There are six main steps for human resources to stay on top of their changing environment. "Step 1 is scanning the environment. Step 2 is identifying the business strategies and, at a very high level, describing the workforce implications. Step 3: assessing the current workforce need. Step 4 is exactly the same as Step 3, but applies to the future workforce. Step 5 is driving the plan. In Step 6, the business groups, regions and countries pivot from strategic work force planning into an operational six-month workforce plan tied to affordability (Brossard, Gerard)."
Scanning the environment allows human resources the knowledge of movements in the workforce "such as major workforce market trends, demographic changes and the political environment (Brossard, Gerard)." Within these trends is the current growth of e-commerce along with a "shift from a manufacturing to a service and information economy, has changed the nature of employees that are most in demand (The McGraw-Hill Companies)."
With a consistently changing workforce the diversity rate is growing both ethnically and racially. The U.S. labor force states "the 2006 workforce will be 72 percent white (and non-Hispanic), 11 percent black, 12 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Asian and other minorities. The fastest-growing of these categories are "Asian and other" and Hispanics because these groups are experiencing immigration and birthrates above the national average (The McGraw-Hill Companies)."
In order for human resources to keep up with the
References: Raymond Andrew Noe, John R. Hollenbeck, Barry Gerhert, Patrick M. Wright Copyright © 2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies Chapter 2 https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary/content/eReader.h Retrieved November 2, 2006 Creelman, David and Brossard, Gerard http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?hid=21&sid=5eec9e67-6c46-4dcc-9f41-c5d462235da4%40SRCSM1 Retrieved November 3, 2006