Workforce Planning For JKL Industries: A Strategic Approach

Staffing Information of JKL Industries for the Fiscal Year of 2014-15

1.0 Data on staff turnover and demographics

That includes the staffing information of JKL industries for the fiscal year of 2014-15, it can be said that the company is having problems related to employee turnover. For the role of Senior Manager in Sydney, the organization needs 4 managers; however, one manager is exiting. It will make one empty position which might hurt the decision making process. On the other hand, In Brisbane and Canberra there are only two branch managers, one for each location. Both of them are exiting. Without branch managers it will be impossible to run the operation of those branches smoothly. In the case of Lime manager, offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth have two lines managers in each location. In those locations two line managers are needed; however, from each of those locations, one line manager is quitting. However, the biggest problem is faced by the sales department. From the staffing information, it is clear that none of the locations have required amount of sales force. In addition, at average, almost 3 salespersons are exiting from each location which will make the job of sales department more complex and tough.

Strategic Direction

Within workforce planning model, this aspect will help to identify the amount and type of jobs and skill required to meet the mission and considered goals of the organization. From the appendix 1, it can be seen that sales department of the organization is facing most of the turnover related problem. Therefore, through this aspect, the management will be able to identify what jobs and skills should an employee have to meet the mission of the company.

Workforce analysis

There are three steps in the workforce analysis phase which are determining demand of workplace, determining supply for workforce and gap analysis.

In the first step which is determining demand of workforce, the management of the organization will identify skills that are required in workplace to meet projected demands, staffing partners and workload changes.

Activity

contemplation

Examining both internal and external atmosphere

Demographics: Figuring out issues related to demography that can influence the demands situated on the company. It includes aging population, language, and service impartiality and education levels (Hota and Ghosh 2013). Technological: The management of the organization will have to review how technology can and will be used to improve the services of the organization. The management will also figure out jobs that will be influenced by technological improvement. The management of JKL will have to determine whether any type of alteration in technology will affect the amount of employees (Kishore et al. 2011) Labor market: JKL will have to identify and examine labor trends that will include information available from education institutes.

On the step 2, management will consider staffing levels, employee skills and demographics and employment trends. It will help to develop an existing workforce profile and future profile.

Activity	Considerations
Determining internal supply	· Finding out age, gender, ethnicity and education level of the employees · Figuring out skills including short and long term competencies · Figuring out vacancies and those that will not be filled · Evaluating  the workload and determining how it can be rationalized to utilize available employees (Schuler et al. 2013)
Determining future supply	Projection · Reviewing retention, employee turnover, employee promotion and leave usage · Determining if the turnover rate is affecting the capability of the organization to conduct its work or not. · Reviewing retirement patterns
Determine future supply	Projection · It will be important to project what skill and experience level of the existing workforce will be in the future · What issues and problems might influence the ability of the organization to recruit and retain mission-critical skills?

In the step 3, gap analysis must be conducted that will include comparing the projected workforce supply to the forecasted workforce demand attempting to answer the questions mentioned below.

• What new type of skills will be required to achieve goals and objectives?
• Whether the current workforce of the organization have the required skills or not?
• What type of jobs and skills will no longer be needed?

There five factors that influence workforce supply in an organization, Those factors are hereby mentioned below.

Strategic Direction

Promoting staffs from within the company

Promotions are considered as reliable sources of supply of experienced and skilled individuals who do not required to be trained and are familiar with the goals of the organization. Some empty positions can be filled by transferring employees from one department to another or from one branch to another (Hensvik and Skans 2016).

Availability of needed talent in the outside labor market

This can be evaluated by the unemployment figures, a survey of private and public employment agencies and other trusted sources.

Competition for talent

If the competition is extremely high then it will become tough to tap the supply and cost of extra workers will become too much high. On the other hand, if the need for a specific talent is not high enough then the supply will remain flexible and easy.

Trends related to population movement

Any change in the demographics will also affect the sources of supply. For instance, in among the people, there is a propensity to move from countryside areas to urban areas, then supply in the rural areas will dry up. Additionally, immigrants from outside of a country have a tendency to settle in cities. It will automatically increase the supply in urban areas (Breaugh 2013).

