Workforce Planning: Components, Factors, and Strategies Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of workforce planning, emphasizing its strategic alignment with organizational goals. It delves into crucial components such as forecasting and assessment, leadership development, and recruitment and retention activities. The report examines the impact of both external factors, like workforce demographics, partners and suppliers, and political and regulatory environments, and internal factors, including organizational design and culture, on workforce planning. Furthermore, it highlights effective strategies for retaining and attracting skilled labor, such as training and development programs. The analysis underscores the importance of workforce planning for achieving organizational objectives and maintaining a competitive edge, providing insights into the challenges and opportunities in workforce management.

Running head: MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
Manage workforce planning
Name of the student:
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Author’s note

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
Introduction:
Workforce planning is the strategic alignment of the organization’s workforce with that
of organizational needs and goals. It is a continual process where the main purpose is to ensure
that all organizational, legislative and regulation objectives are achieved through the
implementation of the workforce development strategy. The important components of workforce
planning includes analyzing the strength of current workforce, identifying immediate and future
needs of workforce and implementing strategic steps to fulfill unmet needs of employees. The
importance and benefits of workforce planning is that the process ensures getting the right
number of people with rights skills in the organization. This eventually has an impact on
organizational mission, budget planning and strengthening workforce competencies1.The main
purpose of this report is to understand the important components of workforce planning and
analyze the impact of different internal and external factors on workforce plan. The importance
of contingency plan is also discussed to overcome challenges during the workforce development
process.
Important aspects of workforce planning:
The common components of workforce planning for any organization include:
Forecasting and assessment:
Workforce planning consists of staffing and scheduling decisions to determine the
number and types of employees to be hired or dismissed in an organization. The process initiates
with the development of mission, vision and business objectives of the organization and
1Armstrong M, Taylor S. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers;
2014 Apr 3.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
assessment of the number of workforce and skills needed to fulfill different objectives. This
process of forecasting helps organization to achieve balance between supply and demands and
find our better strategies for agility and value of business. The human resource professionals
plays a crucial role in forecasting the type of talent needed in organization and developing
recruitment strategies accordingly2. For example, when a new company is going to start business,
they engage in workforce planning by setting different roles required from top to bottom in an
organization to accomplish business objectives.
In addition, already established companies engage in maintaining employment stability.
This is necessary because of changes in skills mix due to technological advancement and other
issues in business. For example, in the health care industry, the main deployment of health care
staffs with requisite skill is critical for efficient service delivery in the area of cost, quality as
well as quantity. Failure to deploy enough staffs often leads to shortage of clinical staff or
oversupply. Shortage of staffs is associated with many negative outcomes such as burnout and
medical error, whereas oversupply leads to economic efficiencies in the health care
organization3. Hence, human resource planning is address pitfalls and promotes efficiency in
business.
Leadership development:
Leaders also play an important role in human resource planning. They are involved in
making progression plan for important positions, developing skills of existing employees,
2 De Bruecker P, Van den Bergh J, Beliën J, Demeulemeester E. Workforce planning incorporating skills: State of
the art. European Journal of Operational Research. 2015 May 16;243(1):1-6.
3 Lopes MA, Almeida ÁS, Almada-Lobo B. Handling healthcare workforce planning with care: where do we stand?.
Human resources for health. 2015 May 24;13(1):38.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
mentoring them and assigning employees into different projects. Mentoring role is mainly given
to senior employees to maintain and develop the talents and skills of employees. Although young
graduates come to business organization with academic knowledge and zeal, they lack the skills
understand specific business or corporate dynamic4. Hence, mentors support new employees to
overcome challenges in job on a daily basis and learn new tactics to overcome certain challenges
in the job.
Both leadership and workforce development are an important component that decides the
success of business organization. Training for leaders and workforce development is effective
when leaders and employee develop the required competencies to achieve desired business
objectives. A strong focus on training and development is also beneficial in complementing
talent acquisition strategy. Well trained leaders and employees eventually support the
organization to gain a competitive edge5. However, there are many challenges in the process of
training and development process which may hamper the purpose of training. There is a need to
evaluate the impact and success of training to ensure time and investment is done in the right
area to get the right results. A research done on impact of training and development of
employees on employee performance in the telecom sector has revealed that performance of
employee’s improved and proper training method also increased the satisfaction level of
employees. Barriers in participation in training program is seen when employees are not aware
4 Ladegard G, Gjerde S. Leadership coaching, leader role-efficacy, and trust in subordinates. A mixed methods
study assessing leadership coaching as a leadership development tool. The Leadership Quarterly. 2014 Aug
31;25(4):631-46.
