Introduction
Many business owners prepare a business plan before starting their business. However, many business owners often do not include human resource planning as part of their overall business plan. They may start out with only a few employees or none at all. Over time, it is important to properly forecast employment needs.
Just as failing to address potential threats in the marketplace can jeopardize the viability of a business, failing to anticipate personnel needs can impact on overall business success. The success of a business is directly linked to the performance of those who work for that business. Underachievement can be a result of workplace failures. Because hiring the wrong people or failing to anticipate fluctuations in hiring needs can be costly, it is important that business owners put effort into human resource planning (Patrick).
Planning for HR needs helps in ensuring that employees have the skills and competencies that a business needs to succeed. An HR plan works hand in hand with a business plan to determine the resources needed to achieve the business’s goals. It better prepares an organization for staff turnover, recruitment, and strategic hiring and alleviates stress when there is an emergency/last minute hiring.
The daily demands and hectic lifestyle of business owners and managers often has an unfortunate by-product: human resource planning is placed on the bottom of the list of things to be done. Failure to anticipate potential changes in an organization’s workforce often leads to last minute or ‘crisis mode’ decision-making.
Needless to say, quick fixes are no solution to long-term issues. Taking time to forecast future hiring needs today will save you time and money in the long run (Bandt & Haines 61). Since most businesses do not know how to prepare a HR plan, this paper provides a HR plan model for FedEx to help businesses to plan.
Human resource planning at fedex
Background
In 2009, FedEx articulated its long-term vision, mission, and strategic framework through Strategy 2020, and sought feedback from its personnel through a staff engagement survey, which confirmed high levels of staff engagement and participation, accompanied by dissatisfaction with human resources (HR) (Bandt & Haines 62) at FedEx.
To ensure alignment with its long term strategic direction and respond to the concerns raised by staff, FedEx undertook soon thereafter a comprehensive review of its recently concluded HR strategy with the support of independent external consultants. The review highlighted a number of areas requiring attention to ensure that FedEx could deliver Strategy 2020, including;
- Weak linkage between the corporate strategy and HR planning, both in terms of staff headcounts and mix of skills and capabilities;
- Insufficient opportunity for FedEx business leaders and managers to manage, and lack of accountability;
- An HR function with excessive focus on administration and control, capacity gaps, and insufficient leveraging of information technology;
- Limited attention to career management, staff development, and enhancement of technical and expert skills;
- HR programs not fully integrated and coherent among themselves and not fully aligned to FedEx’s strategic orientation; and
- Erosion in remuneration and benefits, which, combined with outdated recruitment practices, reduced FedEx’s ability to attract and retain high quality talent (Bandt & Haines 63).
Core Elements of HR Management at FedEx
The term “HR function” refers to all the tasks and responsibilities associated with managing FedEx staff. The HR function within FedEx encompasses the delivery of a broad range of tasks, actions, and services.
More specifically these include: job assignments; external recruitment, performance management, career development and progression; provision of remuneration and benefits; preparation and administration of staff development opportunities; and consultation and advice to staff and managers on FedEx’s HR culture and its translation into work interactions and other HR matters (Human Resource Planning Society 12).
Delivery of the HR function is the result of close cooperation among many in FedEx. Managers and Supervisors are on the front line of HR management, since they take a number of decisions with regard to the selection, progression, and performance management of their staff.
They do so in the framework of policies designed and transactional support services provided by the human resources functional teams based in Budget Personnel and Management Systems Department (BPMSD). The HR function can therefore be pictured as a combination of (i) active staff management by managers and supervisors; (ii) HR service delivery; (iii) and HR policy and process design; supported and supervised by (iv) HR Leadership (Human Resource Planning Society 13).
Active Staff Management delivered by Heads of Departments (HODs) and Directors/Unit Heads in departments or offices with support from the function teams within Staff Development and Benefits Division (SDBD) and Human Resources Division (HRD) is the most critical among the core elements, since this is where delivery of the HR function most directly interacts with all staff on a day-to-day basis.
Directors and heads of units are expected to play the key role in selecting, supervising, motivating and developing the staff who report to them, with HODs performing a similar role for their management team (Reddy 100). Heads of Department consult their management teams at significant moments in HR administration (annual performance evaluation, periodic consultations with BPMSD on talent management), to ensure consistent application of HR policies.
