Election Time and Its Impact on Effective Workforce Planning
One of the most famous quotes going around is “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This is relevant not just in your personal life, but also in the business world. For a business to be successful it requires three core aspects of timing, service offering, and effective workforce planning.
By creating a plan that identifies goals and objectives, how to reach those goals, implementing these actions, and reflecting on the progress will allow a business the best possible opportunity for success.
With election time fast approaching it is important for businesses to look at what each party plans to do for their industry and find out how these plans will impact them in the future. One of the industries that is being mentioned as a key talking point in the lead up to the election is the Hospitality & Tourism sector in Australia. Australian Chamber – Tourism Executive Chair John Hart said that Australian tourism has been severely impacted since COVID-19’s onslaught, citing that the total expenditure losses is estimated at $142 billion.
When restrictions and isolation protocols were implemented, as well as the closure of international and state borders, the Hospitality & Tourism Industry’s workforce had been severely reduced and become a major concern for the rebuilding and growth of the industry. As a result of this reduced workforce the industry now faces a severe skills and labour shortage as we return to normality.
This return to normality will not come easy, especially for the Hospitality & Tourism industry so it’s important that whichever party is elected, effective workplace planning and strategy are not only created but also implemented to take advantage of the provided campaigns, programs, incentives, and schemes. Thus, allowing businesses to recover from the pandemic as best as possible.
When each party provides their plans for the workplace and businesses, it will be important for employers to begin looking at the tools for effective workplace planning which touch on:
- Potential staffing numbers.
- Cost of staffing.
- Potential positions to be filled by these staff to accommodate the increase in workflow.
- The cost of advertising/finding staff for these positions; and
- Turnover benchmarks required to meet to identify when extra staff is required
The Importance of Conducting Strategic Workforce Planning for Employers?
Effective workforce planning assists organisations to prepare for certain types of situations and ensure that benchmarks are identified which can be key indicators for change.
Business Queensland explains that Workplace Planning can help you:
- Retain employees and reduce turnover
- Find the right people for key roles
- Reduce skills shortages
- Identify staff training and development needs
- Improve efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity
- Increase job satisfaction and employee engagement
The Four Steps in Effective Workforce Planning
To conduct effective workforce planning there are 4 steps that need to be taken.
The first is Getting Started. To do this you just need to begin by being clear about what your business goals and objectives are. When identifying your business goals and objectives, be sure to consider the external influences that can impact on your business such as technology, competitors, and local labour market trends. These external influences will assist in deciding your business and workforce requirements.
The second step is to Gather Information. To do this step requires two things: determining your current workforce and determining your future workforce. Determining your current workforce can be portrayed through workforce data, both recent and historical data over the last 12 months. Determining the future of your workforce entails estimating the number and types of employees required to deliver your business plan and goals.
The third step is to Identify Issues and Find Solutions. During this stage it is important to identify how you want to get from where your workforce currently is, to where you want it to be. You also will need to identify actions to take that will best help you reach your business goals and objectives.
The final step in workforce planning is to Develop, Implement and Monitor. After identifying your plans and actions it is important to communicate them to your workforce and begin implementation. Periodic review and monitoring of these implemented plans will provide you with the best opportunity to ensure their effectiveness and alter them as changes occur in your business or employees.
Interested to learn more?
Concerned about how this year’s election and its impact on your business’ strategic workforce planning’? Get in touch with Bramwell Partners, your local HR consulting Brisbane team on (07) 3630 5695 or email us at success@bramwellpartners.com.au to learn more about how your business can effectively utilise the tools for effective workforce planning this year and beyond!
In reference to an article on Human Resource Director AU ‘Businessess push for tourism recovery as part of election agency’.