Trends of enrollment in schools and universities

Supply of skilled labor and personnel will increase if ample amount of students are joining training programs in colleges and universities. On the other hand, it is also true that if education cost is high, then a decline in enrollment will be seen which will affect the workforce supply.

Worker Compensation Board or WCB delivers educational services, inspections and investigations along with resources to make sure employees and employers are aware of their workplace rights and responsibilities. Every employee that is working has some rights which are hereby mentioned below.

• Employees have the right to know about every information and challenges that can affect health and safety in the workplace.
• Employees also have the right to contribute in your workplace safety by reporting unsafe or unhealthy work situations.
• Employees have the right to refuse any type of unsafe and unhealthy work
• Employees will also have to fulfill their responsibilities to make sure that workplace is safe. That includes,
• Reporting any unsafe situation in the organization and any type of injury to the employer
• Employees must work safely and must follow the health and safety rules and regulations
• Employees must ask for training programs that they will need to fulfill organizational goals and objectives (Campbell 2012).
• All types of protective equipments must be used by the employees
• They must also report any type of partiality happening in terms of incentives or promotions to the senior management of the organization.
• Employers also have their own responsibilities. They must always monitor and assess the performance of the employees in order to find out those employees who are not performing well. Employers will have to communicate with those employees to find out what type of challenges they are facing in the organization.

Fair work Ombudsman: It delivers knowledge and advice about workplace rights and obligations in Australia.

Jobactive: This is governmental employment service to help Australian people into work. It also helps the employers to find the right people for their organizations (Ofori and Aryeetey 2011).

Department of Employment: This department is responsible for all types of national policies and programs that help the Australian people to find and keep workplace safe and fair.

Fair work commission: It is Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal which is accountable for maintaining a safety net of minimal wages and employment situations.

Workforce Analysis

Gender equality agency: This department is accountable for gender equality in Australian organizations.

1.5.1 Executive Su.

In this part of the report, a workplace plan will be provided for the organization that includes the development of strategies to address upcoming gaps and surpluses. Strategies include policies and practices that will assist in recruiting, establishing and retaining the critical employees needed to accomplish the mission and strategic goals of the company. It will also deal with workers or skills that are no longer required (Chan and Kuok 2011).

From the appendix 1 it can be seen that the organization is having serious employee turnover issue in their workplace. Most of the departments do not have ample amount of employees to deliver proper operations. However, the major issue can be seen in the sales force department. The organization does not have ample amount of staff members in sales department in none of the branches of the organization. It can hamper the sales related operations of the organization (Absar 2012). Therefore, it can be said that the management of the organization, especially its human resource department will have to recruit skilled and diverse workforce in the sales department of the company.

On the other hand, it is also seen that the organization does not have diverse workforce. There are 4 senior managers and 6 branch managers. However, all of those managers are male. In the mechanic department also, number of women employees are minimum (Breaugh 2012). Therefore, the organization will have to recruit more number of women employees.

 The mission of the organization is to deliver value to consumers and investor via highly trained, motivated and expert workforce. JKL Industries is working to sell forklifts, small trucks and spare parts to several other industries. Now it is obvious that the sales department of the organization is responsible for developing positive relationship with the consumers and for increasing the sales amount and profitability of the company. If ample amount of sales personnel are not there in the sales department, then it will hamper the sales operations significantly. In the case of JKL, it is seen that all the branches of the organization does not have ample amount of sales personnel (Klotz et al. 2013). Therefore, it is obvious that it will hamper the profitability of the company and will not allow the company to deliver valuable services to the consumers.

On the other hand, it also hampers the revenue of the organization. It is not possible to state the exact cost of turnover as it varies from company to company. However, it can easily go beyond 200 percent of an employee’s annual salary. That clearly means, if a sales person in the JKL Industry is getting $50,000 annually, the management will have to spend nearly $200,000 while replacing him (Scott 2014).

