Considering what has happened in the U.S. economy over the course of the past 15 months, what are your clients’ workforce planning needs for 2010? Will they differ from what they were last year… or remain the same? In my next series of blogs, I’m going to explore the importance of your clients’ workforce planning and how you can make yourself more a part of that planning this year.
First and foremost, workforce planning can be defined as a company’s efforts to accurately analyze its current staffing situation and then determine what adjustments should be made in order to meet any needs or challenges it might be facing. There are a few major components of workforce planning, which are listed below:
1. Ensuring that budget guidelines for employees are met
2. Ensuring that there are the proper number of employees on staff
3. Ensuring that those employees possess the necessary skills, knowledge, and abilities
4. Ensuring that the employees are filling the correct positions (i.e., those that are best suited to their skills)
The current economic conditions in the country notwithstanding, there are a number of reasons why workforce planning has become essential for companies in every industry:
1. Advances in technology have created the need for workers with specialized skills.
2. The growth of the global economy has made competition for those skilled workers more fierce than at any time in the country’s history.
3. The Baby Boomer Generation, 77 million strong, has already started to retire.
4. Working for only one company your whole life is no longer the norm. People now work for between five and 10 companies during the course of their career, sometimes more.
Taking all of these factors into consideration—plus the economy—how do you think your clients’ recruiting strategy plan has changed for this year?
(In my next blog entry, I’ll discuss how you can more accurately assess your client’s current and future hiring and staffing needs for the purpose of maximizing your relationship… and your productivity.)