5 Wilson JP. International human resource development: Learning, education and training for individuals and
organisations. Development and Learning in Organizations. 2014 Jan 28;28(2).

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
about the benefits of training and development. In such cases, there is a need to raise awareness
among workforce regarding the importance and benefits of training6.
Recruitment and retention activities:
Recruitment and retention activities are the cornerstone of workforce planning and
employment. Some of the common recruitment strategies include conducting job analysis,
identifying key competencies for different job position, developing recruitment criteria and
systematic process for recruitment. With the advent of technology and the digital revolution,
business environment has become very unpredictable. In such situation, it has become most
important for top business companies to recruit the right talent who can evolve in their role due
to changes in business environment. Different organizations prepare their own human resource
strategy and recruitment strategy is aligned with them to source diverse human resource into the
organization7.
The main aim of recruitment strategy is to select right recruitment sources and selection
of the right websites promotes dissemination of the job vacancies to desired candidates. After the
recruitment process, the most tricky and challenging process is the retention of talent in
organization. Companies introduce bonus scheme and continual professional development
initiative to ensure that human resource could be retained and most promising employees follow
6 Khan AA, Abbasi SO, Waseem RM, Ayaz M, Ijaz M. Impact of training and development of employees on
employee performance through job satisfaction: A study of telecom sector of Pakistan. Business Management and
Strategy. 2016 Apr 21;7(1):29-46.
7 Cloutier O, Felusiak L, Hill C, Pemberton-Jones EJ. The importance of developing strategies for employee
retention. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. 2015 Jun 1;12(2):119.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
the path towards more responsible roles8. The specific process of recruitment and employee
retention in specific industry can also be understood from example of specific industry. Walmart
is the leading retail giant of U.S. and the HR management of Walmart manages recruitment
needs using different methods suitable to different position in their organization. As it is mainly a
retail business chain, certain retail specific criteria is also incorporated in the selection process.
In addition, their optimal strategy for employee retention includes an evolving compensation
program, career development and employee relations management. This ensures that not just the
skills, but also the morale and motivation of employees in workplace is improved9. Through this
strategy, Walmart is capable of maintaining adequate human resource to manage current retail
operations and future global expansion.
Designating the contingent workforce:
Apart from regular employees, business companies focus on developing contingent
workforce to get assistance during short-term or seasonal project. The recruitment strategy for
contingent workforce is to get specialized skill set and talent who can serve in the organization
for a part-time basis. Although this is a new concept in workforce planning, however there is a
rise in the contingent workers in both profit and non-profit sectors to provide more flexibility in
the job. There are numerous benefits of a contingent workforce for business organization. Firstly,
it leads to cost savings as employer’s pay only for the work and the time given by employees,
they do not have to cover holiday pay, health insurance and other allowance into the employee’s
8 Oladapo V. The impact of talent management on retention. Journal of business studies quarterly. 2014 Mar
1;5(3):19.
9 THOMPSON A. Walmart’s HRM: Recruitment, Selection, Employee Retention [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2
November 2017]. Available from: http://panmore.com/walmart-human-resource-management-recruitment-selection-
employee-retention

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
salary package. It also promotes productivity in business as only those contingent workers are
hired who have the necessary skills to handle specific task and no training arrangement is needed
for them10. These workers are also very goal driven and productive within their roles. In the
context of high performance work systems, contingent workforce contributes to both numerical
flexibility and access to new knowledge11.
Impact of external and internal factors on workforce planning
The strategic workforce planning of business organizations are dependent on
organization’s strategic plan, external factors affecting workforce changes and demand for
workforce maintenance internally. The external factors that influence workforce demographics
include:
Workforce demographics: In the business organization, workforce demographics changes after
older generation retires and the newer baby boomer generations enter the workforce. As the new
generation is highly influence and dependent on internet and digital technology, the human
resource management need to make dramatic changes in their workforce strategies. For example,
earlier, Companies would post job vacancies in newspaper or email to attract new talents,
however digital devices and social media site is highly used by HR professionals to recruit new
employees into the job. Hence, with changing workforce demographics, the process of hiring as
10 Horne MS, Williamson Jr TS, Herman A. The Contingent Workforce: Business and Legal Strategies. Law Journal
Press; 2017 Feb 28.
11 Stirpe L, Bonache J, Revilla A. Differentiating the workforce: The performance effects of using contingent labor
in a context of high-performance work systems. Journal of Business Research. 2014 Jul 31;67(7):1334-41.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
well as types of compensation package has changed12. Currently, competitive organizations are
creating value with digital HR as the current generation is hooked to tablet or smartphones.
