HR MANAGEMENT - Objectives of Manpower Planning

Objectives of Manpower Planning

by Arnold Anderson, Demand Media

Proper utilization of your workforce can help you save money now, and as you plan for your company's future. Manpower planning requires the interaction of departmental managers with your human resources professionals to maintain current staff levels and plan for future workforce needs. Use manpower planning to provide a framework by which your company can prepare for and monitor future growth.

Staffing Levels

Staffing levels can change based on company growth, losses due to layoff or temporary and seasonal employment needs. The objective of manpower planning is to forecast staffing level needs and work with company managers to make sure each department is properly staffed. The human resources group plans for seasonal rises in employment needs to insure that production levels and customer service quality are not affected. This includes working with temporary agencies to supply seasonal staff and running employment advertisements that bring in part-time candidates.

Future Needs

One of the functions of manpower planning is to anticipate the future skill set needs of the company and begin the process of finding qualified candidates. The human resources department needs to be involved in all aspects of business planning to prepare for recruiting in job duties that the company has not dealt with in the past. For example, a toy manufacturer decides to get into the radio-controlled toy market and needs to hire technicians and engineers to design and make the toys that the company has never made in the past.

Skill Matching

It is less expensive to utilize existing personnel than to hire new employees to fulfill job needs within the organization. Hiring new employees requires recruiting costs, training expenses and the cost of low productivity as the new employee settles into his job. Manpower planning involves tracking each employee's skill set, which allows the company to move employees around within the company to prevent having to look outside the company. For example, an accounts payable employee who has payroll skills can be moved into the payroll department with a high level of competence.

Efficiency

A company needs to efficiently utilize its workforce to maintain productivity and also keep employee morale high. Developing part-time positions, creating different work shifts, offering overtime to compensate for increased production needs and maintaining a pertinent training program are ways that manpower planning maximizes workforce efficiency. Shift options and offering employees the tools they need to do their job, such as training, help to maintain employee morale.