HR Planning, Staffing &

Separations – SHRM

Tulasi S R
Hyderabad
srtulasi@gmail.com
srtulasi@yahoo.com
Planning
 HR Planning - SHRM
• A proactive process & is aligned to business needs
• Anticipates developments in internal and external
environment & addresses them before they happen
• These assumptions will need to be written down
• Particularly important during turbulent times
• Such a planning has to be flexible & evolving
• Goes far beyond simple hiring & firing
• Focus on deployment of HR Capital in the most efficient
& effective manner
• Includes reassignment, training & development,
outsourcing, partial employment, temporary help etc
 Some examples – Dell Computers
• HR professionals have dual reporting relationship to VP (HR)
& VP ( Business unit)
• They are internal consultants in business meetings
• Anticipate growth, map key job openings & source talent both
from inside & outside in advance
• Analyze existing high performers to spot their keys to success
& identify competencies and skills required by new employees
• Line managers function as “rotational recruiters”
• During slower recruitment seasons, HR staff move to sales,
customer service etc
Key objectives of HR Planning
• Prevent overstaffing and understaffing
• Ensure the Organization has right employees with
right skills in right places at right times
• Ensure Organization is responsive to changes in
the environment
• Provide direction and coherence to all HR
activities and systems
• Unite the perspectives of line and staff managers
 Types of HR Planning
• Aggregate Planning
-Mathematical models such as linear programming
-Unit forecasting ( bottom up planning )
- Assets allocation ( Top down forecasting )
- Markov Analysis ( Transition probability )
• Succession Planning
-Identifying key positions that can not remain vacant
-Replacement charts / Skills inventory
 A Sample Transition Matrix
Part A: Personnel Supply
Estimated Personnel Classification in Year T + 1 (%)
Classifications in Year T P M S Sr A Exit
Partner .70 .30
Manager .10 .80 .10
Supervisor .12 .60 .28
Senior .20 .55 .25
Accountant .15 .65 .20

Part B. Staffing Levels

Estimated Personnel Availabilities in Year T + 1 (nos)
Beginning
Classifications in Year T Levels P M S Sr A Exit
Partner 10 7 3
Manager 30 3 24 3
Supervisor 50 6 30 14
Senior 100 20 55 25
Accountant 200 30 130 40
10 30 50 85 130
Pros & Cons of disclosing Succession Planning
Disadvantages Advantages
Succession Planning – Some innovations
• K Havanian enterprises –A large US homebuilder
• Acquired seven other such companies in 3 years
• Adopted a unique Succession technique
- Feedback collected from 12 to 14 direct reports,
colleagues and other senior managers to assess
leadership ability and potential
- Identified candidates were asked to create a plan for
personal development
- Results indicated 100% elevation of employees who
completed the programme while those hired from
outside had a success rate of only 50 percent.
CEO Succession Planning – GE Way
• Jack Welch,–A legendary CEO’s retirement did not
cause concern among stake holders
• He planned his succession for over six years- Jeffrey
Immelt succeeded him and two other GE executives
moved to 3M and Home Depot as chief executives.
• Executives are rotated from job to job every 3 yrs
• Each assignment planned to build new skills
• A specific set of goals and expectations must be met to
ensure further advancement
• The model is relatively simple but takes tremendous
amount of time, energy and commitment
Strategies for managing shortages
& surpluses
Managing shortages
Recruit new permanent employees
Increase retirement age
Rehire retirees part time
Attempt to reduce attrition
Let the current staff work overtime
Subcontract work out
Hire temporary employees
Redesign the job processes so that
fewer employees are needed
Managing surpluses
Hiring freeze
Do not replace those who leave
Offer early retirement incentives
Reduce work hours
VRS, Leaves of absence
Across the board pay cut
Lay off
Reduce / discontinue outsourced work
Switch to variable pay plan
Expand operations/Employee training
Staffing
Staffing – SHRM innovative methods
• Kroger – Computer based, self administered
employee selection system ; Survey of customers
to identify Knowledge, skills and competencies
that provide outstanding customer service & built
in to a measurable scale
• St.Peter’s health care – Started a bidding process
as it suffered from severe shortage of qualified
nurses. Nurses bid for open shifts for a certain pay
rate per hour and those rejected can rebid
• Kellogg – well known cereal manufacturer
outsourced recruiting function through a vendor
• Microsoft – College recruiting via internships
Separation incl retention
 Employee separation – SHRM
• Stable domestic economic landscape no longer exists
• Technology and increasing skill obsolescence
• Competitive Organizations need to be flexible and
responsive to environments
• Faster growth-Organic / Mergers / Acquisitions
• Size inhibits attention to individuals
• Employees are less committed to employers and vice
versa / No more life time employment
• Organizations should develop appropriate strategies to
deal with issues of ‘separation’.
 IT Employee retention – Kraft foods
• CIO partnered with HR to help HR understand the unique
challenges faced by IT & develop holistic plans
• Employees pursue one of two career tracks – technical or
managerial through intranet tutorials – self development
• Ten working days an year exclusively to such pursuits
• Tuition reimbursement for outside study programmes
• Managers provide ongoing feedback & developmental sessions
• Unique ‘IT Leadership programme’ with executive mentors
• A special sense of family is found at work
• Ideas are solicited and accepted from every level, besides flexi
hours, telecommuting, part-time work options, casual dress
code, company stores and on site health club etc.
 Employee retention – Sprint PCS
• Sprint – A provider of consumer cellular telephone services
identified that high performing employees were leaving not
because of pay but because managers did not understand them
• Sprint designed ten retention competencies to be imparted for
managers such as trust builder, esteem builder, climate builder,
communicator, talent developer etc and identified gaps for
each manager through 360 degree survey
• Each manager received a plan that identified at least four
competencies to be developed through e learning modules
• Managers were encouraged to share specific best practices
relative to retention with each other
• Lower attrition proved the effectiveness of this process
Ten mistakes to avoid while restructuring
• Failure to be clear about long term and short term goals
• Use of down sizing as first resort
• Use of non selective down sizing
• Failure to change the way work is done
• Failure to involve the stakeholders in the process
• Failure to communicate openly & honestly
• Inept handling of those who lose jobs
• Failure to manage survivors effectively
• Ignoring the effect on other stake holders
• Failure to evaluate results and learn from mistakes
Performance – Replaceability strategy matrix-Martin& Bartol
Replaceability
Difficult
Difficult to replace
Highly dysfunctional attrition
Retain / Invest in employee :
Develop back up
Difficult to replace
Dysfunctional (problematic)
attrition
Retain / Performance incentive?
Develop back up
Difficult to replace
Short term dysfunctional but
long term functional attrition
Improve performance or
terminate / Develop back up
Easy
Easy to replace
Dysfunctional attrition
Retain / Invest in employee
Easy to replace
Dysfunctional if replacement costs
are high
Retain / Performance incentive ?
Easy to replace
Functional ( beneficial ) attrition
Improve performance or terminate
Any questions please !