Partners and suppliers: The availability of appropriate partners and suppliers also affects the
demand and supply of the company and eventually the recruiting efforts needed in business
companies. The importance of demand and supply data in recruitment strategy is that it provides
insights about job seekers and exact number of employees needed considering the availability of
suppliers and production level13.
Political and regulatory environment: The recruitment and retention of talent in companies is
challenged by different government regulation. For example, introduction of new workplace
standards by the governments creates the pressure to align the work process and workplace
design according to the new law. New regulatory changes in workplace standards results in
changes in all areas of HR department starting from hiring, training, compensation and employee
development initiative14.
Revenue and budget estimation:
The recruitment drive in any organization requires a lot of time as well as investment.
The cost involved in recruitment may vary according to the mode of recruitment, method of
12 King DB, O’rourke N, DeLongis A. Social media recruitment and online data collection: A beginner’s guide and
best practices for accessing low-prevalence and hard-to-reach populations. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie
canadienne. 2014 Nov;55(4):240.
13 Armstrong M, Taylor S. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers;
2014 Apr 3.
14 Frynas JG, Mellahi K. Global strategic management. Oxford University Press, USA; 2015.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
advertising job vacancies and the benefits provided to workers. Hence, recruiting budget is fixed
on the basis of overall revenue and complete budget in other areas of the business.
The internal factors that has an impact on the human resource planning process includes:
Organizational design and workflow process:
Organizational structure determines the type of employee and talents needed in
organization. Some companies have a divisional structure where different departments in critical
for business, whereas some have a functional structure where employees with specialized skills
are required. Hence, based on organizational structure and workflow process, the HR department
has to change the desired candidate profile and recruitment process.
Organizational culture:
Company culture is defined as the shared assumptions and norms present in work
environment that reflect the beliefs of the company. A positive culture is one where all
employees was comfortable and have no disagreement regarding any work related behavior. In
such culture, employees and leaders share their behavior and work towards common goal. There
is sense of unity in such organizations. However, there are other organizations too in which
conflict and resentment in common due to disagreement between leaders and the employee.
Hence, based on the type of culture, methods of workforce planning and employee development
strategies change. Culture is mainly linked with recruitment because culture has an impact on
employee attraction, selection as well as retention strategies15. Example, companies like Qantas
have a good brand image and employers are easily attracted in such companies requiring little
15 Harper C. Organizations: Structures, processes and outcomes. Routledge; 2015 Aug 13.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
advertising and recruitment efforts. However, in a company which is struggling with the work
culture, it is a tedious task to attract as well as retain new talents.
Strategies for retaining and attracting skilled labour
Considering the high flexibility and unpredictability of business organization, it has
become vital for the HR department to focus on employee retention strategy. This is necessary to
retain exception employees who deliver the right performance in complex situations. Recruiting
the desired candidate is a time consuming process, hence retention strategy is important to save
money as well as time. After an employee leaves, the HR has to start the process of recruiting
and training the new joinee again which is a loss to the organization16. Hence, competitive
organization always put lot of efforts to retain those employees who contribute significantly to
the success of the organization. Some of the effective strategies that top organizations have
implemented to retain employees and minimize turnover are as follows:
Training employees: The process of training reinforces sense of value in employees and their
motivation and satisfaction towards work is increased. The focus on training employees to
develop their capabilities, skills and knowledge optimizes employee’s potential and improve
their work performance. This in turn acts as major source of competitive advantage for business
organization. Most business firms incorporate training employees in their long-term workforce
planning so that the workforce builds new skills and develop the confidence to cope with
uncertain situations in business. Both the organization as well as the employee benefits from the
training process. The employee develops the perception that the organization is willing to
16 Deery M, Jago L. Revisiting talent management, work-life balance and retention strategies. International Journal
of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 2015 Apr 13;27(3):453-72.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
provide career development opportunities to them and they in turn gives their best effort to
achieve key business objectives17. Hence, training is an important necessity for the retention of
skilful workforce.
Rewards and recognition: One study points out that rewards also has a positive impact on job
satisfaction and employee retention levels. Different sectors struggle to balance high turnover
rate and skill shortage often affects their business. This is common in the public health sector and
employee retention is a challenge because of the competition factors. Most health care
organization fails to match the salary with their competitors and end up losing the skilful health
care personnel. In such situation, efficient reward strategies act as a good solution for retaining
the core employees of the organization. Reward system mainly in the form of salary has a good
impact on leaving intention of employees and employees in such organization tend to remain
longer in the organization. Rewards have a direct impact on job satisfaction level and this
eventually has an impact on employee retention18. Hence, during workforce planning, the HR
department develop strategic retention plans to retain skilled labors in workplace.
