HR MANAGEMENT - The Main Issues Involved in Corporate Manpower Planning

The Main Issues Involved in Corporate Manpower Planning

by Arnold Anderson, Demand Media

Manpower planning is important to maintaining a strong profit margin.

Corporate manpower planning is the process of ensuring that all personnel resources are being used efficiently. The proper use of manpower planning will help a company reduce wasteful spending on workforce needs and maintain a profitable bottom line. There are several main issues involved in corporate manpower planning that every business owner and human resources manager should be aware of.

Absenteeism

Corporate manpower planning puts company personnel resources in the areas where their experience and training will best benefit the company. If there is a high rate of employee absenteeism, then manpower planning is disrupted. Rather than having the qualified personnel in place that managers were counting on, there are substitutes trying to learn the job, or job duties are distributed among other employees until the absent staff member returns to work. When developing a corporate manpower plan, managers need to put policies on absenteeism into place and strictly enforce them to maximize personnel resources.

Utilization of Resources

One of the steps in creating a corporate manpower plan is to analyze the background and experience of each employee. Matching up qualified employees with job tasks is one of the primary functions of corporate manpower planning. Human resources and departmental managers need to do a comprehensive audit of employee skill sets in the initial phases of manpower planning. This is done by reviewing employee applications and resumes, having one-on-one meetings with employees and reviewing employee training records.

Projection

Manpower planning is used by management to project future staff needs based on the company business plan. Managers compare the current workforce to future job skill needs and take a head count to make sure there are enough employees to meet production goals. This allows managers to address areas of future company growth and develop recruiting programs to bring in new talent.

Exit Interviews

To maintain a productive workforce, a company needs to understand employee turnover. Exit interviews with departing employees help managers understand the work conditions, company policies or workplace culture issues that are causing qualified employees to leave the company. Managers use this information to improve employee retention and enhance the ability to execute corporate manpower plans.