Human Resource Planning and Development - Qantas, Armidale Hospital, the University of New England - Case Study Example

Name: xxxxxxxxxxx Course: xxxxxxxxxx Institution: xxxxxxxxxx Title: Human Resource Planning and Development Date: xxxxxxxxxxxxx Introduction Human Resource Planning (HRP) is essentially the process through which organizations balance the demand and supply for labour, staff or employees within the organization. Through HRP, organizations put in place mechanisms to attract and retain the necessary staff consistent with the organization’s goals (Hartel et al 2007). An organization’s HR manager is thus tasked with the responsibility of planning and developing programs which will provide or ensure the existence of the right mix or combination of employees necessary to meet the organization’s goals. HRP also referred to as workforce planning, aims to eliminate the inconveniences due to ineffective planning of an organization’s human resources due to shortages such as long running and unfilled vacancies, surpluses due to instances of over hiring in some departments or over expenditure in training replacement employees (Hartel et al 2007). The HRP process consists of three main steps; demand forecasting, supply forecasting and ultimately filling the gap between demand and supply. Demand forecasting involves estimation of the labour demand or determination of how many employees are needed and what particular skills they should possess. Supply forecasting, on the other hand, involves using the organization’s existing labour or employees to meet the staffing requirements due to current or future/anticipated long term or short term vacancies. These may be necessitated or be due to various situations such as promotions, transfers or maternity leaves. The final step in HRP is actually bridging the gap between demand and supply. This involves analysis of demand and supply forecasts and making decisions based on this analysis such as which recruitment or replacement methods to use consistent with the organization’s goals or targets (Hartel et al 2007). This paper is a discussion of the HRP process in three organizations. From the perspective of the HR General Manager of three organizations, the paper will first discuss the key HRP planning issues facing these three organizations in today’s current environment by analyzing the three steps outlined by Hartel et al (2007), demand forecasting, supply forecasting and sourcing for labour in each organization. The various methods used in these steps will also be explored for these three organizations highlighting key HR issues in their industry contexts. These are Qantas in the aviation industry, Armidale Hospital in the healthcare industry and the University of New England in the education sector. By establishing the nature of each organization, the paper will also demonstrate how the outcomes of HRP processes such as recruitment plans may differ for organizations in different contexts such as scale of operations (global versus local). The discussion will also identify the major stakeholders involved in the HRP processes of each organization and the various issues that may be anticipated in the HRP or workforce planning process. 1. Qantas Company Profile Qantas Airways was formed in November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited (Qantas 2010). Qantas is one of Australia’s strongest brands and has gained a reputation as one of the world’s leading long distance airlines. Heralding the primary business activity at the Qantas Group, Qantas Airways provides air transportation through a global network of 142 destinations spanning from Australia to Asia Pacific, Southern Africa, Europe and America (Kronos 2010). The flagship brand Qantas caters for the international destinations market with subsidiaries Qantas Link and Jetstar Airways catering for regional and domestic destinations. The Qantas Group also engages in supporting activities or portfolio and service businesses which are important to the success of its primary business activity run by Qantas subsidiaries such as Qantas Freight which runs airfreight services, Q Catering which handles in-flight catering and flight training, Qantas Holidays which handles holiday or leisure travel services, engineering and maintenance services for the military provided by Qantas Defence Services, a frequent flyer program Qantas Frequent Flyer and corporate support staff in departments such as customer relations (Qantas 2010). Qantas has a global workforce of about 35,700 employees globally occupying more than 250 roles in these various divisions (Qantas 2010). Therefore, the HRP or workforce planning process at Qantas is a complex activity which has to address the specific needs of each division ensuring that each role is staffed by employees suitably skilled to meet the demands of their positions. HRP or Workforce Planning Process at Qantas Demand Forecasting As the HR General Manager, the first step of the workforce planning process at involves forecasting both labour demand and supply according to business strategy. In forecasting labour demand, I would estimate or calculate how many employees are required to fulfill the company’s strategic objectives. At Qantas, this estimate is arrived at by multiplying forecasted business activity by desired productivity ratio (Leavitt et al 2010). The inputs in this process are the business strategy going forward such as determining how many and what type of airplanes would be in use and the required productivity ratios to achieve financial benchmarks. The outputs of the demand forecasting process are labour demand schedules and scenario planning. Labour demand schedules are produced by synthesizing or superimposing workforce productivity ratios onto forecast business activity. During this process, the HR department would come up with multiple scenarios by manipulating either the productivity ratio or the forecast activity based on the different strategies being pursued (Leavitt et al 2010). The productivity ratio is calculated as a ratio of the company’s output to its input. The labour productivity ratio can be estimated by analyzing previous or historical figures and trends. The data required to calculate productivity ratios can be drawn from previous annual reports. For instance, Qantas’ 