Organization - Workforce Planning

Question 1

Workforce Analysis - 6 steps

Answer 1

1. Strategic focus - What direction are we going? What can/can’t we do? What external forces do we need to consider?
2. Supply analysis - Where are we now? What do we have?
3. Demand analysis - Where do we want to be? What do we need?
4. Gap analysis - What are we lacking to get from supply to demand?
5. Solution analysis - What can we afford? How will we get what we need?
6. Evaluating impact - How did we do? What needs to be done next?

Question 2

Judgmental forecasts vs. statistical forecasts

Answer 2

Judgmental - applies expert judgment to info from past and present to predict future conditions and staffing needs

Statistical - usually regression analysis (such as projecting future employment needs based on past relationship between gross sales and number of employees), or simulations

Question 3

Types of “gaps” that can be revealed in workforce gap analysis

Answer 3

Skills, abilities, distribution of talent throughout organization, diversity, time, cost, knowledge-sharing, succession, retention

Question 4

Workforce solutions
- build
- buy
- borrow
- bridge

Answer 4

Build - training/developing current workforce to meet future needs

Buy - recruit and hire new employees

Borrow - outsource, lease, or contract with others to get the work done

Bridge - similar to “build”, but with focus on expanding employees’ skillsets to enhance the value they can create

Question 5

Key stakeholders in developing staffing plan

Answer 5

Organization’s management
HR management
Other organization department (are plans synchronized?)
Union leadership

Question 6

Flexible staffing service arrangements
- payrolling
- employee leasing (or professional employer organization - PEO)
- temp-to-lease programs
- outsourcing (or managed services)

Answer 6

Payrolling - organization identifies specific people and refers them to staffing firm, which employs them and assigns them to work at the organization

PEO - organization transfers all employees at a certain site to payroll of employee leasing firm (which leases them back to organization while handling the HR admin functions)

Temp to lease - organization works with temp service and affiliated PEO; employees start as temps and then can eventually get benefits from PEO

Outsourcing - organization contracts another to perform a specific function (such as retail or food service)

Question 7

Co-employment (or joint employment)

Answer 7

Organization shares responsibility and liability for its alternative workers with the staffing supplier (applies to most flexible staffing arrangements such as outsourcing or payrolling)

Question 8

Due diligence

Answer 8

Process of investigating a decision thoroughly to identify all potential positive and negative impacts

Question 9

Succession planning vs. replacement planning

Answer 9

Succession planning - targets long-range needs and focuses on cultivating talent to satisfy those needs

Replacement planning - targets immediate needs and aims to provide snapshot of availability of qualified backup for individuals in key positions (important for business continuity plans)

Question 10

Nine-box Grid

Answer 10

Tool to identify high-potential candidates for succession planning; divides employees into 9 boxes based on intersection of their performance (under, effective, or outstanding) and potential (low, medium, or high)

Question 11

Steps to create Knowledge Management system

Answer 11

1. Inventory knowledge assets
2. Create knowledge repository and directory
3. Encourage system use
4. Update the system