Planning A Workforce
If your people department is lucky, it exists in a relatively stable environment where workforce planning only requires slight shifts every quarter as the company slowly readjusts to new demands.
Unfortunately, the future is never secure!
Financial upsets can force a company to reevaluate just how the business structure is set up. The only way to plan for such an event is to tie the budget directly to priorities and its workforce. Start taking a few safety measures to be prepared for the worst should it happen.
Instead of fully restructuring your entire workforce setup, simply head back to the basics.
- Why is it set up in that way?
- Does it meet the basic company priorities efficiently and effectively?
- Can it sustain the company’s vision should financial disaster strike?
By analyzing these questions, you can begin to pick out the faults in the system. Once these are discovered, you can begin to fix those areas while you still have the time and resources. This process could include anything from better training to talent shifts.
Aside from taking this entire task on alone, present your findings to management. Ask them for their opinions and guidance. They, after all, lead the company and have a far clearer picture of the corporate machine, allowing them to make more informed decisions on minor restructuring improvements. By finding answers from the top, the integrity of the company can be maintained while the weaknesses are patched up.
Finally, marry the workforce to the budget and company priorities.
These three should be linked together in such a way that when one is adjusted, the others can immediately follow suit.
Take the time to find out just how small a budget is needed to provide the workforce necessary to maintain the current purpose. Learn what pieces of the purpose can be sacrificed should the workforce not be large enough. Likewise, always have a firm grasp on the type of workforce you need to sustain even the smallest amount of growth. Anything less than progress will only lead to stagnation.
The workforce is more than your employees. It should be treated like a living organism with all of the potential of growth and learning exhibited by any other being.
Only by linking it to the company’s priorities and budget can you keep its growth in check, making sure it only evolves where it needs to so that it does not waste any resources.
This type of planning is extremely beneficial in the fact that it keeps the natural highs and lows of a business relatively even. Aside from a maintained medium, it will guarantee that should a financial crisis occur, your workforce is more than ready to adapt!
© New To HR
