Determining the need for personnel: the concept, planning methods and ways to cover it

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

One of the most valuable resources of any company is its staff. However, it is quite expensive. Therefore, it is extremely important to determine the number of employees in which you can achieve the maximum economic effect at the lowest cost. For this, special methods and approaches are used. Determining the need for personnel is one of the priority tasks of management. How this process is carried out will be discussed later.

Types of labor needs

The process of determining the need for personnel is a system of built-in comprehensive measures. Its task is to achieve specific goals for the production process. This is a rather complicated procedure, since it is necessary to determine not only the number of employees who will perform the necessarytasks, but also to create the most efficient production system. Therefore, personnel are also selected in accordance with their qualifications and experience. Training is provided as needed.

In an organization, planning must cover several different areas of development. In this case, the process of planning in the field of labor resources will be as effective as possible.

There are different approaches and methods for determining staffing needs. Most often they are divided into 2 main types:

• Promising. This approach is also called strategic. It is related to the future of the organization. The need for personnel in this case is determined in accordance with the chosen course of the organization. At the same time, in the long term, not only the number of labor resources is calculated, but also the level of qualification of employees.
• Situational. Such planning allows to provide production with the necessary amount of resources in the short term. With this approach, attention is paid to staff turnover, as well as indicators of the number of holidays, sick leave, maternity and long-term leaves, reductions, and so on.

The planning procedure is carried out continuously at different time periods. So, a similar procedure could be:

• Short-term - up to 12 months.
• Mid-term - from 1 year to 5 years.
• Long-term - more than 5 years.

Also, experienced managers determine the qualitative and quantitative needs of staff. InIn the second case, you can set the exact number of employees of the company. In a qualitative assessment, the need for personnel of a certain qualification is determined.

Quantitative need

The definition of qualitative and quantitative staffing needs are significantly different. Planning goes both ways. When determining quantitative indicators, a method is chosen by which it is possible to calculate the optimal number of employees in the state. The determination of this value is carried out within a certain time frame.

Determination of the quantitative need for personnel occurs using several basic indicators:

• Regular number of employees. This is the number of employees on the list for a specific date. This takes into account the number of employees who left and arrived on the day of the analysis.
• Attachment number. The number of employees who are in the state of the company and who must come to work that day to perform their job duties. If you find the difference between the average number and the attendance number, you get an indicator of all-day downtime due to vacation, business trip, illness of employees.
• The average number of employees. This indicator is used to track the number of employees for a certain period. It is used in the course of calculating the average salary, labor productivity, turnover ratios, staff turnover, etc. If you need to find the average number ofemployees for a month or another period, the headcount for each day is added up, divided by the number of days. This includes weekends and holidays. If you need to determine the average for the year, sum up the average number of employees for each month. The result is divided by 12.

To determine the presented indicators, the production records the payroll and attendance. At the same time, the source of information is orders for hiring and dismissal from a position, for transfer, replacement, temporary absence of an employee for a good reason, etc.

To calculate the number of employees on a specific date, different methods are used to determine the need for staff:

1. Method of labor intensity. Assumes the use of information about the time of the workflow.
2. Calculation methods. They use data on service rates, jobs, numbers and manageability.
3. Stochastic methods. Allows you to determine numerical characteristics using correlation or regression analysis.
4. Method of expert estimates. Involves simple or extended (single, multiple) calculations.

Quality indicators

Determining the qualitative need for personnel is characterized by significant difficulties. The analyst must determine in the course of such a study not only the number of personnel, but also the degree of professionalism, qualifications of workers that the organization needs.

The difficulty lies in the fact that at the moment there is no single system for determining the quality of work, the potential of employees. There is only a basic list of characteristics and qualities that determine the degree of qualification, skills of an employee:

• Economic. They determine the complexity of the work that the employee performs, his qualifications, working conditions, length of service and industry affiliation.
• Personal. The presence of certain skills, discipline, efficiency, conscientious performance of their duties, creativity and creativity.
• Organizational and technical. Technical equipment of labor, its attractiveness, the level of organization of production technology, rationalization.
• Socio-cultural. Social activity, collectivism, moral and general cultural development.

Determining the need for personnel of the organization on qualitative grounds is based on the following data:

• Organizational structure.
• Division of employees by professional qualification level (indicated in the production and technical documentation).
• Requirements for jobs.
• Staffing of the structural divisions of the company.
• Regulations of organizational and managerial processes.

For each quality feature, the need for the number of personnel is determined. The total number of employees that is required for the proper operation of the organization is determined by summing the resultsfor each criterion. For this, the following organizational documents are being developed:

• System goals on the basis of which the company's organizational structure is built.
• General organizational structure of the enterprise and its divisions.
• Staffing.
• Job descriptions. They are also used in the calculation of the labor intensity of the functions of the main and management staff.

Factors affecting the need for labor resources

There are certain factors that influence workforce planning processes and staffing requirements.

