Human Resource Planning: Balancing Supply and Demand

In this assignment we will discuss about human resource planning and below are the summaries point:- Human resource planning involves forecasting labor supply and demand and implementing strategies to balance them. Technological advancements have led to a decrease in physical store sales and an increase in online store demand, impacting labor needs. Employee turnover rates and customer trends play a crucial role in determining human resource supply estimates for different store types.

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Human Resource Planning
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Human Resource Planning
Meeting an organization's strategic goals and objectives requires having a perfect balance
of all resources. Most people considered having a solid capital base as the only component
towards a company's success. However, labor is one of the essential resources needed to attain a
firm’s strategic objectives. The human resource department must ensure it gets employees with
the required talent. A firm must ensure it has the correct number of employees with the necessary
skills at the right time. Human resource planning consists of three key processes; forecasting
labor supply, forecasting labor demand, and planning and implementing human resource
programs to balance demand and supply. Therefore, by implementing an effective human
resource planning strategy, an organization can reduce and control labor costs. In addition, it can
avoid and anticipate surpluses and shortages of human resources, attain economies of scale when
recruiting new employees and attain short-term and long-term strategic objectives. This report
aims to provide critical human resource planning strategies to address a forecast labor shortage
or surpluses.
Labor Forecast Analysis
Following increased online stores and reduced physical stores sales, there will be a
reduced and increased demand for labor within the next three years. Within the next three years,
there will most likely be a reed employee from the physical stores. The company will rely more
on full-time employees working from remote locations who will manage the online stores.
Generally, an increased technological advancement has played a vital role in collapsing many
brick and mortar stores. Therefore, the reduced number of customers in physical stores will mean
there is a need to reduce the number of employees. Cutting down on employees will help the
business in having low operational costs. On the other hand, there is an expected increase in

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demand for labor in online stores. Most customers will opt to use a convenient and easier method
for accessing products without moving to the physical stores. In addition, online stores attract
customers from far and wide. With the digital age, the number of full-time employees working in
online stores will be higher than the physical stores within the three years.
Human Resource Supply Estimates
With a 15% employee turnover rate for its in-store employees, it would mean the
company loses an average of 4 employees a year. Within the next three years, the company will
have lost a total of 12 employees. Therefore, the in-line store can manage a total of 1 5
employees. The physical store will continue to lose many customers within the next three years,
and with the 15% turnover rate, it will not significantly affect the business. However, the online-
store turnover rates will face a 30% turnover rate. Currently, the company has an increased
online customer presence. Within the next three years, it is expected that the remotely working
employees will increase by 10 times from 5 to 50. The company would thus have about 50
employees within three years. A 30% employee annual turnover indicates the company will lose
an average of 15 employees yearly. Within three years, the company will have 5 online store
employees. The reduction most likely results from increased competition from other sporting
giant chains better employee incentive packages. The increased transformation of physical stores
into online stores will act as a competitive advantage for companies that can attract the right
talent. Companies can use better benefits, and compensation packages will most likely attract
employees from other firms. Therefore, if the company does not improve its employee working
environment, compensation, and benefits packages, a 30% annual turnover will probably lead to
its collapse and loss of customers in its online stores.
Employee Reports

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The physical store part of the business will suffer the most because of employee
termination. The low customer numbers would mean the business has to reduce the number o its
current employees. Similarly, there will be a need to increase the number of employees working
remotely because of the high customer numbers. During the first year, the online store will see its
employees rise by 10. In the second and third year, the employees will increase by 10 and 25
respectively. The expected high increase during the third year is attributed to the increasing
number of online customer. For the in-store employees, , it is expected to witnesses a 4 employee
reduction each year. Low sales would mean there is a need to cut down on operational costs.
During the first year, the employees will reduce from 27 to 23 and later 19 and 15 during the
second and third year.
Employee Termination Report
Employee termination will severely affect the in-store part of the business as it will lose
about 4 employees annually. Despite having a 30% employee termination for the online store, the
company will still need more remotely working employees, unlike physical stores.
Navigating through an employee's exit is a problematic undertaking not only for the
employee but also for an employer with the latter being forced to fill the vacant position. An
employee must cope with various emotions, including self-pity, resentment, anxiety,
vulnerability, and humiliation after termination. Hunting for a new job can become a frustrating
and distressing activity for such employees. To ease the adverse outcomes resulting from
termination, offering outplacement counseling is vital (Kaźmierczyk,Tarasova & Andrianova,
2020). Outplacement counseling is a career transition support process. The counseling must
involve career coaches who will help employees match their skills with other posted job
vacancies. In addition, the organization can set up career fairs and enable terminated employees

