(Solution) Assessment ID / CIPD_5HR02_22_01 5HR02 Talent management and workforce planning

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Labour market- A labour is a place where employers look for employees to recruit and hire, while employees are looking for suitable employers (Lemley and Lobel, 2021). It becomes competitive employers compete to hire the best talents to bring into the workplace. Employers can compete in the labour market in different ways.

Competitive analysis

Competitive analysis is a strategy used by organisations to assess the competitive landscape identifying all competitors competing to hire the best talents (Azar et al., 2022). This requires an organisation to evaluate what competitors are offering including salary, flexible working, work-life balance, policies, employment contract and other benefits. Competitive analysis should look at the current situation and future situation. For example, Coca-Cola Company could look for evidence to suggest PepsiCo Company is developing new strategies to attract and retain talents.

Employer of choice

An employer of choice is a workplace or a company that may candidates want to work for (Dabirian et al., 2019). Examples of the defining characteristics of an employer of choice include career growth opportunities, meaningful work, fair pay and benefits, strong leadership, positive organisational culture, employee voice, job security and engaged employees. Coca-Cola Company is an employer of choice based on what it offers to employees. For example, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners New Zealand was recently recognised for its support to employees in areas such a career progression, work-life balance, training and development and employee health and wellbeing.

Employer branding

Employer branding is how job seekers and community perceives an organisation as a better employer (Reis et al., 2021). This could be positive thoughts about products, leaders, services, history and team members. Employer branding is extremely vital for Coca-Cola Company. It makes drinks for everyone taking into account all demographics. It supports community work such as environmental conservations and sponsorship initiatives. Having a clear employee value proposition also helps the company to attract and retain talents.

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The labour market is considered tight or loose labour market. A tight labour market is characterised with low unemployment rate, many job vacancies and scarce talents (Blair et al., 2021). Organisations face recruitment retention challenges during tight labour market. A loose labour market is when there are many job seekers with few job vacancies.

Labour market trends

Competition for talents: Research demonstrates that the high competition for talents and shortage of skills in the current job market has made it difficult for organisations to attract and recruit employees at all levels (CIPD, 2022). This means that resourcing decisions such as planning on the approach to take to reach more talent pools as well as using different channels.

Legislation: Changes in legislations such as National Minimum Wage, Equal pay law and Gender pay gap has impact on resourcing decisions. Changing laws affects the ability of an organisation to recruit and hire in the market. For example, the current change in NMW has affected the wage bill at large extent. 18% of employers believes that believe that change in minimum wage affects their hiring decisions, especially those who employ lower paid workers (CIPD, 2023)

Use of technology: Emergence of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and automation have changed resourcing decisions. 80% of employers believes that using technology in recruitment has become popular during the pandemic and this has benefits such as increasing accessibility of talents and boosting candidates experience (CIPD, 2022).

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Government

One way the government supports learning is through apprenticeship programmes (Crowley, 2022). The apprenticeship programmes have undergone changes in the UK to include development of employer-led apprenticeship and funding for apprenticeships. The government is also reforming vocational and technical training under the Skills for Jobs White Paper to ensure people are getting technical skills (Crowley, 2022). Other areas include introducing of bootcamps to support data science and skill consultation initiatives.

Employers

Employers supports future skills by working closely with universities and colleges to ensure students are taught skills needed in the job market (Donald et al., 2022). Employers plays a vital role in implementing in-house learning and development programmes as well as internships and apprenticeship programmes to ensure upskilling and reskilling to get prepared for future roles. Furthermore, people professionals conduct training need assessment, identify skill and knowledge gaps and offer feedback to employees so that they can take part in learning activities.

Trade unions

Trade unions have always played a key role in ensuring their members are getting required training. Union Learning Representatives (ULRs) works closely with employers to ensure members are getting the right training and support (TUC, 2021). ULRs provides key information to members on the importance of training and various programmes they should take part in. Trade unions also support learning through unionlearn and Collective Learning Funds (CLFs) that ensures members are accessing affordable learning (TUC, 2021).

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Workforce planning involves balancing the supply of labour with the demand of labour within the organisation (Pahlanie et al., 2020). The process of workforce planning require people professionals to analyse their current workforce, determine future needs, identify gaps between present and future workforce and find solutions to address these gaps (George, 2023).