They can be direct or indirect, internal or external. The following factors have the greatest influence:

• Labor market conditions. They are defined by several features. The conditions include the demographic situation, unemployment, the quality of education, the supply and demand for labor in various sectors, the involvement of the employment service in the processes of training specialists.
• Technological innovations. Active progress in the modern world leads to the simplification of human labor, changes its content. This requires timely retraining of qualified specialists.
• Changes in the field of legislation. This factor is difficult to predict. This refers to the legislation in the field of labor protection and employment.
• Competitors recruiting approach. The organization must constantly monitor and study methods and approaches to working with personnelcompetitors. Based on this information, the organization's own personnel policy is being adjusted.
• Company goals. They can be short-term or long-term and follow a common strategy.
• Funding. Each organization has certain financial capabilities. Based on this, the personnel policy of the organization is also selected.
• Personnel potential. This is the foundation for a successful marketing plan. If the personnel department of the enterprise can consider the development zone, the capabilities of the personnel, this allows you to close emerging vacancies in time.

Stages of work

There are several basic steps in determining staffing needs. Most often, three large processes stand out in the course of performing a similar task.

At the first stage, the company analyzes its own resources. This is necessary in order to determine whether it is possible in the future to satisfy such needs on their own. In this case, important indicators are profit, turnover of the company. She must have enough resources to pay her employees.

Next, at the second stage, an analysis of the need for personnel in the past period is carried out. The conclusion is made about the expediency and efficiency of the use of labor resources. The analyst identifies weaknesses in this process. A long-term plan is being developed that allows you to completely eliminate or minimize the negative impact of deterrent factors.

At the third stage, it is accepteddecision on specific actions in the field of personnel policy at the moment. This takes into account the overall goals and objectives of the organization. Decisions are made on the retention and reduction of certain employees. After the analysis of the determination of the need for personnel, several decisions can be made:

• staff reduction;
• attracting personnel from outside;
• training and retraining of personnel.

Moreover, the listed actions can be carried out simultaneously. It depends on the situation that has developed in the organization.

Methods for determining the need

Determining the needs of an enterprise for personnel is carried out in accordance with certain methods.

There are several popular techniques:

1. Photographing a working day. This is an effective but very time consuming method. An employee has a range of responsibilities. During their execution, time is recorded. This approach allows you to identify redundant actions. In some cases, a decision is made about the need for the work of a particular employee in the overall production process or a vacancy as such. It may be necessary for small amounts of work to combine two staff units into one.
2. Calculation according to service standards. For each employee, certain performance indicators are set based on different standards and rules. Having information about the daily rate of production, managers can calculate the need for staff onsome period of time.
3. Expert assessments. This is one of the most popular methods. It is used by various companies. The opinion of managers is decisive in determining the need for personnel. But at the same time, managers must be characterized by a high level of training and professionalism. It is important to have a clear understanding of the development of this industry in the future.
4. Extrapolation. Based on current data, a long-term forecast is made. This takes into account possible changes. This may be a rise in prices, planned actions of the state in this industry, its development in the future, etc. This approach is used if the internal and external conditions of the organization are stable. In our country, it can only be used for short-term planning.
5. Building a computer model. Heads of departments transmit information, on the basis of which a computer forecast of the organization's needs for labor force for a given perspective is built. This is a relatively new method, so it has not had time to gain significant distribution. It requires significant financial costs, as well as the involvement of relevant specialists in the work. The technique is more suitable for large enterprises.

Calculation formulas

Determination of the need for personnel is carried out using special calculations.

Before choosing a formula, you need to determine what the company is more inclined to in the process of conducting its personnel policy:

• To increasevolume of production, which requires the involvement of additional staff.
• To reduce the amount of production, which leads to the release of labor resources.
• The volume of production is not planned to change. The need for personnel is determined by the natural movement of personnel in the event of dismissal, decree, retirement age, etc.

Therefore, the planning departments of enterprises are calculating and justifying the growth of production. To increase productivity, all factors are taken into account. To determine the planned number of employees, apply the formula:

Chpsp=ChbpI + OI, where Nspp is the average planned headcount in the planning period, Nbp is the headcount in the past (base) period, I is the index of change in production volume in the future, OI is the total change in headcount in the base period.

Average number of employees

Determining the need for personnel can be done using another formula. You can determine the average number of employees as follows:

Chss=ChyavKss, where Nss is the number of the average headcount, Nyav is the number of employees required to complete the task during one shift, Kss is the coefficient of the average headcount.

Methods of covering the need

When the need for labor resources is determined, outline ways to cover it:

• External. In this case, attention is paid to graduates of specialized educational institutions, personnel retraining centers, as well as to proposalsrecruitment agencies, open labor market.
• Domestic. The company's staff undergoes retraining, improves their skills. For this purpose, professional development is carried out for the possibility of career growth. This approach reduces staff turnover.

Number of support staff

Determination of the need for auxiliary personnel is also carried out according to a simple formula:

Chsvr=KrmRSKss, where Nvvr is the number of listed support employees, Krm is the number of jobs for support employees, RS is the number of work shifts in one day.