Introduction
Human resources management is the most important aspect in any organization because it is the people who determine the success or failure of an organization. Therefore, the management should have a plan that ensures the organization has the right employees at any given time in order to have continued productivity and excellent financial performance (Sloan, 2010).
This is achieved through a workforce plan program. This is a continuous program whereby the management aligns the requirements and the priorities of the company with those of the human resources. The aim is to ensure that the organization is able to meet the legislative, productive, and the organizational goals and targets.
As the current workforce is aging, there is a need for an organization to ensure there is a program whereby new employees are hired and recruited so that they can be in a position to fill the voids left by the retiring employees (Phillips & Gully, 2013). It is not easy to find candidates who are fully qualified for a given job vacancy.
On the other hand, companies are looking for highly qualified people so that they can become highly competitive in the business world. In line with this, companies are competing with each other to acquire the few available highly qualified people (Smith, 2012).
It should be emphasized that highly qualified and skilled personnel have the ability to give quality services to the organization, which is reflected in the overall organizational performance and customer satisfaction. This gives the company a competitive advantage. Agencies have their own procedures that are followed in ensuring continuity of the workforce.
In the United States, there are agencies that are concerned with the employment processes of workers, as well the workforce planning. There is a document referred to as the New York State Agencies document that acts as a guide to the workforce planning in New York. The document that was drafted about 13 years ago has faced some criticism, as well as support.
It should be noted that the current world is changing rapidly and the workforce requirements keep changing. Therefore, the Agencies’ document should be amended regularly. The document has acted as a guide for employers and companies not only in the New York, but also in the entire United States. The following are some of the strengths that have made the document relevant 13 years after its drafting.
Strengths of the Guide
First, the guide is effective in helping the agencies, as well as the employers and managers to anticipate the future staffing needs in the short-run, as well as in the mid-run and the long-run. Being proactive is one of the most significant competitive tools in any organization, as it helps to enhance the readiness to face any potential challenge related to staffing that the organization is likely to face in the future.
Such a challenge is addressed in advance and the organization is always ready and ahead of its competitors. The New York State Agencies document helps the management to anticipate the number of employees who are likely to retire at a given time. It can also be able to predict the pattern of employee turnover. This helps the organizations prepare how the voids will be filled to ensure continued productivity.
The document also helps the employers in deciding the number of employees that should be hired at a given time in the future. The organization, therefore, avails the required funds for the activity. It also prepares training for the new employees in advance.
The document also helps in facilitating a close and linked working relationship between the program managers and the human resource managers. It enhances the level of communication between the related departments. It also links the program managers to the civil service, which is important because it helps the human resource department, as well as the program managers to better understand the needs of the employees.
These departments are able to know what the employees require at any given time so that they can be able to perform at a high level. In addition, they are in a position to understand what qualifications an employee should have to fit in a given job vacancy, which is essential for maximum productivity of the organization.
The document also helps in ensuring that employees who have obsolete skills get training in good time so that they can be in a position to continue producing at a high level. As mentioned earlier, the current business world is highly dynamic and the world in general is changing rapidly. This calls for employees to become dynamic in order to be productive in the changing world.
Employees need to be up to date in their work so that they can meet the changing needs of the clients. This ensures continued competitiveness of the organization, which can only be achieved through offering consistent training to employees and keeping them up to date (Ward, Tripp & Maki, 2012).
The New York State Agencies document also provides opportunities in the workplace, which motivates the employees to stay in the organization. It also provides work opportunities that keep workers in the workplace agencies. A high employee turnover is a factor that can affect the performance of any organization negatively. It affects the consistency of production as the outgoing employees have to be replaced by new ones, most of the times.
The fact that the outgoing employees may move out without prior notice means that the organization wastes a significant working time in recruiting and training new employees. It should also be noted that the exercise is expensive and it affects the profitability of the company in the long run. The document helps the organization to avoid wasting time training people for skills that would not help in the company’s strategic direction.
Finally, the New York State Agencies document gives the recommended steps that should be followed in planning the workforce. Generally, the steps that are followed in workforce planning by various organizations have a lot of similarities. The process may also be given different names by various organizations, but the idea and the objectives are always the same.
However, it should be noted that the process can be customized based on the organizational needs. The New York State Agencies document outlines the steps that are followed in the plan. It gives a competitive advantage to the company and helps in creating a workforce that meets all the organizational or the employment needs.
The weak parts of the Guide
Despite its positive contribution to the work and workforce planning in agencies and organizations, the New York State Agencies document has a number of weaknesses that may have a negative effect on organizations. First, the level of technology in the world is advancing at a very high rate, as new technologies are sprouting every day.
Technology is important because it helps in improving the quality of production in organizations. However, its effect on the human resource cannot be underestimated. Technology makes things easier, thereby reducing the number of employees working in an organization.
The New York State Agencies document does not give a provision on how the workforce planning is related to technology, which is a factor that can be demotivating to employees and affect their productivity. Employees cannot be clear about their future in the organization, considering the fact that technology may take up their jobs (Hurst, 2005).