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to connect with new employers. More importantly, the loss of confidence resulting from
termination prevents employees from moving on to new careers (Kaźmierczyk,Tarasova &
Andrianova, 2020). However, through outplacement counseling, career coaches provide
employees with networking tips and personal branding advice to focus on more favorable
opportunities.
1. Depending on the reason for employee termination, helping one bridge the financial gap
until financing a new job is essential. As an employer, it is right to offer a severance pay
package including extended health care insurance and monetary compensation ((Dessler
& Chhinzer,2020). Severance pay will help ease the employee's transition from
employment to unemployment (Kim, 2014). If its temporal employees are paid hourly,
one should calculate the total years worked multiplied by an entire week's pay. For
salaried employees, the number of years worked should be multiplied by two weeks'
wages. Despite the non-existence of regulations requiring a business to pay severance
packages to terminated employees, one should engage in it as a kind gesture. This can
also help build morale and productivity among remaining employees as they know their
well-being is taken care of if they lose their jobs for other reasons not related to poor
performance or negative work violations.
Recommendations
Generally, I would forecast a labor shortage. As more customers shift to the online store
businesses, many companies will be forced to introduce incentives that attract the best talent.
Most employees will seek companies that offer a better working environment. In addition, as
customers seek online stores, the physical stores will continue performing poorly in terms of
sales, thus forcing the management to reduce its employees. As all companies fight to get the

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best talent from the marketplace, employee training and development would be the best option to
fill the labor shortage. There is no need to fire the employees from the physical store as they
might not have the skills to manage the online stores. Re-skilling and up-skilling the team is vital
to sustainable business success and growth. Employee training enables workers to gain skills that
can improve and enhance job performance (Mpofu & Hlatywayo, 2015). The management and
employees work as a team to develop a development plan that identifies areas to develop and
come up with solutions. Employee training will play a vital role in staff retention as it fosters
loyalty (Mpofu & Hlatywayo,2015). Similarly, internal;l employee training eliminates the cost
and time lost in recruiting new hires and nurturing them until they reach potential.
Employee retention is a vital tool in managing the forecast of labor shortages. In case
employees seek other organizations, it means the business is losing a critical competitive
advantage, turnover management. As the shift turns to online stores, creating opportunities for
employees to grow and advance their careers will help in reducing high turnover rates. (Shakeel
& But, 2015) There is no need for limiting employees working in physical stores, yet the online
stores attract more customers and need a skilled workforce. Creating opportunities for them to
express their intents, expectations, and ideas is essential (Dessler & Chhinzer,2020). However,
for this to thrive, an environment supported by trust between the management and employees is
inevitable. Employees should, without fear, engage the management on what makes them stay at
the firm, want to leave, or join a company. The information gathered should later be used in
improving various activities in the company. Once employees feel their feedback is used to
support their growth at the firm, they will not seek employment elsewhere. Overall, robust
employee turnover management strategies are vital to solving labor shortages.
Offering competitive employee benefits is a great way to overcome labor shortages. The

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benefits do not have to be monetary. Still, they can include other non-monetary benefits such as
converting part-time employees into salaried employees, offering overtime opportunities,
company events, professional training and development, and many others. Employees will work
hard and opt to stay at a company if they feel valued. Therefore, new ways of showing
appreciation can help the business retain almost all its employees in labor shortages.
Human resource planning is a crucial undertaking for any organization. Having the right
talent at the right time will ensure a company gains competitive advantage. However, if a
company does not focus on its human resources, meeting its strategic goals and objectives will
be hard. In the forecast labor shortages, there is a need to retain existing employees and attract
the best talent. An organization should implement various strategies include offering better
benefits packages, training and development opportunities, and supporting what offers
employees growth opportunities.
Speech

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Hello, Mr. David Edwards. Thank you for having me. My name is ______ _______, and
I am going to be speaking to you today about the importance of human resource planning. First, I
would like to briefly explain what human resource planning entails and why it is essential for
your business, given the current situation you are facing.
Human resource planning is one of the most overlooked strategic objectives. It majorly
involves determining an organization's future human resource needs. Through human resource
planning, an organization will meet three key goals; forecasting labor supply, forecasting labor
demand, and planning and implementing human resource programs (Dessler & Chhinzer,2020).
After an organization has the forecast of its labor demands, it will determine its labor supply. A
firm will have the ability to select the quality and size of potential and present human resources
required from outside and within the firm in meeting its future human resources demand (Dessler
& Chhinzer,2020). The long-term goal of forecasting labor supply is to assist the firm in
planning and implementing its human resources to meet short-term and long-term needs.
Therefore, this report aims to provide you with crucial human resource planning strategies to
address a forecast labor shortage or surpluses.
From a careful analysis of your company, one can quickly point out online stores have
started outperforming the physical stores in terms of sales generated. The 20% revenue drop in
physical stores most likely results from the current digital technologies that support online
shopping. Most shoppers have turned to online stores as it offers convenient and easy shopping
experience. This is very evident from the 30% increase in online sales from your business.
Despite having this decrease and increase in sales, one shared factor is that human resources are
required to make the sales from both online and physical stores. However, now that you are
experiencing a reduced sale from physical stores, it is expected the sales will continue to decline

