What Are the Different Steps of HR Planning?

A basic HR model contains around six different steps of HR planning. These steps include creating organizational goals, designing an HR management system, calculating the required workforce, acquiring the necessary human resources, developing training programs, and comparing organizational performance with the set goals. While these steps may differ slightly between different organizations, the basic premise remains the same. The goal of implementing these steps of HR planning is to create an organization with a developed plan, a competent workforce, and goal achievement. Through analyzing organizational performance against the original goals, areas that need improvement may surface and can then be addressed.

Creating organizational goals is the first of the steps of HR planning. In this step, the overall direction of the company and its primary goals are laid out so the company has a definitive direction to pursue. Later on, the overall company performance will be measured against these goals to determine the level of success in each area to determine where improvements need to be made. Designing an HR management system is the next step. This is an important step as it’s where the organization’s polices and procedures are determined, along with its overall chain of command.

Calculating the required workforce is the third of the steps of HR planning. This is where the organization decides how many workers it needs, in addition to each position’s competency requirements, which includes items such as education and experience levels. Hiring competent workers is especially important for organizations where specific skills are needed to perform basic jobs, such as in skilled trades. After the workforce plan is created, the next step is to acquire the necessary human resources. This means hiring and appointing workers into their assigned positions.

Developing training programs is the fifth of the steps of HR planning. It’s important to create a plan that provides continued educational training for employees, along with benefits, compensation packages, and reward programs based on their performance, to keep them happy and satisfied with working for the company. The final step in the process is comparing organizational performance with the goals outlined in the first step. This comparison allows the organization to measure how well its operations are meeting their original goals, and also shows them areas that aren’t succeeding so they can make the necessary adjustments accordingly. Companies often use tools such as computer-generated performance reports or scorecards for these types of comparisons.