Human Resources

In simple words Human Resource Planning is understood as the process of forecasting an organization's future human resource demand for, and supply to meet the objectives such as the right type of people in the right number. After this process only the HRM department can initiate recruitment and selection process. HRP is a sub-system in the total organizational planning.

Human resource planning is important for helping both organizations and employees to prepare for the future but you might be thinking "Are not things always changing?"

Human resource planning is the process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number and kind of people, at the right place, at the right time, capable of effectively and efficiently completing tasks that will help the organization achieve its overall objective.

Human Resource Planning System.

A. Objectives of Human Resource Planning:Human Resource Planning fulfils individual, organizational and national goals; but, according to Sikula, "the ultimate mission or purpose is to relate future human resources to future enterprise needs, so as to maximize the future return on investment in human resources. In effect, the main purpose is one of matching or fitting employee abilities to enterprise requirements, with an emphasis on future instead of present arrangements." The objectives may be laid down for a short term (i.e. for one year).

B. Estimating the Future Organizational Structure or Forecasting the Manpower Requirements:The management must estimate the structure of the organization at a given point in time. For this estimate, the number and type of employees needed have to be determined. Many environmental factors affect this determination. They include business forecasts, expansion and growth, design and structural changes, management philosophy, government policy, product and human skills mix, and competition. Forecasting provides the basic premises on which the manpower planning is built.

Forecasting is necessary for various reasons, such as:

a) The eventualities and contingencies of general economic business cycles (such as inflation, wages, prices, costs and raw material supplies) have an influence on the short range and long run plans of all organizations.

· An expansion following enlargement and growth in business involves the use of additional machinery and personnel, and a reallocation of facilities, all of which call for advance planning of human resources.

· Changes in management philosophies and leadership styles.

· The use of mechanical technology (such as the introduction of automatic controls, or the mechanization of materials handling functions) necessitates changes in the skills of workers, as well as a change in the number of employees needed.

· Very often, changes in the quantity or quality of products or services require a change in the organization structure. Plans have to be made for this purpose as well.

C. Auditing Human Resources: Once the future human resource needs are estimated, the next step is to determine the present supply of manpower resources. This is done through what is called "Skills Inventory". A skills inventory contains data about each employee's skills, abilities, work preferences and other items of information which indicate his overall value to the company.

D. Job Analysis: After having decided how many persons would be needed, it is necessary to prepare a job analysis, which records details of training, skills, qualification, abilities, experience and responsibilities, etc., which are needed for a job. Job analysis includes the preparation of job descriptions and job specifications.

E. Developing a Human Resource Plan: This step refers to the development and implementation of the human resource plan, which consists in finding out the sources of labour supply with a view to making an effective use of these sources. The first thing, therefore, is to decide on the policy should the, personnel be hired from within through promotional channels or should it be obtained from an outside source. The best policy which is followed by most organizations is to fill up higher vacancies by promotion and lower level positions by recruitment from the labour market.

Currently Human Resource Management Systems encompass:

The payroll module automates the pay process by gathering data on employee time and attendance, calculating various deductions and taxes, and generating periodic pay cheques and employee tax reports. Data is generally fed from the human resources and time keeping modules to calculate automatic deposit and manual cheque writing capabilities. This module can encompass all employee-related transactions as well as integrate with existing financial management systems.

The work time gathers standardized time and work related efforts. The most advanced modules provide broad flexibility in data collection methods, labour distribution capabilities and data analysis features. Cost analysis and efficiency metrics are the primary functions.

The benefits administration module provides a system for organizations to administer and track employee participation in benefits programs. These typically encompass insurance, compensation, profit sharing and retirement.

The HR management module is a component covering many other HR aspects from application to retirement. The system records basic demographic and address data, selection, training and development, capabilities and skills management, compensation planning records and other related activities. Leading edge systems provide the ability to "read" applications and enter relevant data to applicable database fields, notify employers and provide position management and position control. Human resource management function involves the recruitment, placement, evaluation, compensation and development of the employees of an organization. Initially, businesses used computer based information system to:

• Produce pay checks and payroll reports;
• Maintain personnel records;
• Pursue Talent Management.

Online recruiting has become one of the primary methods employed by HR departments to garner potential candidates for available positions within an organization. Talent Management systems typically encompass:

• Analyzing personnel usage within an organization;
• Identifying potential applicants;
• Recruiting through company-facing listings;
• Recruiting through online recruiting sites or publications that market to both recruiters and applicants.

The significant cost incurred in maintaining an organized recruitment effort, cross-posting within and across general or industry-specific job boards and maintaining a competitive exposure of availabilities has given rise to the development of a dedicated Applicant Tracking System, or 'ATS', module.

The training module provides a system for organizations to administer and track employee training and development efforts. The system, normally called a Learning Management System if a stand alone product, allows HR to track education, qualifications and skills of the employees, as well as outlining what training courses, books, CDs, web based learning or materials are available to develop which skills. Courses can then be offered in date specific sessions, with delegates and training resources being mapped and managed within the same system. Sophisticated LMS allow managers to approve training, budgets and calendars alongside performance management and appraisal metrics.