As a result, their productivity is compromised by this discomfort. The New York State Agencies document does not give such provision for workforce planning, which is a point of weakness. In other words, it does not take technology into consideration in workforce planning.
The other point of weakness is the fact that the document does not give a clear guide on how the future staffing gaps can be predicted, as far as organizations’ expansion or increase in activities is concerned. The New York State Agencies document is not clear on how to determine the extent of the gaps expected in the future.
It is important for the organization to determine the gap precisely, as this would be a critical factor in budgeting and determining the kind of people it should hire. The New York State Agencies document also fails to mention about the future changes in the workforce planning.
Change is inevitable in any setup. Therefore, the workforce planning may change in the future. In addition, the steps that are followed may change. Other factors may also change in the workforce planning. Unfortunately, the New York State Agencies document seems not to be flexible on this, as it does not give a provision for potential changes.
For instance, the business models may change and result in new workforce plans. The current business models in the various organizations demand a given strategy in workforce planning. A change in the model would require a change in the workforce planning. Similarly, business reorganization may require a change in the current workforce planning.
Regrettably, there is a void in the New York State Agencies document because it does not provide for such changes. Workforce planning comes with a budget. For instance, if the number of employees in a given organization is to increase in the future, it means that the organization will have to set aside an amount that will cater for the increase.
The workforce planning document would be more effective if it highlighted the budget part of the planning and probably gave an insight on how the organization is likely to raise the amount required for the increase in the number of employees, as well as how the same can be recovered.
Do the approaches in the Guide differ from those that we discussed in class and in the book?
Workforce planning may have different names. It may also have different approaches, based on the organization and the current needs of the organization (Smith, 2012). Therefore, the steps followed and the guidelines in various setups have a lot of similarities.
In connection to this, the guidelines given in the New York State Agencies document and the guidelines discussed in class are very similar. All the steps given in the New York State Agencies document have also been discussed in class.
The steps include scope, context, work, demand, supply, gaps, priority, and solutions. All these steps have been discussed in class, although some may be discussed under different names.
Does the New York Guide fall short?
The New York State Agencies document is a good guide in the workforce planning. It gives agencies a base from which they can plan the future staffing requirements effectively. Therefore, in many ways, the document is effective. However, it falls short and needs to be improved in a number of areas.
For instance, the guide does not highlight how the workforce should be planned in the context of changes and advancing technology. It does not provide how the managers should go about with their employees in the event that new technology affects the human resource composition, yet it has been mentioned earlier that the current world is dominated by technological changes.
The New York State Agencies document should, therefore, have a clause explaining or giving guidelines on how organizations should handle their employees in the wake of technology that is likely to replace their services.
The document also falls short in addressing the issue of employee promotions. The guide does not give an indication of when an employee should be promoted or the basis on which they should be promoted, yet it is a motivating factor to promote employees (Grigg & Zenzen, 2009).
Promoting employees can help them work hard and provide better services. The document also fails to give a guide on how talent should be managed, yet organizations are always running to get the best talents so that they can provide quality and improve customer satisfaction.
Unfortunately, the New York State Agencies document does not specify the steps that should be followed in managing talent.
How the New York State Agencies document can be improved based on strategic WFP and talent management
The document should give a good strategy to workforce management. It should also give a guide on how talent can be managed. It does not address these issues, thereby falling short in these areas. Technology and its possible effect on workforce planning should be included in the guide to improve the document.
It should give a strategy that can be followed in workforce planning in the world of technology. Technology should not demotivate employees, but it should motivate them (Great Britain, 2012). A clear strategy on this aspect would be highly effective in improving the New York State Agencies document. Therefore, I would incorporate technology in the planning to improve the document based on strategic workforce planning.
Regarding talent management, I would provide a clear template on how the organization should attract new talents and how it can maintain the current ones. One suggestion is to pay employees well. Additionally, awarding talented employees and supporting them in their activities would help in managing talent.
The treatment given to the talented employees should be designed such that it does not demotivate the current employees. I would also be open to embrace any other method that can be used to improve the New York State Agencies document.
References
Great Britain. (2012). Education, training and workforce planning: First report of session 2012-13. London, UK: Stationery Office.
Grigg, N. S., & Zenzen, M. (2009). The water workforce: Recruiting & retaining high-performance employees. Denver, CO: American Water Works Association.
Hurst, K. (2005). Primary care trust workforce planning and development. London: Whurr Publishers.
Phillips, J. M., & Gully, S. M. (2013). Human resource management. Mason, OH: South-Western Centage Learning.
Sloan, J. (2010). The workforce planning imperative. Adelaide, Australia: Julie Sloan Management.
Smith, T. (2012). Strategic workforce planning: Guidance & back-up plans. Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace.
Ward, D. L., Tripp, R., & Maki, B. (2013). Positioned: Strategic workforce planning that gets the right person in the right job. New York: AMACOM, American Management Association.