What to Include in Your Staffing Plan Template
Things to Add to a Staffing Plan Template
A staffing plan is defined as a strategic planning process an organization utilizes to identify personnel requirements. Staffing plans help businesses to understand both the type and number of employees necessary to reach organizational objectives. Without a staffing plan in place, staffing needs are incredibly difficult to estimate. A well balanced staff is important to control labor costs and have the right people in the right positions.
Strategic staffing satisfies staffing needs in accordance with the business plan and management plan established. A business plan is a document that establishes future objectives as well as strategies to achieve objectives. A management plan defines the intended objectives of a project proposed. A management plan defines the responsibilities of staff members, timelines, and milestones for accomplishing tasks. As such, a management plan is crucial for project management success. Project management is the process of directing a team to meet success criteria at a previously established time.
A staffing plan may be the responsibility of human resource departments or within organization leaders. Human resources professionals often are already familiar with staffing management and staffing plan creation. Human resource departments often hold insider knowledge regarding the needs organization members possess and any staffing plans previously established. However, within organization leaders may struggle to understand the needs organization team members have. There are staffing plan template options available for business professionals to create staffing plans. Tips to create staffing plans and what to add to a plan template include-
1. Identification
There are various important components to identify before human resources begin to create staffing plans. Before a business can create staffing plans, organizational objectives must be identified. A strategic business plan already should contain easily identifiable organizational objectives.
Identification of influencers is a critical component of any staffing plan template. Influencers are generally considered anything that an organization does not have control over. Influencers can be within organization or from outside an organization as well as positive or negative.
As human resource professionals and team members identify influencers, categories can be created for similar items. For example, a lack of staffing needs met due to low unemployment rates or competitors overhiring available candidates. Categorizing these issues as external workforce availability keeps staffing plans organized.
2. Evaluate
Within organization data collection is essential for strategic staffing plan creation. Excellent data collection regarding a range of within organization components paints a clearer picture of a current business. Data collection can include the number of employees, ages of staff, and team sizes.
Proper staffing management also includes the evaluation of employee skills and competencies. Evaluation of employees helps identify low, medium, and high performing staff members. Using this information it is much easier to identify potential leaders and focus on their within organization development.
3. Forecast
After evaluating current within organization staffing, the forecast step of staffing plan creation can be undertaken. Forecasting within staffing management context includes predicting staffing needs to come. This step of the strategic staffing plan necessitates a level of intuition but there is also methodology available to utilize.
Forecasting methods include the trend analysis and ratio analysis. The trend analysis collects historical data from 5-10 years prior on a variety of staffing management components. Staffing management components referred to during trend analysis range from hiring patterns to employee retention rates. The ratio analysis calculates ratios between organizational factors like staffing needs and revenue predicted. Utilizing a combination of ratio analysis and trend analysis decreases dependence on intuition and forms more realistic staffing needs predictions.
4. Analyze
Although the forecast step includes the trend and ratio analysis, the gap analysis typically has its own step. A gap analysis compares current and future staffing needs with one another. When a business goes to conduct gap analysis there are several things to keep in mind. For example, a gap analysis can reveal the right people are working in the wrong positions.
There are extraordinary benefits for an organization that can properly conduct gap analysis. All too often staffing needs result in human resources hiring on new staff members. However, when a business takes the time to conduct gap analysis, it may realize skill development is more appropriate.
Developing skills in the right people within organization can avoid costly hiring and onboarding costs. Additionally, skills development from a gap analysis can help make sure the right people stay within organization instead of leaving. As such, a gap analysis should be framed as an opportunity for improvements not as weaknesses.
5. Create
Armed with the knowledge of the previous steps, an organization can begin to confidently create staffing plans. Staffing plans can contain anything from training program recommendations for skill development to succession policies. Needs organization leaders may identify can even be seasonal, like hiring additional temporary employees for holidays.
Ultimately, staffing plans are an opportunity for within organization growth, promotion, and development. Staffing plans should always keep staffing needs forefront but never forget the most important components, employees. While it can be easy to look at data sets and statistics as numbers, employees are human beings, not machines.
Key Takeaways for Staffing Plan Template
- A great staffing plan template makes staffing plans much easier.
- There are various steps to undertake when a business wants to create staffing plans.
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