Workforce planning Flashcards
ensuring these factors when workforce planning
The Right Age
- lots of over 50’s will mean replacing them when they enter retirement
- lots of under 25s will lack experience, authority etc.
Innovation
- good to have experienced workers who have been there a long time
- need for new employees to bring in new ideas, enthusiasm etc.
Skills
-range of skills needed
-essential for smooth running of a businessas no cross over of workers to overstretch and do 2 job positions at once
-but lots of skills in skillset is handy to have
-right training being provided and in the right conditions is good to make employees feel comfortable
===== reduce labour turnover levels
===== keep staff for longer (retention rates)
factors affecting human resource needs
The changing needs of the business
= demand needed in one product more than in another so focus needs to be on the successful one to provide more of that
= workers needed to perform in more than one skill/section/product etc.
Need for more staff overall
Staff being replaced as one leaves
Improved technology
= less need for human input into the business
Change in production method
= re-training
Level of budget
= cutting labour force if there is financial issues in the business ( redundancies)
Unexpected circumstances
= natural disasters or terrorist attacks halts any business activity
State of the Economy
Legislation change
can the business meet its HR needs?
forecasting the HR needs isnt easy
factors affecting the ability of a business meeting HR needs:
- Are there enough workers available?
- Worker skills
- Nature of the work required (i.e. unsociable hours will limit the choice of labour available)
- Demand for workers from competitors
- Business location
-Government legislation (minimum wage increase means firm cant afford to take on the extra workers =
the cap weekly working hours means that more workers are needed to fill the activities - Cost of living near the business (i.e. London)
strategies a business uses to meet HR needs and compromise with workers to get them to work for them
Outsourcing Flexible Working Practices ==== Term-time working ==== Time off in lieu ====Job sharing ==== Remote workingg ==== Zero hour contracts ==== Compressed hours ==== Annualised hours ==== Flexi-time working hours/practices
Outsourcing
business subcontracting work
contracting the jobs to external labour agencies
= business not iring its own labour it’ll instead use another business to undertake a specific job
:) - saves difficulty of hiring staff
:) - saves money by not adding additional costs of having permaneant staff
:) -staff used as and when required so poor hours or seasons theyre not needed etc.
:) - way to reduce costs in a competitive market
Term - time working
working hours that mirror term-time for school days
work normal hours during term time but NOT in school holidays so they can look after their children
Time off in lieu
firms encourage structured time off in lieu
for when there are peaks and troughs in busy periods for a business
asked to work longer hours in busy periods
additional hours being recorded so employees can take time off in compensation during less busy periods
Annualised hours
where employees work a total number of hours for the year as a whole - WITH A DEGREE OF FLEXIBILITY as to how these hours are undertaken
- weekly or in shifts
set number of hours allocated per week - rest of hours is worked on an employer’s need basis in order to MEET DEMAND
employees paid on the basis of the hours to be worked - NO TIME FOR OVERTIME PAY as those rest of the hours will have been included in the normal working week wage
37 hours a week X 52 weeks a year = 1924 hours to be worked (without annual leave bank holidays etc.)
9 weeks X 37 hours = 333 hours
1924 - 333 hours = annualised 1591 hours need to be worked
employees need to be ‘on-call’ = can be called in to meet demand
:) - allows the employers to use workforce when and where needed
:) - no need for employers to pay expensive overtime rates - reduced costs
:) - employee flexibility
X - ‘on-call’ can be seen as restrictive - no certainity to when they will recieve the cost
X - no employee opportunity for overtime work
X - got to calculated the correct and respectable hours
Job sharing
job sharing structures ie. morning - afternoon basis
= share on a day to day basis
depends on needs of business and how much handing over the work and job is needed i.e receptionist would be quick
:) - employees work hours/days that suit them = better staff attraction and low turnover
:) - can take on the work if one job sharer doesnt go to work i.e. extra hours
X- extra admin costs to employ an extra person
X - consistency is needed within the role from both people
X- can have different leadership and management styles that confuse others with responsibilites etc.
Remote working
involves allowing the emloyees to work away from the business premisis
now a lot easier to do with how easy technology is used to communicate (teleconferencing)
:) - productivity increase as there are fewer distractions at home
:) - saves valuable commuter time
:) - employee can choose when they work
:) - lower absenteeism levels
X- harder to monitor worker productivity
X - initial set up cost to set up and install techn in homes etc.
Compressed hours
an attempt to provide an alternative working week in terms of number of days per week actually worked by employees
5 days (8 housr) compressed into 4 days (10 hours)
:) - reduced commuting costs by missing a day at the office
:) - employees gain better flexibility
:) - reduced child care costs
:) - extra day off so staff morale is higher
:) - can reduce costs i.e lighting on a friday when no one is in
:) - increased productivity
X - longer working days for employees
X - working day is longer so productivity falls
Zero hour contracts
allow employers to hire staff with no guarantee of work
staff only work when the business needs them and their hours
seen to reduce the rights of workers
no obligation from employers to set or give them work /set hours - no obligation for employees to accept the work
amount of hours given will reflect the demand for the goods/services being offered
:) - reduces admin costs of employing labour full time
:) - cost efficient for employers - labour only hired and paid for when needed
:) - have labour at arms reach if they need it
:) - cheaper than agency outsourcing
:) - employees have greater flexibility when offered work to turn it down etc.
X - no certainity of hours/ work
X - poor job security
X - total pay is variant from month to month
X - employees can turn employment down so employers have no guarantee of workers helping them out
Flexi time working hours/practices
more businesses operate in the flexible working time to gain the right staff
businesses operate at ‘core time’ 10-3 - apart from core time = theres flexibility to work to suit their own particular lifestyles
work on a flexi-time basis having to work between stated hours but within those stated hours theres a degree of flexibility as long as hours are complteded
X - expensive to do, administer and operate
X - need to stay open longer
:) - saves money by gaining or keeping good staff = no need to spend money on training and recruitment
:) - system adapted more and not necessariliy at rush hour
why theres been a change in the world of work:
- more part-time working
- more single parent families
- more women seeking work
- aging population
- emphasis more on flexible hours now
- people moving about for jobs
- working from home now due to technology
workforce planning definition
deciding in a nutshell how many and what type of employees are needed