2010 Annual Report reported that the company had 32, 500 full time employees in its core and portfolio businesses which was a decline from 33,030 in 2009 and 34, 295 in 2008 (Leavitt et al 2010 & Qantas 2010). The company’s output is also gleaned from the company’s annual balance sheet such as revenues of $13.8 billion in the 2009/2010 period, a decline from $14.4 billion in the 2008/2009 period. However, pre-tax profit tripled from 100 million to 377 million. The best possible productivity ratios for each division or department can thus be obtained using the 2009/2010 results, which indicate high labour productivity ratios driven by increasing workforce flexibility. The productivity ratios are then overlaid onto the company’s forecast business activity according to the company’s business strategy to produce a labour demand schedule. For instance, the current strategy of the Qantas Group is to create two airlines- Qantas and Jetstar- which would be market leading brands in their respective international and regional markets (Qantas 2010). This strategy is aimed at giving the company flexibility to better manage business and economic cycles- such as taking advantage of boom or bullish runs to maximize earnings and cushioning itself during periods of recession-, leverage the different sectors of the market and maintain a robust operating cash flow. Implementation of this strategy would involve activities such as increased recruitment of part time employees such as cabin crew or acquisition of newer airplanes to enable the Jetstar brand cement its market share during periods such as holidays. by combining the forecast business activities and desired productivity ratios, the HR department produces labour demand schedules which indicate how many employees are required, what skills they need to possess and when they are required. This in turn helps in budgeting for salaries, allowances and scheduled leaves. Supply Forecasting In forecasting labour supply at Qantas, I would use IT applications to determine staffing, equipment and training needs which would offer a more accurate assessment of and efficient means of determining when and where to find replacements for long term or short term vacancies. For instance, at Qantas Airways, I would use automated crew resource planning and management systems such as Altitude MPP by Kronos designed for airlines (Kronos 2010). These systems would help in strategic planning and decision making for optimized, qualified and properly trained pilots and crew. This would help effective management of both short and long term requirements for fleet crews, forecast and eliminate labour supply shortages and enable determination of exact staffing levels for pilots and crew (Kronos 2010). Sourcing Labour for Qantas In sourcing for labour at Qantas, various considerations have to be factored. The diverse nature of the company’s employees would imply a complex recruitment process. In addition, the nature of the company’s operations implies that we have to source for labour from as many different countries as are covered by international destination routes. Therefore, recruitment is global, multilingual and multicultural. However, this can be delegated through the use of automated talent recruitment under Qantas Shared Services Group. By advertising with online talent recruitment agencies such as Taleo, the company would save time and money by avoiding the lengthy process of vetting every single candidate but at the same time will be able to keep track of the recruitment process through the data submitted (Taleo 2010). Potential labour sources would include graduates of both local and international aviation programs or former employees of other airline companies seeking career development opportunities at larger companies such as Qantas. This would enable the company identify suitable candidates for the various roles such as cabin crew, corporate support staff or even engineers from many different locations globally. In the HRP process at Qantas, there are various stakeholders involved. The HR General Manager is one of the most important stakeholders as their input in the planning process is of coordinating the various processes involved. Line managers are also an integral part of the workforce planning process as they facilitate the flow of information between their respective departments and other departments such as HR and finance (CIPD 2010). For instance, the IT line manager plays the role of feeding accurate information into the workforce plans. The line managers are also an important part of implementation and execution of the plans as they are in direct contact with employees, external suppliers and senior management. As stakeholders, the line managers at Qantas ensure delivery of workforce plans (CIPD 2010). Other major stakeholders include members of the Australian Services Union (ASU) who monitor processes such as recruitment and training to streamline standards at Qantas’ according to Union requirements. Some of the anticipated issues in the workforce planning process at Qantas would include gender and race equity. For instance, the labour recruitment process or promotions have to factor in gender equity which has been kept at a threshold of at least 40 % of full time employees since 2005. An indigenous employment program for Torres Strait Islanders and Aborigines- the Qantas Indigenous Employment Program was also put in place since November 2007 to leverage the playing field at Qantas (Qantas 2010). 