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in the coming three years. As a business owner, profit maximization is your key goal. The
current employees at your physical store contribute towards operational expenses in salaries and
other monetary needs. You will be required to cut down on the full-time employees at the
physical stores within the three years. If the sales continue dwindling each year, reducing the
employes is inevetibale. However, with increased customers on the online platform, many
employees need to have many employees to manage the rising customer order requests.
Customers who do not get their orders fulfilled on time will seek substitute companies, which
would mean low sales. Therefore, it is vital to continue increasing the employe numbers for the
next three years within the online store, which will now work remotely.
Assuming you will have a 15% employee turnover for the physical store employees year
for the next three years, it would mean that you will have to terminate 4 employees per year.
From the current 27 employees, you will remain with only 15 employees in three years. This
number is enough to manage customers who will seek in-store products from your business.
From the online stores, a lot of competition will mean employee turnover rates become much
higher. This might arise from companies offering better packages or incentives to attract the best
talent. Therefore, initially, assume your company had increased its employees from 5 to 50 full-
time working remotely, a 30% annual turnover would mean that you will have 5 employees in
three years. However, for your business, employee termination hence turnover, will primarily
affect the in-store part of the business. As an employer, you should not just terminate an
employee without having various services in place. I would recommend you offer the employees
a severance package and outplacement counseling. Generally, the law does not require
employers to offer severance pay packages. It should be a kind gesture to offer to your
employees and help lay a foundation to bridge the financial gap until finding a new job

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(Kim,2014). Hourly and salaried employees must all be entitled to severance pay without any
form of discrimination. In addition, outplacement counseling will support the employees as they
transition into another job. Terminating employees results in many negative emotions, and to
prevent this, career coaches must become an integral part of outplacement counseling.
From your business case, I would suggest that you will most likely suffer from severe
labor shortages. The online stores require skilled labor, and you had heavily invested in physical
stores. A majority of employees working in physical stores possess unskilled labor qualities. As
earlier indicated, increased technological advancement can create a huge skill gap (Dessler &
Chhinzler, 2020). Moreover, companies with substantial financial foundations can offer better
compensation packages to attract the few skilled employees leaving your business with only
unskilled employees to meet higher customer demands whose needs require skilled labor. For
your business to overcome the labor shortage, there is a need to support the re-skilling and up-
skilling of your current employees, mainly those working in the physical stores. Setting up
employee training enables workers to gain skills that can improve and enhance job performance
(Dessler & Chhinzer,2020). Employee training will play a vital role in staff retention as it fosters
loyalty. Similarly, internal employee training eliminates the cost and time lost in recruiting new
hires and nurturing them until they reach potential. Additionally, offering competitive employee
benefits is a great way to overcome labor shortages. Employees will work hard and opt to stay at
a company if they feel valued. Therefore, new ways of showing appreciation can help the
business retain almost all its employees in labor shortages. If you implement the two strategies,
your company will overcome the labor shortages and gain a competitive advantage in your
operational market.

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References
Dessler, G., & Chhinzer, N. (2020). Human resources management in Canada (14th Canadian
ed.). Pearson Canada Inc.
Kaźmierczyk, J., Tarasova, A., & Andrianova, E. (2020). Outplacement–An employment safety
tool but not for everyone. The relationship between job insecurity, new job opportunities
and outplacement implementation. Cogent Business & Management, 7(1), 1723210.
Kim, T. W. (2014). Decent termination: A moral case for severance pay. Business Ethics
Quarterly.
Mpofu, M., & Hlatywayo, C. K. (2015). Training and development as a tool for improving basic
service delivery; the case of a selected municipality. Journal of Economics, Finance and
Administrative Science, 20(39), 133-136.
Shakeel, N., & But, S. (2015). Factors influencing employee retention: An integrated
perspective. Journal of Resources development and Management, 6(2015), 32-49.