HR Service Delivery provided by the Functional Teams within BPMSD extends direct support and provides training to managers to enable them to deliver Active Staff Management on a day-to-day basis. It also takes care of “back office” functions that are required to complete individual HR transactions and administer HR programs. BPMSD periodically analyses recruitment, promotion, and retention practices and outcomes, to detect and address any systematic biases or anomalies (Reddy 100).
HR Policy and Design supports the Functional Teams within BPMSD through continuously improved policy and programs design. It sets the principles and parameters that guide HR operations, ensuring their alignment with the requirements of FedEx and the objectives of Strategy 2020.
HR Leadership is essential to support and supervise the delivery of the HR Function and for the core elements to seamlessly deliver high quality human resources management. Managers in departments and offices engaged in Active Staff Management must have the appropriate span of control and delegation of responsibilities, and receive the constant support and direction, including training, from the HR Function team.
Support to and active oversight of managers will both enable and ensure good people management (Reddy 101). Recognition of the interactive nature of HR management and of the central role played by managers and supervisors is an important feature of this HR Function Strategic Framework, explicitly addressing the weaknesses identified in the earlier HR Strategy and aligning the HR function to Our People’s Strategy’s goal of having a proactive and effective people management.
Policies and Actions to Implement Our People Strategy
The people Strategy set three people management goals to enable FedEx to implement strategy 2020: (i) high caliber, motivated, client responsive staff; (ii) inspiring leadership and effective people management; and (iii) an enabling workplace environment and culture. The three goals and the principles that descend from them are interrelated, and actions and policies in pursuit of one are also likely to be of use and produce an impact on others.
The following section discusses the main approaches that the HR function in FedEx will take to pursue Our People Strategy’s goals and principles, underlining the points of contact and integration among related HR policies and programs. The purpose is to paint a broad picture of the direction and focus of HR activities at FedEx in the next five to six years and make these linkages explicit (Reddy 103).
Goal 1: Ensuring a Strong Mix of High Caliber, Motivated, Client Responsive Staff
The first goal of the FedEx HR plan emphasizes the importance of achieving a strong mix of high caliber, client responsive staff. The adjective ‘strong’ refers to both staff quantity and quality, responding to the concern raised in the review of the previous HR strategy that HR decisions in terms of staff numbers and skill mix may be dictated by budget control considerations.
To achieve this goal, alignment of FedEx’s workforce to the objectives of Strategy 2020 is now pursued through the systematic application of demand and supply analysis to FedEx’s personnel.
Utilizing the recently developed workforce planning tools in combination with ongoing dialogue between BPMSD and user departments, FedEx determines annually the number and type of positions required to implement the rolling medium term work program defined by the Strategy and Policy Department in coordination with operations departments.
In parallel, based on a skills framework which is currently being refined, FedEx will develop and staff will update an internal skills database. The database, used in conjunction with projected workforce demand, will allow FedEx to (i) identify skills gaps to be filled through training and external recruitment; (ii) develop rosters of expertise in areas where demand for FedEx assistance is occasional or unpredictable; and carry out evidence-based staff development discussions (Walker 261).
To fill the needed positions and replace departing staff, FedEx emphasizes competencies, skills and merit in the identification of the most suitable candidates for open positions. The skills framework, supplemented by the appropriate competencies, will be translated into specific job descriptions, advertised simultaneously internally and externally with the aim of attracting and identifying the most suitable candidates. The current approach to assessing candidates will be reviewed and refined.
A proactive external recruitment strategy, which is being specifically developed to address the 2012-204 staffing recruitments, but will be updated in the future as needed, will identify new channels for tapping into the talent that FedEx needs, monitor the effectiveness of current recruitment channels, target “hard to fill” positions, and pursue FedEx’s gender balance and diversity objectives (Walker 262).
Application of this strategy, guided by the monitoring of success rates of the various options, will be a key priority during 2012-2014 to reach the required staff strength. Feedback from recruitment experience will be used to review and update FedEx’s remuneration and benefits package as needed to ensure competitiveness. FedEx will generally rely on competitive advertisement to fill vacant positions, complemented with the prudent use of management assignments to pursue balance, equality of opportunity, and skills realignment.
