Workforce Planning

Question 1

Workforce planning

Answer 1

workforce planning is ensuring that there will be the right number of workers, with the right skills, doing the right jobs, at the right time
and in the right place.

Question 2

factors that influence workforce planning

Answer 2

The main factors that influence workforce planning are:
* Business objectives, such as increasing output or opening new branches, will invariably require more employees.
* Labour market changes – labour market trends have implications for the recruitment and retention of staff. Engineers are
in increasingly short supply as less undergraduates are choosing to study in this discipline.
* Demographic and social change – demographic change, such as the ageing population in the UK, is affecting both the
demand for products and services required by this age group, as well as workforce supply.
* Technological change – technological change is leading to large change in ways of working and the skills needed in the
workforce. Many manual tasks can now be carried out by robotic technology, reducing the demand for certain types of
labour

Question 3

What Workforce planning help a business

Answer 3

Workforce planning helps a business:
☑ decide how many employees are and will be needed
☑ manage employment expenditure by anticipating changes
☑ ensure that sufficient and appropriate training and development is provided
☑ cope with peaks and troughs in supply and demand for different skills
☑ deliver an improved service to customers
☑ reduce employee turnover
☑ implement diversity policies
☑ manage staff performance and sickness absence

Question 4

importance of workforce planning

Answer 4

Importance of workforce planning:
* Important to establish that sufficient numbers are being employed in order that all necessary tasks can be carried out.
* Helps a business to cost how many workers it will need in the future and whether they are part time or full time.
* It is important to identify the skills necessary for the vacancies they may wish to fill.
* It is important to know when these workers will be needed in order to put recruitment plans in place for the future.
* Where will these workers be needed? A multinational business will have many locations, both in UK and abroad. Which
departments/functional areas might they be needed in?
* Important to identify who may need training to improve skills or who can be redeployed to fill gaps where certain skills
are necessary.
* Important if business needs to rationalise – natural wastage, voluntary redundancy, compulsory redundancy, early
retirement – the extent and cost of these.
* Important because the firms need to establish the types of contracts to offer employees, e.g. part-time, permanent, zero
hours, etc.