Human resource departments evolved over time, and since the mid-1990s what was once called “personnel administration” has now become human resources. Human capital is another term used to describe the value of your company’s employees. Employees drive your business success, and are therefore considered resources or capital. Human resource planning takes on the challenge of structuring a department and a presence within the company through strategic planning, human resources development and workforce planning.
Also Read: Associate Professional in Human Resources (aPHR)
Strategic Planning
The human resources leader is generally the person with whom executive leadership has the most communication. The goal of human resources is to bolster the company’s reputation through hiring, training and promoting employees who represent the company’s highest level of service and product delivery. Strategic planning from the human resources perspective also means that the human resources leader plays an integral role in the development of organization-wide goals and objectives. For many years, human resources was considered merely an administrative section of the organization concerned only with processing new hires, payroll, health insurance forms. Today, human resources leaders with progressive companies are represented at the executive level in vice president and assistant vice president roles to provide strategic development for business success.
Human Resources Development
Training, development and motivation are activities in which human resources professionals engage to prepare the current workforce for the challenging demands that future goals and objectives bring. Development of employee skills, providing training to help employees gain new job skills and motivating employees are part of the human resources development arm of the department. Human resources development often underlies the organization’s succession planning, therefore, the training and development of future leaders is determined as executive leadership assesses the skills, capabilities and aptitude demonstrated by current supervisors, manager and leaders within the company. Succession planning can ensure the company has a seamless transition in promoting the best qualified individuals to roles that will lead the company into future success.
Work Force Planning
The recruitment and selection section of the human resources department is involved in this aspect of human resources planning. Work force planning involves projecting future employment trends, conducting workforce studies to discern the level of employees that will need to be hired, and keeping abreast of graduates from institutes and universities who will be entering the work force ready for careers. Work force planning also includes looking inward at the current work force to determine which employees have the skills, aptitude and desire to move into other positions with the company. Recruiters and human resources leaders look at occupational and employment projections as well because this type of data is essential to planning the human capital value of the company’s future.
The State of Texas Workforce Planning Guide contains several important factors pertaining to workforce planning and development: “It provides a clear rationale for linking expenditures for training and retraining, development, career counseling, and recruiting efforts. It helps maintain or improve a diversified workforce. It helps an agency prepare for restructuring, reducing or expanding its workforce.”