An effective workforce planning helps people professionals to generate information and analyse it to inform resourcing and retention decisions (Pahlanie et al., 2020). For example, people professionals can forecast labour supply and demand in terms of internal and external supply, identify gaps between supply and demand and create action plans to bridge those gaps. Internal supply of labour is the availability of labour in terms of transfers, promotions and retirement. External supply looks at available talents and how labour market trends affects demand and supply. Retention decisions could be learning and development strategies to address skill and knowledge gaps.

Another impact of workforce planning is reducing labour costs. An organisation committed toward balancing skills against demand can reduce the costs of hiring extra workers or costs of lacking labour to meet the required demand. With the right information, organisations can forecast labour supply and demand and ensure they have right talents to meet demand in the future. Other impacts of workforce planning include improved productivity, improve work-life balance and inform people practices such as career planning, recruitment and selection and reward and recognition (George, 2023).

Failing to forecast labour supply and demand can have negative impacts to an organisation. These include labour shortages, higher turnover, losing market reputation and failing to attract best talents. The gaps between supply and demand must be addressed carefully and effectively. Without effective gap analysis, an organisation may not understand workforce needs and changing labour market conditions. This can expose an organisation to risk of shortage of talents and decline in performance.

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Managerial judgement

Management judgement is a workforce planning technique used to forecast demand and make effective decisions (Arvan et al., 2019). It comprises of bottom up and top down approach. In bottom up approach, line managers send their needs or information about human resources to top management who evaluate this information and then make judgements. For instance, line manager may suggest the need to hire new talents to help meet the rising demand. Under top down approach, top management forecast the demand and supply of labour and then communicate this information to other departments (Arvan et al., 2019). Its advantages include faster decision making in the workplace, fair and balanced sense of judgement and transparency in decisions. Everyone is aware of how decisions are made in the organisation. Its drawbacks include lack of evidence to support decisions can result to biased decisions. Decisions are purely subjective as they are based on individual views and opinions. Uncontrollable environmental factors can also affect the outcome of a decision.

Work study technique

Work-study technique in workforce planning is mostly used when the workload can be easily measured (Sayed, 2022). For example, people professionals can estimate total production and activities in a specific period in the future and then use this information to decide on the number of talents needed at work (Sayed, 2022). Work-study technique helps to forecast labour demand based on the estimated total production in the future. Its advantages include efficient flow of materials and labour, decreased cost of production, prevent labour shortage and increased efficiency in production. Its drawbacks include subjectivity in nature and affected by environmental factors. Work study technique is based on individual ability to predict future demand, which can be challenging due to dynamic business environment.

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Succession planning

Succession planning is a process of identifying internal successors and developing them to fill future leadership positions and other critical business roles (Ali et al., 2019). People professionals identify individuals suitable for specific positions and get prepared to occupy those positions in the future. It strengthens organisational capability by identifying positions, selecting competences and focusing on individual development.

Training and development approach to succession planning: One of the modern approach to succession planning is developing internal talents through L&D interventions to ensure they have skills and knowledge to fill future leadership positions (George, 2022). Some development initiatives could be continuous professional development, 360 degree feedback, coaching and mentoring and online courses. Employees are taken through different roles and responsibilities preparing them for future positions when others leave.

Succession planning can mitigate risks such as production decline and labour shortage. When people are prepared with skills and knowledge, an organisation can be able to improve productivity and ensure continuous flow of labour.

Contingency planning

Contingency planning is an approach that that helps organisations to avoid risks or minimise impacts by having a plan of action (Nutsubidze and Schmidt, 2021). During tight labour market or crisis such as pandemic, an organisation may have a plan to ensure continuous supply of labour.

Securing talent pipeline approach to contingency planning: A talent pipeline refer to a pool of talents that are ready to fill available positions. It is an action plan that can assure an organisation that it has candidates who can occupy specific positions (Thibodeau, 2023). Organisations that require highly skilled employees may create a strategy such as interns and apprenticeships to fill their talent pipeline. This helps to mitigate the risk of skill shortage and competition for talents. Developing a talent pipeline require people professionals to understand training needs, turnover rates and succession plans.

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