Coaching and feedback: The senior employee’s role in providing coaching and feedback to new
employees also ensures that they remain aligned to the goals of the company and do not focus on
taking alternative career routes. Leaders support the new employees to adapt to their careers. The
coaching and feedback session also provides training and development opportunities to
employees which in turn strengthens the retention goal of business firm. The supervisor’s
17 Elnaga A, Imran A. The effect of training on employee performance. European Journal of Business and
Management. 2013 Feb 28;5(4):137-47.
18 Terera SR, Ngirande H. The impact of rewards on job satisfaction and employee retention. Mediterranean Journal
of Social Sciences. 2014 Jan 5;5(1):481.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
support and formal developmental process minimize voluntary turnover rates, reduces the
intention to leave, increase productivity and retain a more committed and satisfied staffs. Career
discussion along with mentoring and coaching also develop career adaptability skills in
workforce19.
Need for contingency plan
Currently, business organization has to deal with many unusual events such as rise in
competition, changing demand of consumers and sudden drop in sales. In such situation, it
becomes extremely important for competitive organizations to recover from unusual events. The
need for contingency plan is seen in such situations so that business managers plan in advance to
protect their resources and maintain profitability in business20. For example, a big retail giant like
Walmart also experienced a period of downturn when their sales dropped in 2016. The main
reason for this unusual event was that Walmart was facing challenges in completely transforming
their stores to the internet age. In such situation, their contingency plan was to prepare for the
complete transformation of their brick and mortar store to online stores21. Such strategy was
essential to retain back the past dominance in retail sector. In an effort to execute contingency
plans too, contingent workforce acts a major source of advantage. These workers are hired
19 Coetzee M, Stoltz E. Employees' satisfaction with retention factors: Exploring the role of career adaptability.
Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2015 Aug 31;89:83-91.
20 Sahebjamnia N, Torabi SA, Mansouri SA. Integrated business continuity and disaster recovery planning: Towards
organizational resilience. European Journal of Operational Research. 2015 Apr 1;242(1):261-73.
21 Banjo S. The end of an era at Walmart [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2 November 2017]. Available from:
https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-03-31/walmart-s-first-ever-sales-drop-marks-new-era

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
specially to engage in specialized work. In the context of Walmart, they have engaged several IT
staffs to provide online options for sale to their customers.
The features of the contingency plan may differ according to different industrial context.
The success of contingency planning is dependent on the risk assessment process. In case of the
real need for implementing such plans, all employees are made aware about the need for
implementing such plans. The time schedule for each activities and the delegation of key roles
for each employees is decided to maintain smooth running of the contingency plan. This process
is important in the context of workforce planning to build resilience skills. The unusual event at
the Medin Corporation, a supplier of the sterilization case and accessory products for medical
device markets also gives effective example of the need for contingency planning. Medin
business’s was affected after the Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey and in response to this, the
company developed a crisis contingency plan by making arrangement for grants. This helped to
prevent the downtime that resulted in the disasters22. Similar type of contingency plan is also
made by competitive business organization to main their sales and profitability.
Impact of industrial relations
In the process of strategic alignment of human resource with business objectives, the
industrial relation practices also determine employee performance and engagement in work.
Industry relation practices are related to the workplace climate and system of practices enabling
effective work performance. Some of the effective industrial relations practices in favor of
employees include developing competitive succession plan, training program and performance
22 Contingency Planning and Workforce Training Builds Resilience [Internet]. NJMEP. 2017 [cited 2 November
2017]. Available from: https://www.njmep.org/blog/success_stories/contingency-planning-and-workforce-training-
builds-resilience/

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
appraisals system for employees. Employee specific industrial relation is seen when training or
safety committee focus on addressing all grievances of employees. Trade unions and employers
pay much attention to skill upgradation of workers to cope with challenges in business due to
technological advancement and globalization23.
Conclusion
The report summarized the importance of human resource planning for achieving
business objective and maintains competitive edge in business. This is a systematic process
consisting of several components all which together helps to get the right employees with right
skills sets for the success of business. The discussion on the important aspects of workforce
planning has mainly revealed that it starts with the process of assessment of skills and position
needed in organization and this identification complements the process of recruitment, selection
and retention of employees. Despite the development of clear visions and objectives in business
organization, currently companies are struggling to retain their position in specific industrial
sector due to changes in external and internal environment of business. The relevant external and
internal factors affecting business and employee performance has been discussed and it mainly
implies that the challenges for business leader has mainly increased due to the introduction of
new technology and digital revolution in the world. To overcome unusual events in business,
development of accurate contingency plans can provide good advantage to business and HR
department should pay special emphasis on retention strategies to motivate employees to stay in
the job and contribute to team success.