2. Armidale Hospital Organization Profile Established in 1858, Armidale Hospital is a rural referral hospital within the Hunter New England Health Service. The hospital doubles up as a district hospital for the local community and as a specialist rural referral hospital for hospitals in the larger Tablelands Cluster and eastern parts of the McIntyre Cluster such as Guyra, Glen Innes, Inverell, Emmaville, Tenterfield and Walcha (Kaleidoscope 2011). The hospital provides a range of health services to the local Armidale community and residents of Uralla, Kentucky, Wollomombi and Hillgrove in addition to training, education and research facilities. The hospital accommodates general medicine services, accident and emergency (casualty) services, intensive care, pediatrics, geriatrics, surgery, dental services, obstetrics and outpatient clinic services. It also provides ancillary medical services on-site such as social work, orthopaedic/fracture clinic, renal dialysis, anaesthetics, physiotherapy, colposcopy, pharmacy, speech therapy, radiology, pathology (Kaleidoscope 2011). The HRP process at Armidale Hospital Demand Forecasting Workforce planning at Armidale Hospital and the larger Armidale Health Services is undertaken by the Hunter New England (HNE) Health Workforce Planning Unit (HNE Health Service 2010). As the General HR Manager at HNE, I would rely on previous hospital records to forecast labour demand. The major input into the labour demand forecasting process in a public health care institution is national and regional healthcare benchmarks such as those for emergency and elective surgery waiting times. For instance, the national benchmarks for emergency departments are measured by “triage time” which indicates their ability to treat patients in timely fashion. The triage time is a measure of how much time lapses between initial emergency assessment and the commencement of treatment (aimed at establishing and enhancing timely access to emergency medical services) with triage categories range from triage 1 -immediate life threatening conditions to triage 5 -less urgent (NSW Health Emergency Department Information System, 2010). In 2010, the Armidale Hospital emergency department managed to meet the national benchmarks for every four out of five patients (Sikora 2010). Between October and December 2010, Armidale and New England Hospital attended to 3,556 patients and recorded triage performance measures of 100% in triage 1, 92% percent in triage 2, 79% in triage 3, 87% in triage 4 and 96% in triage 5 (Bureau of Health Information 2011). These met national benchmarks of 100% in 2 minutes for triage 1, 80% in 10 minutes for triage 2, 75% in 30 minutes for triage 3, 70% in I hour for triage 4 and 70% in 2 hours for triage 5 (NSW Health Emergency Department Information System, 2010). The hospital also met the 30 day and I year benchmarks for urgent and non urgent elective surgery (Sikora 2010). To estimate labour demand at Armidale, I would evaluate these performance measures against staffing levels at the hospital from historical records. For instance, the September 2009 full time and part time head count of Armidale Health Services employees was 537 in different categories such as medical, nursing and oral health and support workers (HNE Health Service 2010). Comparing performance levels with staffing levels from head counts would enable the hospital determine the required staffing levels to achieve current benchmarks within operational constraints such as the hospital’s bed capacity of 99 (Kaleidoscope, 2011). In addition, the Workforce Planning Unit would be able to review and budget for expenditures on services such as transport based on demand projections. Supply Forecasting Due to the nature of the healthcare profession, labour supply at Armidale Hospital includes the current stock of full time and contracted employees at Armidale Health Services as well as nursing graduates and General Practitioner (GP) trainees. Labour supply can be forecasted through a comprehensive database including employee head counts and ongoing assessments of GP trainees and nursing graduates from institutions such as the University of New England whose medical students train at Armidale Hospital. To respond to current or future vacancies, the Service Manager at Armidale Hospital should inform all employees of flexible employment arrangements which would make replacement more timely and efficient. Sourcing for Labour at Armidale Hospital Armidale Hospital’s immediate labour pool can be found in the local community and its environs. For instance, the hospital would recruit for categories such as social workers from the surrounding communities since they have a better understanding of local conditions. Therefore, the service manager and head of strategic recruitment unit must ensure that job categories such as maintenance, nursing and social work are not only staffed primarily by locals but also display ethnic, gender and racial diversity through equal opportunities for women and Aborigines. For more specialized job categories, the hospital would primarily recruit medical school graduates from nearby universities such as University of New England or clinical placement students from Sydney, Newcastle or Charles Sturt Universities (HNE Health Service 2010). For instance, Armidale Hospital employed ten nursing graduates in 2010. The hospital would also recruit labour through training programs in place such as GP/VMO Recruitment Taskforce (HNE Health Service 2010). In the workforce planning process at Armidale Hospital, one of the major stakeholders is the Service Manager. The service manager plays a central planning role in delivery of healthcare services and coordinates training and recruitment processes. In the larger Armidale Health Services, the General Manager of Tablelands and Armidale Community Health plays a supervisory role in workforce planning as he ensures implementation of the HNE Strategic Recruitment Unit programs (HNE Health Service 2010). 3. University of New England Institution Profile University of New England (UNE) is a public Australian University located in the city of Armidale in New South Wales. Originally founded in 1938 and reconstituted subsequently in 1989 and then 1993, the University’s has its main and original campus at several sites on Armidale since 1994. The University currently meets the higher educational needs of approximately 18,000 students and has a workforce of about 450 academic staff and 230 non academic staff (UNE 2010). As an education provider, the HRP or workforce planning process at UNE is aimed at enabling the University to accomplish its goals and objectives as outlined in its core values statement and strategic plans. The University’s core values are provision of student-centered, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary programs that meet the highest ethical standards to achieve excellence in support of an integrative approach to liberal arts, health and the environment as well as scholarship and research (UNE 2006a). The planning process should give accurate estimates of the