The working world is changing greatly and challenging those responsible for HR. Whether the shortage of skilled workers, succession management or digitalisation: staff are missing in one place, sufficient competences in another. These dynamics have led to people management becoming ever more professional. State of the art workforce planning forms an important and valid basis here.
How many people will we need in future?
Workforce planning is part of company planning. With a focus on strategic development, it defines how many people the company will need in future, in which roles and with which competences and qualifications, so that it can handle its volume of work and reach its goals. Workforce planning therefore takes up both the quantitative and the qualitative components of the required staffing level. To that end the roles in the company are analysed precisely: what does the respective work involve and how much time does it take? What demands do the tasks bring with them, today and tomorrow? The expected changes in work content and volume are likewise taken into account within the planning horizon. The organisation and its processes also play an important role. To obtain the necessary transparency and reliable results in workforce planning, many aspects are included, from the company strategy to production planning. That is how the essential planning assumptions come about.
Workforce planning secures transparency
The first step is about the current situation in the company. Three core areas are analysed for this: the organisation with its tasks and processes, the roles in the company with their requirements and workloads, and the content and volume of work. These evaluations form the basis for workforce planning. From them come valuable insights into the respective competences and qualifications of employees, which are essential for target group oriented recruiting and successful people development. The findings and proposals arising from the surveys and planning are brought together in a catalogue of measures. That forms the basis for further personnel work and for developing training and improvement strategies in HR. Looking ahead, many factors are relevant: how will the content of the work change? And how will workloads change as a result? Who does the company need for its goals? Which processes will be digitalised?
The planning horizon is guided by the company planning and is defined individually. On the basis of the surveys, workforce planning takes into account the processes and tasks on the one hand and the required competences and qualifications on the other. In parallel, the organisation and its processes are developed further with suitable tools and methods. The results of professional workforce planning: redistributing tasks and rationalising workflows frees up staff resources and teams work more efficiently. And concentrating on the essential core tasks raises effectiveness.
THE MAK'ED TEAM has already accompanied many companies through their transformation processes in HR and has a high level of expertise in workforce planning. We work with clear methods, develop tailored strategies and support mid sized companies on all HR questions with experience and a practical approach. We know the factors that are critical to the success of forward looking HR management and stand by mid sized companies with our many years of experience, so that they can find, now and in future, the people they need to reach their company goals.
You can find more about workforce planning here.
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