23 Konings J, Vanormelingen S. The impact of training on productivity and wages: firm-level evidence. Review of
Economics and Statistics. 2015 May 1;97(2):485-97.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
Reference
1. Armstrong M, Taylor S. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice.
Kogan Page Publishers; 2014 Apr 3.
2. De Bruecker P, Van den Bergh J, Beliën J, Demeulemeester E. Workforce planning
incorporating skills: State of the art. European Journal of Operational Research. 2015
May 16;243(1):1-6.
3. Lopes MA, Almeida ÁS, Almada-Lobo B. Handling healthcare workforce planning with
care: where do we stand?. Human resources for health. 2015 May 24;13(1):38.
4. Ladegard G, Gjerde S. Leadership coaching, leader role-efficacy, and trust in
subordinates. A mixed methods study assessing leadership coaching as a leadership
development tool. The Leadership Quarterly. 2014 Aug 31;25(4):631-46.
5. Wilson JP. International human resource development: Learning, education and training
for individuals and organisations. Development and Learning in Organizations. 2014 Jan
28;28(2).
6. Khan AA, Abbasi SO, Waseem RM, Ayaz M, Ijaz M. Impact of training and
development of employees on employee performance through job satisfaction: A study of
telecom sector of Pakistan. Business Management and Strategy. 2016 Apr 21;7(1):29-46.
7. Cloutier O, Felusiak L, Hill C, Pemberton-Jones EJ. The importance of developing
strategies for employee retention. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. 2015
Jun 1;12(2):119.
8. Oladapo V. The impact of talent management on retention. Journal of business studies
quarterly. 2014 Mar 1;5(3):19.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
9. THOMPSON A. Walmart’s HRM: Recruitment, Selection, Employee Retention
[Internet]. 2017 [cited 2 November 2017]. Available from: http://panmore.com/walmart-
human-resource-management-recruitment-selection-employee-retention
10. Horne MS, Williamson Jr TS, Herman A. The Contingent Workforce: Business and
Legal Strategies. Law Journal Press; 2017 Feb 28.
11. Stirpe L, Bonache J, Revilla A. Differentiating the workforce: The performance effects of
using contingent labor in a context of high-performance work systems. Journal of
Business Research. 2014 Jul 31;67(7):1334-41.
12. King DB, O’rourke N, DeLongis A. Social media recruitment and online data collection:
A beginner’s guide and best practices for accessing low-prevalence and hard-to-reach
populations. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne. 2014 Nov;55(4):240.
13. Armstrong M, Taylor S. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice.
Kogan Page Publishers; 2014 Apr 3.
14. Frynas JG, Mellahi K. Global strategic management. Oxford University Press, USA;
2015.
15. Harper C. Organizations: Structures, processes and outcomes. Routledge; 2015 Aug 13.
16. Deery M, Jago L. Revisiting talent management, work-life balance and retention
strategies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 2015 Apr
13;27(3):453-72.
17. Elnaga A, Imran A. The effect of training on employee performance. European Journal of
Business and Management. 2013 Feb 28;5(4):137-47.
18. Terera SR, Ngirande H. The impact of rewards on job satisfaction and employee
retention. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 2014 Jan 5;5(1):481.

MANAGE WORKFORCE PLANNING
19. Coetzee M, Stoltz E. Employees' satisfaction with retention factors: Exploring the role of
career adaptability. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2015 Aug 31;89:83-91.
20. Sahebjamnia N, Torabi SA, Mansouri SA. Integrated business continuity and disaster
recovery planning: Towards organizational resilience. European Journal of Operational
Research. 2015 Apr 1;242(1):261-73.
21. Banjo S. The end of an era at Walmart [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2 November 2017].
Available from: https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-03-31/walmart-s-first-
ever-sales-drop-marks-new-era
22. Contingency Planning and Workforce Training Builds Resilience [Internet]. NJMEP.
2017 [cited 2 November 2017]. Available from:
https://www.njmep.org/blog/success_stories/contingency-planning-and-workforce-
training-builds-resilience/
23. Konings J, Vanormelingen S. The impact of training on productivity and wages: firm-
level evidence. Review of Economics and Statistics. 2015 May 1;97(2):485-97.