staff levels (both academic and non academic) which will enable implementation of current and future University strategic, core activity and capability plans (UNE 2006b). The Workforce Planning Process at UNE Demand Forecasting Labour demand forecasting at UNE essentially involves determination of future workforce needs and capabilities. As General HR Manager, it is important for the university to establish what levels of staff are necessary and which skills, knowledge and expertise they must possess to be able to implement and eventually achieve the milestones of the institution’s strategic plans. Demand forecasting, therefore, involves analysis of the current situation against future workforce needs (necessary to meet strategic objectives) and identifying the gap between the current and desired workforce profiles (UNE 2006b). Therefore, the inputs in the demand forecasting process are current, staffing data (profile) and the strategic and operational plans. The staff profile includes their numbers, their skills and competencies, age characteristics, gender, possible movements such as transfers and current workload allocation and job design. As regards strategic plans, the University’s 2007 to 2010 Strategic Plan outlined five key priorities: achieving distinction, leadership and advantage; creating regional to global impact; ensuring student interests are paramount; focus and align all activities and empower staff while strengthening accountability (UNE 2006a). As manager in charge of workforce planning, I would collect data from the various faculties, schools and departments to establish how many staff are needed in each to implement departmental sub-plans within the strategic plan and achieve their targets measured by Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within the UNE’s budget constraints. The outcome (or output) of the demand forecasting process would be a workforce plan which would identify a desired workforce profile (including skills) required to achieve each faculty/school strategic goals. This would be used as an objective basis for other planning and decision making processes such as recruitment and training, transfers, and budgeting allocations (UNE 2006b). Supply Forecasting Supply forecasting at UNE involves collection of data on current staff profile to determine whether some of the workforce needs can be met through internal processes such as transfers and promotions. By analyzing current staff profiles, the HR department can make decisions such as upgrading the required skills profile of existing staff to make them relevant to desired profile, using promotions or transfers to fill vacancies left by aging staff and possibilities of training current staff to meet future needs (UNE 2006b). Sourcing for Labour at UNE Once the labour and supply forecasting processes are complete, both internal and external sources of labour for the university must be identified. For non academic staff, employees can be recruited from the local Armidale community with consideration given to their individual experience and training profiles. For academic staff, vacancies can be posted through media outlets and inter-university forums to attract interest from postgraduate students or lecturers and professors from other institutions seeking better opportunities. The university can also consider training and retraining staff such as upgrading the academic status from Masters to PhD to enable the university retain skilled workforce who would naturally offer advantages in continuity (UNE 2006b). In the workforce planning process, the major stakeholders involved are the Pro Vice-Chancellor, the Deans and Directors of the various faculties and schools, budgetary officers at the University such as the Bursar and representatives of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEO). The Pro Vice-Chancellor ensures implementation of workforce plans while the Deans and Directors feed the necessary data into the workforce planning process (UNE 2009). The budgetary officers ensure the feasibility of workforce plans and their financial impact on budgeting. The EEO endorses the workforce plans in an advisory role to cater for issues such as gender equity and equal opportunities for marginalized groups such as Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (UNE 2010). Conclusion The HRP or workforce planning process is an important part of any organization’s operations. It enables organizations to attract and retain the skilled labour necessary to meet the organization’s objectives and to ensure the current and future existence of the right mix of employees. The process involves three fundamental steps, demand forecasting which determines how much labour is needed, supply forecasting which establishes how much labour is available to meet current and future demands and the eventual filling of the demand-supply gap through labour recruitment plans. Different organizations have different methods and techniques of forecasting labour demand and supply based on their characteristics. For instance, demand forecasting at an international airline such as Qantas is based on the company’s business activities as outlined by corporate strategy while a public hospital such as Armidale forecasts based on national healthcare benchmarks such as triage times. In addition, companies such as Qantas require a wider labour pool due to the international nature of their operations while organizations such as Armidale Hospital and University of New England are by necessity inclined to offer opportunities to local-based labour. The HRP or workforce planning process must thus be carefully designed consistent with each, vision or strategic objectives and the organization’s characteristics such as size and scope of operations. The stakeholders in the HRP process must also be aware of issues that may arise in the process such as meeting standards set by labour unions and provision of equal employment opportunities with regards to ethnicity (marginalized groups) and gender and factor them into implementation of HRP or workforce plans as this is critical to their success. Bibliography Bureau of Health Information, 2011, Hospital Quarterly: Performance of NSW Public Hospitals, October to December 2010. 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