Factors that Influence Workforce Supply in an Organization

Develop relationship: The management of the organization must become active about getting to know the sales person without being invasive.

Recognize achievement regularly: The management must be sure to pay attention to the achievements of the sales people. Senior management must reward them for their performance, especially when they have made major contributions (Podsiadlowski et al. 2013).

Sales contest: The management can also introduce strategic sales contests. It will help to drive result and will motivate sales team to perform better.

Incentives: The management of the organization can also offer incentives. Incentives must not always include monetary rewards only. Management can offer gift cards, gadgets and desk toys to motivate the sales personnel.

Organization events: Parties and employee celebrations can be planned to show the appreciation of the management towards the employees.

Communication objectives: (aligned to workforce objectives and organisational strategic goals)	To recruit ample amount of employee in sales department of all the branches of the organization.
To use several financial strategies to motivate the employees in order to reduce employee turnover rate.
To increase the number of women employees in the organization.
Audience:(characteristics/receptivity to message)	Message:	Strategy: media, approach, rationale: (why it will communicate message and meet objectives)	Resources/budget:(if applicable, estimate)	Person:
Manager of the Organization	Employee turnover issue, issues related to employee motivation, absence of diversity in the workplace	E-mail. This will be the most fast and reliable source of communication which will allow the manager of the organization to know about the issues.	NA	Head of every department including the head of sales department
Human Resource department	Human resource department will be informed to recruit new candidates in the organization, as per requirement.	Face to face communication process will be used for this method. It is important to clearly describe the situation to the human resource department before they can start recruiting. That is why; face to face interview method will be used (Insights 2011).	NA	Branch Managers
Human Resource Department	Proper advertisement strategies will be shared with the human resource department. Social media sites can be used for the purpose of reaching potential candidates. Other than that, traditional strategies such as advertisement in news paper and magazines can be used.	Face to face communication	NA	CEO of the organization

Workforce objectives:	Risk likelihood:	Risk consequence:
To recruit ample amount of employees in sales department of all the branches of the organization.	HRM department will not be able to recruit and fill up all the empty spaces in sales department.	Profitability of the organization will be hampered. The organization will not be able to meet its goals (Chaney and Martin 2013).
To use several strategies to motivate the employees in order to reduce employee turnover rate.	Increased turnover rate in all the departments of the organization.	Operations of each of the departments will be hampered. Lesser profitability and negative brand image will be developed.
To increase the number of women employees in the organization.	If diversity is there in the workplace, then it will minimize challenges or barriers. According to Argenti (2015) non-diverse employees are three times more likely to leave an organization than diverse employees.	Higher amount of employee turnover rate.

Workforce objective:	To use several financial strategies to motivate the employees in order to reduce employee turnover rate.
Risk mitigation strategy or contingency plan:
If the employees of the organization are not getting motivated by the financial or monetary rewards such bonuses, promotions, incentives and increments then the management must use another strategy as contingency plan. In this situation, the management of the organization can implement non-monetary strategies such as health care benefits, free transportation and training and development opportunities (Bovee and Courtland 2012).

2.0 Staffing information

From the Appendix 1 that includes staffing information for fiscal year of 2014-15, it can be seen that the organization is currently facing issues related to employee turnover. Besides, they also do not have ample amount of employees in most of the departments, especially in sales department. For senior manager post, 4 senior managers are there; 1 is exiting there 1 senior manager is needed. For branch manager post, 6 branch managers needed where two branch managers are exiting from Brisbane and Canberra. Therefore, 4 branch managers are needed. In the case of line manager, 12 line managers are required where one from Sydney, one from Brisbane and one from Perth is exiting therefore 3 line managers are required. For salesforce, a total of (8 in Sydney, 9 in Melbourne, 8 in Brisbane, 7 in Perth, 7 in Adelaide, 7 in Canberra) 46 employees are required. For the post mechanics, 16 employees are needed.

