecasting is to determine the size and quality of present and potential human resources available from within and outside the organisation to meet the future demand of human resources. Supply forecast is the estimate of the number and kind of potential personnel that could be available to the organisation.

Estimating Internal Labor Supply for a Given Unit

The above figure illustrates that internal supply forecasting can be estimated based on the following:

(a) Current Staffing Level(b) Projected Outflows This Year (c) Projected Inflows This Year

Markov Analysis—transition probability matrix is developed to determine the probabilities of job incumbents remaining in their jobs for the forecasting period.

The technique is named after Russian mathematician Andrei Andreyevich

Markov,

A transition matrix, or Markov matrix, can be used to model the internal flow of human resources. These matrices simply show as probabilities the average rate of historical movement from one job to another. Figure 2-12 presents a very simple transition matrix. For a line worker, for example, there is a 20% probability of being gone in 12 months, a 0% probability of promotion to manager, a 15% probability of promotion to supervisor, and a 65% probability of being a line worker this time next year. Such transition matrices form the bases for computer simulations of the internal flow of people through a large organization over time.