Human resource planning (HRP) in simple words could be defined as planning for the future personnel needs of an organization, taking into account both factors in the external environment and internal workforce. It is the process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number and kinds of people, at the right place, at the right time, capable of efficiently completing those tasks that will help the organization achieve its overall objectives.
HRP is an important and a continuous process which is influenced by both internal and external environmental changes. All of these impacts have an effect on the number and type of employees that are required by an organization. Therefore through the HRP Process, organizations determine the staffing support they will need to meet business and customer demands.
Elements of HRP
The HRP model includes some key elements, which include predicting the employees your company needs based on the overall organizational strategy, analyzing if the supply of potential employees meets the demand and then learning to balance the supply and demand of employees. This further involves implementation of action plan in order to address the issues of identified shortages and surpluses and evaluation of feedback results in order to derive a revised HR objectives and plans.
Traditional vs HRP
Over the last years there has been a conscious change in the type of HRP from Traditional Manpower Planning to Strategic HRP. In the bigger organizations, wanting to be global players, the days of strictly administrative human resource function are over. Strategic HRP shifts attention to partnership with internal and external groups as opposed to HR’s focus on just employee relations in case of traditional approach. Strategic HRP is considered a critical strategic partner and one of its main objectives is to contribute towards overall objectives of the company.
Job Analysis
Job Analysis is the process where