Use a Strategic Staffing Plan to Improve Human Resource Management

Human Resources (HR) departments are responsible for effectively managing the corporate workplace. The best way to make sure that you are not exceeding your payroll budget or being understaffed is to implement a workforce strategy. Your department heads should determine or update their business goals and adjust staffing to meet them. This strategy can include promotions, hiring new employees, increasing benefits, implementing training and much more. Find out how to use a strategic staffing plan to improve human resource management.

Steps

  1. Ensure you have a detailed business plan that addresses the short-term and long-term goals. If you haven't updated your business plan in the last few years, then it is time to adjust it according to the position of the company. Whether you want to grow your business, introduce new products, segue into a new industry or reduce expenses for a recession, your managers should all be aware of the short-term and long term goals of the company.
  2. Employ a human resources (HR) manager who is a problem-solver. If mid and upper-level management is filling in as HR when a position must be filled, it is unlikely you will be able to execute a strategic staffing plan. The HR manager should be able to assess the company's needs anew and develop a procedure for filling the position with the entire company, not just the department, in mind.
    • If you are hiring a new HR representative, ask for a strategic staffing qualification. You may need to pay a higher salary for someone who is experienced in HR strategy, but it may save you money in turnover in the long run.
  3. Create a report about the current staffing needs in your business. List the occupation, hours required, skills required and experience required. Keep in mind that your current staffing needs may be different than your original staffing needs, and the report should be based on the people you need to reach long-term goals.
    • An HR rep can conduct this kind of report by reviewing payroll, income statements, benefits, seasonal employment and turnover rates over the past few years. It may be a good idea to ask an outside consultant to report on the current staffing needs. An outside source may be able to use their distance from company culture to examine staffing outside of the current employees.
  4. Evaluate your current staff. In a separate document than the 1 outlining your needs, identify your current employees, their job descriptions and any foreseeable change in employment. For instance, if an employee will go on maternity leave, retire or begin full-time work, then it is worth noting.
    • Reviewing employees should involve reviewing whether their capabilities fit their current job titles and responsibilities. While creating a strategic staffing plan, people can be reallocated to a position that better fits their abilities or adapts to company changes.
    • Pay attention to overtime payments. A strategic staffing plan can address increases in payroll by adding part-time employees.
  5. Discuss company culture. Survey staff and meet with managers about the relationships, attitudes and changes in the company over the past 5 years. Decide if company culture is in a healthy place to reach long-term goals, or if improvements need to be made.
    • If improvements need to be made, try to outline whether they are improvements in morale, turnover, professionalism, personality, ambition or other qualities. The staffing decisions you make will need to reflect attitudes as well as abilities.
  6. Identify talent gaps and surpluses. After you have evaluated current needs and current staff, write a list of changes you would like to see in your workforce.
  7. Create a future staffing plan that projects 5 to 10 years in the future. Once you have analyzed the data on your current staff, you can begin to make changes that will inform HR decisions in the future.
    • Plan for workplace promotions. You will need to increase pay rates by 50 to 100 percent in order to take a low-level employee and promote them into mid or upper-level management in 5 to 10 years. If you have a problem with turnover, internal promotions and training may be an effective way to improve company culture and talent gaps.
    • Set up a seasonal employment process. If your income ebbs and flows during certain months, create a procedure for hiring people during a limited time. Give them incentives to do well at their job or possibilities to reward hard work with additional employment.
    • Reduce work-related injuries by increasing training or safety protocols. Set up strict rules for workplace safety and reward people for following them. If your business includes manual labor, this should be part of your strategic staffing plan.
    • Restructure your current positions in light of your long-term goals. Change is difficult for any company, but the sooner you adjust to fill gaps and reduce surplus, the more efficient you will be.
    • Don't be afraid to hire new people. If you need a social media guru, it may be better to get new ideas into the company than to train current marketing executives. While promoting from within can increase job satisfaction, filling vacated positions with new people may make your company more innovative. If many people are retiring, you may need to slowly train a younger workforce.
    • Consider increasing employee benefits. This is a good way to decrease turnover. Changes like health insurance, working from home, adding an employee gym or offering employee day care may improve company morale. Some benefits may be tax deductible.
  8. Execute your strategic staffing plan slowly and confidently. Changing everything overnight may upset positive company culture. Announce changes and goals while accepting comments, so that the company can feel as though they are involved.
  9. Train your HR department and managers on your strategic staffing plan. Once it is implemented, you will want to make sure that everyone supports and helps to manage the plan. If there is turnover in the HR department, other employees should be able to learn and implement the plan.
  10. Review the plan on a yearly basis. A successful company will change regularly. Ask our HR manager to update the plan every year based on new needs, employees and market changes.

Things You'll Need

  • Payroll records
  • Income statements
  • HR manager
  • Staffing needs report
  • Employee files
  • Company culture review
  • Promotions
  • Benefits
  • Training

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References