While underlining the importance of FedEx’s mission and vision, and of professional and personal satisfaction and development in motivating staff, the HR planning strategy acknowledges the importance of competitive remuneration and benefits. Erosion in remuneration and benefits was identified as a weakness in the previous HR strategy and in the 2011 staff engagement survey, and resulted in significant voluntary separation of international staff in 2009 and 2010.
While the international economic crisis has temporarily tempered this erosion in relative terms, several of the skills, which FedEx seeks, are still in short supply, and FedEx must take a long-term view to retain the talent it attracts and develops.
Reviews of FedEx’s remuneration and benefit schemes are planned for all staff levels, to ensure FedEx’s external competitiveness and ability to attract and retain talent. Remuneration and benefits will be complemented by the development of suitable reward and recognition programs to reinforce the proposed values and behaviors, such as teamwork, knowledge sharing, and gender awareness (Walker 263).
Strategy 2020 clearly states that FedEx staff must display a high level of professional and international expertise to meet clients’ demands for dynamic, modern products and services, and that FedEx must substantially enhance permanent staff skills.
Recognizing that attention to career management, staff development, and enhancement of technical and expert skills had been sufficient in the past, Our People Strategy underlines the importance of staff development and career management to boost skill levels and build up relevant experience.
Staff are more motivated to enhance their technical skills when they view professional development in the context of their own career development. Dissemination of information on a range of “typical” career paths, leading in both the technical and managerial direction, will help staff understand career potential within FedEx and formulate realistic expectations.
Annual conversations between managers and the staff they supervise will identify the most suitable mix of training, developmental assignments within or outside the unit, and possible medium term career paths. These conversations will be supported by data from the skills database and will result in the formulation of annual individual learning and development plans.
Managers will cooperate with the rest of the HR function to ensure that staff who are making a valuable contribution are able to progress in their career without having to search promotions by applying elsewhere, while at the same time encouraging staff to experience over time a variety of assignments within FedEx to enhance their motivation and professional development (Walker 264). BPMSD will, through assessment centers and other tools promote the development of managerial talent.
Goal 2: Enabling Managers and Holding them Accountable
The second goal of our HR plan dubbed Our People Strategy centers on promoting inspiring leadership and proactive and effective people management. The first step in enabling managers is to ensure they have an appropriate range of responsibilities, and control over the decisions needed to perform their function.
A review of the current span of control and of the allocation and delegation of responsibilities to mangers will point to situations where organizational adjustments are necessary, or where existing rules and procedures prevent managers from exercising the decisions needed to properly manage and motivate their staff.
Remedial actions, including internal realignments and revisions of relevant administrative orders will then be undertaken. Moreover, managers will need to be acutely aware of the standards required of them in managing staff and will be made aware of how they will be held accountable to this (Frank & Smith 24).
Managers also need feedback and guidance to optimize their behavior. Feedback tools from their staff have to be developed and are being offered, in combination with coaching sessions to allow managers to better understand and adjust their management style. Feedback received from this voluntary initiative will be accompanied by more structured assessment centers to identify and support management talent.
Emphasis during performance reviews on managerial competencies will reinforce the message that managers are expected to take into account and act upon the feedback received from their staff and from clients within and outside the organization; devote the needed attention to the people management side of the their job; and model and enforce high ethical and behavior standards. Training opportunities will be provided to assist managers in honing these skills (Frank & Smith 25).
Goal 3: Promoting a Common Culture and Collegial Work Environment
A number of initiatives proposed in the HR Function Strategic Framework aim at promoting the concept of “One FedEx” by reinforcing the organization’s values, culture, and internal cohesiveness. Strategy 2020 commits FedEx and its staff to the highest professional and technical standards, and to the values of responsiveness, recognition of country ownership, outstanding leadership and service, commitment to partnerships, and accountability and focus on results.
Through the proposed strategy, FedEx’s corporate values have been translated into a set of competencies, whose translation into specific behaviors is ongoing. Integration of these competencies in job descriptions and in the performance evaluation system will ensure alignment with the organization.
The staff code of conduct will also be reviewed and formulated in more accessible terms, and staff will be required to annually certify their understanding of the code and disclose situations that could result in a conflict of interest (Armstrong 70).
A central element in the pursuit of “one FedEx” will be stronger integration of local and international staff and between headquarters and resident missions. A grading system review will define comparable roles and levels of responsibility for various job levels in the organization. Job titles will be revised accordingly and to allow for appropriate recognition of job content and professional qualifications.
