Essay Sample on Human Resource Planning: Filling Positions for Future Needs

Introduction

The human resource department plans for the future by meeting the staffing requirements for an organization. The departmental planning focuses on forecasting positions needed to enable a firm to meet future needs. Forecasting on the hiring process is done based on the estimated goals and objectives of an organization (Rothwell & Kazanas, 1994). It is calculated based on the established organizational hiring plan, individual units, and company-wide needs. Notably, CapraTek prefers filling vacant positions by promoting within where possible. Consequently, the organization hires employees as unskilled workers, give them the necessary training and education, and experience and offers the career paths in advanced management positions. The use of the CapraTek Manufacturing Workforce Data and Career Paths document will help to provide accurate forecasts to enable the company plan for production, optimize the efficiency of production, protect the reputation and ensure the production levels meet consumers' demands.

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Unskilled Workers

Currently, the organization has 390 unskilled workers and looks forward to having the number increase to 410 by next year. The available information indicates that approximately 20% of the unskilled workers leave the company annually. Therefore, 80% of the 390 will remain in the company, which is 312 of the unskilled workers. Additionally, 10% of the unskilled workers are likely to move from unskilled to the skilled workforce, which further reduces the number to 273. Furthermore, all the unskilled workers are subjected to a probation period usually lasting to 90 days, where they are considered as interim employees until the probation period is over. The data indicate that approximately one-third of the interim employees fail to complete the 90-days probation period. A third of 273 is 91, and therefore 182 people are needed to fill the vacant positions. Notably, the number includes the proportion of employees that will advance to skilled workers and those who will leave the company.

Skilled Workers

CapraTek currently has 512 employees as skilled workers and seeks to hire 540 by next year. It is a requirement that all skilled workers possess a two-year degree in technical school and have successfully undergone 12 in-house technical seminars to improve levels of their skills. Hence, it takes two years for employees to move from unskilled workers to a skilled workforce. The data notes that approximately 3% of these employees are likely to retire each year, which translates that around 15 skilled employees leave the company annually through retirement. Therefore, the company is left with 497 skilled employees.

Additionally, 10% of skilled workers are likely to join the shift-lead job classification. The number of employees further reduces to 446. As such, an issue arises since the number of shifts leads, current at 82 would increase to 94, yet the projected number should be 84. The concept implies that ten employees would be promoted over the next year. Approximately 41 skilled employees will be left out, which again increases the number of skilled employees to 487. Furthermore, 39 of unskilled employees are likely to join the skilled workforce, and hence, the number will further rise to 526. CapraTek will, therefore, need to hire an additional 14 more skilled employees to make it to 540, which is the projected number in next year.

Shift Lead Workers

The shift lead unit currently has 82 employees, and the company would like to increase the number to 84. In general, 5% of the employees are likely to retire annually, which decreases the number to 78. Additionally, approximately 10% of the employees are likely to advance to the upward positions, department supervisors, and therefore the number further decreases to 70 employees. Notably, only 4 of the employees that would be needed to fill in the vacant positions arising annually in the department supervisor's unit. Hence, the number will increase to 74. The data indicates that 10% of the skilled workers look forward to joining the shift leaders, and the number of shift leaders further increases by 51. The high number is likely to cause problems since the internal promotion or hiring will have the number of shift leaders increase to 125, yet only 84 are required by next year. Consequently, only ten skilled workers should be promoted to move the number of shift leaders from 74 to 84.

Department Supervisors

The shift to department supervisors from shift leaders requires CapraTek's 2-week Management Development Program attendance accompanied by other leadership training programs. Averagely, it takes five years for one to transition to department supervision, and approximately 10% of the shift leaders attempt the move. A significant percentage of the employees prefer stalling at this job classification, and around 8% retire annually. Currently, the organization has 46 employees and projects to have the same number of workers next year. Based on the fact, it takes five years for one to transition from shift lead worker to department supervisor; only the number of retiring employees that should be replaced. Therefore, four shift lead workers would be promoted by next year.

Operational Managers

Operational managers are likely to stay in this position for the rest of their careers until retirement or promotion to operations managers in corporate headquarters. The data indicates that approximately 10% of the employees retire annually, and only one person is likely to be promoted to the operations manager to the corporate headquarters. Currently, the organization has 22 operational managers, and the number is projected to remain the same. Therefore, only the retiring employees need to be replaced, and the one person promoted to operations manager. In general, only three employees that would be hired to the operational manager job classification.

Employment Trends and Demographics

The analysis of the CapraTek Career Paths scenario offers various insights about employment trends and demographics. The HR department needs to put a significant focus on the hiring process in the skilled and unskilled workers' job classification. The company loses a considerable number of unskilled employees since 20% leave each year for diverse reasons, and a third of the interim employees do not make it during the probation period. However, it is worth noting that skilled workers' job classification has the least retiring proportion, which is healthy for an organization. It shows the commitment of the firm to hire young and skilled people to achieve optimal productivity. The use of technology in the hiring process has not been sufficiently demonstrated. However, it could be used in the planning process to improve hiring.

Recommendations and Conclusion

Based on data analysis, three recommendations would be made:

The hiring process should be specific to recruit individuals with the greatest interest and qualifications to avoid the high number of dropouts in transitioning the workers to skilled. It would save on organizational resources through turnover reduction (Hinkin & Tracey, 2000).

The company should increase the opportunities for skilled employees to work harder to be considered for the shift lead positions. The data indicates that only 10% of the skilled workers choose the career path; it is a lower number, which indicates the insignificant commitment of a majority of the employees.

The organization should offer more opportunities to the young shift lead workers to join the operational managers' job classification to reduce the retiring population, which stands at 10% annually. It would save the organization on costs due to the compensation benefits given annually to the retiring employees (Bersin & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2019).

The document offers insightful information for the determination of the number of applicants needed to meet the positional projections. It provides the human resource data on various job classifications, including unskilled workers, skilled workers, shift lead workers, department supervisors, and operations manager. The number of employees at each job classification has been determined through mathematical calculations.

References

Bersin, J., & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2019). The Case for Hiring Older Workers. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/09/the-case-for-hiring-older-workers

Hinkin, T. R., & Tracey, J. B. (2000). The cost of turnover: Putting a price on the learning curve. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 41(3), 14-21.

Rothwell, W. J., & Kazanas, H. C. (1994). Planning & Managing Human Resources: Strategic Planning for Personnel Management. HRD Press.