EMPLOYMENT PLANNING AND FORECASTING

The fundamental purpose of having a human resource plan is to have correct estimate of the number of employees needed, with matching skill needs to meet organisational objectives. It provides information regarding the manner in which present personnel are employed, the type of skills required for different type of categories of jobs and human resource requirements over a time period in relation to organisational objectives. It would also provide an indication of the lead time that is available to decide and train the necessary number of additional manpower.

More specifically, HR planning is needed to meet the objectives describe below:

• Forecast personnel requirements: HR planning is necessary to determine the future manpower requirements in an organisation. In the absence of such kind of plan, it would be hard to have the services of right kind of people at the correct time.
• Cope with changes: HR planning is needed to cope with changes in market conditions, , products , technology and government regulations in an effective way. This modification may frequently require the services of people having the requisite technical knowledge and training. In the absence of an HR plan, we cannot be in a position to join up their services in time.
• Use present manpower productively: By keeping an inventory of present personnel in an enterprise by level, skill, training, work experience, educational qualifications it will be probable to utilise the present resources more usefully in relation to the job requirements. It also helps in decreasing wage and salary expenses in the long run.
• Promote employees in a systematic manner: HR planning gives useful information on the basis of which management chooses on the promotion of eligible person in the organisation. In the absence of an HR plan, it can be difficult to make sure regular promotions to capable people on a justifiable basis.