Reporting arrangements will be adjusted as needed, to optimize workflow and accountability. The level complement concept will be extended to local staff both in headquarters and resident missions, following which a review of individual situations against the proposed level complement will be undertaken, resulting in confirmation or change in personal grade levels, reassignments, or proposals for separation as appropriate (Armstrong 78).
An Effective Representative Workforce
Attracting and retaining an innovative and representative workforce with the appropriate skills and competencies to meet FedEx’s business needs at all levels of the organization is fundamental to the sustainability of operational results today and in the future (Armstrong 83). This must be achieved in the context of the broader Public Service as well as in the context of the current labour market trends in UAE.
Labour Market Changes
The demographics of the federal Public Service show that ageing in the Public Service is more pronounced than in the broader United Arab Emirates population. Fifteen years ago, federal employees between 25 and 44 years of age made up 60% of the Public Service. Today, it is largely reversed, with 50% of public servants in the 45 to 64 age range and just over 40% in the 25 to 44 age range. Almost 10% of public servants currently have at least 30 years or more years of service.
This is a three-fold increase since the year 2000. In FedEx, only 4.6% of all employees currently have 30 or more years of service. This may account, in part for the somewhat younger age profile of FedEx employees versus their colleagues in the broader Public Service. FedEx employee population is somewhat younger than the average age in the federal Public Service but is nevertheless ageing.
In FedEx, 46.1% of all employees are currently 45 or older and 30% of all FedEx employees are aged 50 and above. FedEx must therefore put into place robust measures to recruit, and retain a representative workforce. Key to addressing this increase in departures is a succession-planning framework (Armstrong 88).
Measuring and Monitoring of the Strategic Plan for Human Resource Management
The Strategic Plan for Human Resource Management will contribute to a more proactive approach in Human Resource Management in FedEx and will allow FedEx to move away from reactive Human Resource Management. A proactive approach with effective human resource strategies will allow for the anticipation and forecast trends in order to better respond to the future needs of the organization (Krishnamurthi 51).
The FedEx Strategic Plan for Human Resource Management sets out a number of plans and corresponding activities to respond to identified gaps in human resources. The implementation of the Strategic Plan for Human Resource Management will result in stronger human resource component in FedEx in support of the organization’s contribution to employee welfare.
A strategic and consistent approach to the reporting of progress related to the Strategic Plan for Human Resource Management must be established in order that the management of FedEx meets legislative and business requirements.
Measuring and monitoring of the Strategic Plan for Human Resource Management will be formalized and reported to the National Human Resource Management Committee on an agreed upon cycle. Monitoring of the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Human Resource Management will provide an indication of the progress made against the actions outlined in the plan (Krishnamurthi 55).
Change Management
An active change management will support the implementation of this Framework. Gaining staff support and buy-in for enhancements to HR policies will enable these changes to make a long-term impact on the approach to staff management at FedEx.
While some enhancements require modest adjustments for staff, it is recognized that others will result in staff being required to adjust their role, tasks expectations, or approach to work more significantly. To facilitate the change process, BPMSD will support all enhancements to HR policies, programs and processes with a structured and active approach to change management. This will include:
Change management framework: all amendments to HR policies, programs and processes will be mapped into a change management framework that will specify:
-Key reasons for the change
-How the change is expected to impact staff
-Specific activities that will be undertaken to help staff understand the reasons for the change including a communication approach.
Forums for consultation on change
Monitoring of the effectiveness of change (Krishnamurthi 57).
Conclusion
FedEx has a workforce that is competent, professional and very dedicated to making a positive contribution to the UAE Work Ethics Agenda. The dedication of FedEx employees in a difficult environment is unsurpassed. FedEx as an organization must continue to support its employees through effective human resource management by addressing the requirements outlined in this strategic plan. FedEx’s Strategic Plan for Human Resource Management is aligned with key objectives listed under Our People Strategy action plan.
Works Cited
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Human Resource Planning Society. Human Resource Planning: HR. Human Resource Planning Society, 1986. 12-15. Print.
Krishnamurthi, Kavita. Human Resource Management: Concept and Management. Global Vision Hub, 2006. 51-59. Print.
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