Human resource planning cycle
The Planning Cycle brings together all aspects of planning into a logical, unified process. Planning using this cycle will help you to plan and manage ongoing projects up to a certain level of complexity this will depend on the circumstance over a period of time.
Internal factors
- Organisational needs
- Skills requirement
- Workforce profiles
Organisational needs
Organisations are constantly changing and therefore their human resources need to be able to adapt to as a part of this. The demand for products and services will affect the number of employees needed for that role. Organisations need to plan for these new products and services and make adjustments to their workforce either by reducing the workforce or by increasing the workforce.
Toyota is the biggest car manufacturer in the world so the demand for their cars will be very high, because it is high Toyota may decrease the number of employees and replace them with machines or increase number of staff so new products can be finished in time.
A lot of big organisations like Toyota have moved their business into other countries to make full use of different skills and cheaper labour. This allows Toyota to be more cost efficient and potentially make larger profits.
Skills requirement
Assessing the skills of the current workforce is an essential part of human resource planning as it enables the business to build up a profile of the training, experience and qualifications that employees already have. This is very important, if the organisation is capital or labour intensive.
Toyota will assess employees to see whether employees still need training or if they have gained experience throughout their career at Toyota. If employees have the correct skills and experiences then they are more likely to be retained at Toyota, employees have a profile which is built by Toyota. There are a majority of machines in Toyota so the need for too many employees is not needed.
As the nature of the work changes so does the skills requirements. Toyota must make sure that they measure the skills level of its workforce and plan for any future training or recruitment it may need in order to remain competitive. Toyota has rapid changes in demand or technology and may need to plan for the next 12 months or even 10 or 20 years.
Workforce profiles
Producing a workforce profile means that business managers can see the types of employees that are working for them, including details such as their age, gender, ethnicity and ability.
For Toyota knowing the workforce is important as it can indicate whether there are likely to be recruitment problems in the future. Toyota has a lot of employees retiring this shows the extent to which Toyota is fairly recruiting staff. Profiling the workforce allows Toyota to see the number of older and younger employees. This helps in planning as any gaps in the number of younger or older workers can be identified and recruitment practices can be put into action to reduce them.
Gender and ethnicity are also included within a workforce profile. By Toyota measuring these numbers can demonstrate whether or not there is equal opportunity.
External planning factors
External planning factors are those that influence the business from outside its direct control. These factors include the type and availability of employees to work for the organisation and the amount of money that is needed to pay them.
External factors
- Supply of labour
- Labour costs
- Workforce skills
- Demand for products and services
Supply of labour
This is a very important concern of a local, national and international scale.
In some parts of the country they have changed as a result of change in the nature of work. For example in the north east of England employment has changed from mostly primary and manufacturing industry jobs to new industries, such as micro-electronics and bio-technology, and there has been growth in service industries, including retail, education and tourism.
There are two different point views regarding supply of labour short term and long term. Toyota uses these external factors by looking at numbers of possible employees in the next couple of years. Toyota might have to fit in emergency measures such as emergency training or temporary contracts to cope with these instant changes. These are the short term supply of labour.
In the long term Toyota need to think about initiatives and changes that need to be made over the years to come. The government also has to invest along with Toyota to invest in education and training to make sure that people with appropriate skills are available to work in the future.
Labour costs
The labour cost is a very important element of human resource management. It also includes other costs within a business; it will depend on whether the type of work needed is capital or labour intensive and the level to which the necessary skills are available and accessible.
Toyota has implications for the level of labour needed for example for Toyota at least 20% of costs are labour costs this is because the main resource needed is the machines so it’s not really expensive, how if Toyota was a labour intensive organisation they will have to pay a lot higher for labour costs maybe 70%.
Workforce skills
Toyota examines its local areas to see the types of skills level that are available by using national statistics which are available by the government. This information is very important to Toyota so they have to use it to their best advantage and business needs. Toyota need to consider their future needs and those of their competitors in order to make sure they attract the right people to work for them, especially if they are working in a skills shortage area. This may they need to offer extra benefits or offer better working conditions in order to attract the right people.
Sometimes Toyota may not find the people with the right skills, this is when they recruit from abroad in order to get suitably qualified staff.
Demand for products and services
Demand for products and services can have a big impact on human resource management because changes in demand can affect the level of service or products that are required and in turn affect the number of employees that are needed. Sudden shifts in demand can be difficult to cope with and may be outside the control of the business.
Toyota may be affected by natural disasters so when demand for their services seems to be going down they may have to make staff redundant if the situation is really bad. When Toyota’s business gets back on track they will start recruiting lost staff.
Employee skills
The skills and talents of employees are very important to organisations as they can be used to add value. Human resources, like Toyota’s engineers, they need to be used efficiently. They need to be paid and planned for, especially if the skills required are hard to find.
