Strategic HR Planning
Strategic HR Planning
Strategic HR planning links HR management directly to the strategic plan of your organization.
Most mid- to large-sized organizations have a strategic plan that guides them in successfully meeting their missions.
Organizations routinely complete financial plans to ensure they achieve organizational goals. While workforce plans
are not as common, they are just as important.
Even a small organization can develop a strategic plan to guide decisions about the future. Based on its overall
strategic plan, your organization can develop a strategic HR plan that will allow you to make HR management
decisions now to support the future direction of the organization. Strategic HR planning is also important from a
budgetary point of view so that you can factor costs such as recruitment and training into your organization's
operating budget.
Part of strategic planning is defining your organization's mission, vision and values. Andrew Fleck Child Care
Services has provided their Mission, Vision and Values as an example:
Mission – We support children and their families through high quality, inclusive services that meet their diverse
developmental, early learning and child care needs
Vision – Working with the Ottawa community to build accessible multi-service support, early learning opportunities
and child care for every child
Values –
• Excellence
• Leadership
• Integrity
• Accountability
• Responsiveness
• Inclusiveness
Your strategic HR plan should be aligned with your Mission, Vision and Values.
In this section:
• Introduction to Strategic HR Planning
• The Strategic HR Management Planning Process
• Documenting the Strategic HR Plan
• Implementing the Strategic HR Plan
2. Recruitment strategies
These strategies include:
• Recruiting new staff with the skill and abilities that your organization will need in the future
• Considering all the available options for strategically promoting job openings and encouraging suitable
candidates to apply
Each time you recruit you should be looking at the requirements from a strategic perspective. For example, if your
organization has several supervisors that are nearing retirement age, your recruitment strategy should include
recruiting staff with the ability to assume a supervisory role in the near future.
3. Outsourcing strategies
These strategies include:
• Using external individuals or organizations to complete some tasks
Many organizations look outside their own staff pool and contract for certain skills. This is particularly helpful for
accomplishing specific, specialized tasks that don't require ongoing full-time work.
Some organizations outsource HR activities, project work or bookkeeping. For example, payroll may be done by an
external organization rather than a staff person, a short-term project may be done using a consultant, or specific
expertise such as legal advice may be purchased from an outside source.
When deciding to outsource to an individual, ensure you are not mistakenly calling an employee a consultant. This is
illegal and can have serious financial implications for your organization. To understand the differences between
employees and self-employed people, visit the Canada Revenue Agency's website.
Each outsourcing decision has implications for meeting the organization's goals and should therefore be carefully
assessed.
4. Collaboration strategies
The strategic HR planning process may lead to indirect strategies that go beyond your organization. By collaborating
with other organizations you may have better success at dealing with a shortage of certain skills.
Attrition – not replacing employees when they leave – is another way to reduce staff. The viability of this option
depends on how urgently you need to reduce staff. It will mean that jobs performed in the organization will have to be
reorganized so that essential work of the departing employee is covered. Careful assessment of the reorganized
workloads of remaining employees should include an analysis of whether or not their new workloads will result in
improved outcomes.
It is important to consider current labour market trends (e.g., the looming skills shortage as baby boomers begin to
retire) because there may be longer-term consequences if you let staff go.
Sometimes existing workers may be willing to voluntarily reduce their hours, especially if the situation is temporary.
Job sharing may be another option. The key to success is to ensure that employees are satisfied with the
arrangement, that they confirm agreement to the new arrangement in writing, and that it meets the needs of the
employer. Excellent communication is a prerequisite for success.
Your analysis may tell you that your organization may have more resources in some areas than others. This calls for
a redeployment of workers to the area of shortage. The training needs of the transferred workers need to be taken
into account.
Communication
The strategic HR plan needs to be communicated throughout the organization. Your communication should
include:
• How the plan ties to the organization's overall strategic plan
• What changes in HR management policies, practices and activities will be made to support the strategic plan
• How any changes in HR management will impact on staff, including a timeframe if appropriate
• How each staff member can contribute to the plan
• How staff will be supported through any changes
• How the organization will be different in the future
It is impossible to communicate too much (but all too easy to communicate too little), especially when changes
involve people. However, the amount of detail should vary depending upon the audience.
To review laws relating to employment, visit the HR Toolkit section on Employment Legislation and Standards.
Organizational needs
Whether you are increasing or reducing the number of employees, there are implications for space and equipment,
as well as existing resources such as payroll and benefit plans.
Evaluation
HR plans need to be updated on a regular basis. You will need to establish the information necessary to evaluate the
success of the new plan. Benchmarks need to be selected and measured over time to determine if the plan is
successful in achieving the desired objectives.