Staffing objectives:
Activity: (staffing move, promotion, new hire, etc.)	Timeline	Strategy/rationale	Resources	Person
For the post of one senior manager, new hiring will be done.	One week	Panel Interview Format. In order to select a senior manager, panel interview method is selected because of its benefit. In panel interview, more than one person will be there to ask questions. This clearly means that bigger chances will be there that the interviewers will ask a greater range of questions (Kasper and Kellerman 2014). Besides, in this type of interview format, the panel can include people from different areas.	Behavioural questions that will include questions related to handling conflict, leadership and problem solving.	A panel of employers from different backgrounds.
For the post of 4 branch managers, new hiring will be done.	4 weeks	Public Advertisement. The HRM department of the organization will advertise about the vacancies in the internet and newspapers. This advertisement will include information about the organization and job description and required qualification of the candidate (Colleoni 2013). This method will be used as it will help to gain a very wide choice. Then face to face interviews will be conducted with the applicants.	Advertisement in internet and newspapers along with proper job description, organizational information and desired qualification of the applicants.	Human Resource Personnel of JKL Industries.
2 number of line managers will be selected through recruitment process	One week	Face to face interview process. This is the most common process used in recruitment strategies. Through face to face interview employers will be able to select appropriate line managers for their organization (Goetsch and Davis 2014).	Interview questionnaires.	Human Resource Department, Employers.
46 sales personnel will be selected through new hiring method.	Two Months	Management Consultant. In order to recruit 46 number of employees, the organization will have to arrange a lot of things in their workplace. It is not only time consuming but also cost effective. Management consultants will act as representative of the employer and will make all the necessary arrangements for recruitment. They will only ask for a commission or service charge (Glendon et al. 2016). To keep the employees of sales motivated several incentives, both monetary and non monetary will be applied in the workforce so that they do not leave the organization.	NA	Management Consultants.
16 mechanics will be selected for the through new hiring process.	One and half months	Management Consultants. Just like the recruitment process of sales personnel, management consultants will be asked to act as representative of JKL Industries (Pritchard and PMP 2014). It will be done to save monetary resources of the organization. Same monetary and non-monetary strategies will be used to motivate the employees.	NA	Management Consultant.
Position	Staffing target for FY 2014–15	Actual (as per staffing action plan)	Achieved
Senior manager	1	1	Yes
Branch manager	4	4	Yes
Line manager (service, sales)	2	2	Yes
Sales force	46	46	Yes
Mechanic	16	16	Yes

3.0 Reviewing external environment

3.1 Trends in labor supply that can affect demand 

There are several numbers of factors that are directly affecting the demand and supply of labor in Australia. It is likely to affect the labor demand of JKL Industries too. Those trends are hereby mentioned below.

Economy: Hard economic time is one of the major reasons that an affect labor supply in any organization. If economy of a country is down, then organizations will not be able to provide ample amount of wages to the workers. Therefore, employees will not be motivated to work in those companies. On the other hand, if economic condition of the country is good, then they will be able to increase their wages (Stadtler 2015). Hence, there will be more workers willing to work for the company. On the other hand, demand for labor will increase if population of a country increases. Currently, economy of Australia is stable and population is satisfying. Therefore, it will not affect labor supply for JKL Industries.

Performance Improvement Strategies for JKL Industries

Globalization: Many multinational organizations have developed new branches in developing countries and developed countries. This greatly impacts the demand and supply of labor. Many companies are investing in developing countries because of high availability of labor in the nation. Same goes for Australia, as there are several numbers of multinational companies exist in the country that is offering attractive payment packages (Argenti 2015). In order to recruit qualified employees, JKL Industries will have to offer something better than others.

Better compensation: In any organization, compensation includes benefits along with wages. In some countries, upward pressure is there on wages and descending pressure is on benefits. Lowering age of working can also increase the supply of labor. In Australia, percentage of aged people is increasing rapidly (Insights 2011). Therefore, it can affect the labor supply for JKL Industries.

Labor supply statistics program is there in Australia to support labor market and analyzing social and economic aspects via provision of high quality labor statistics in a timely and effective manner. This program can deliver information about the structure and performance of the labor market that will include statistics on labor supply (labor force participation, employment, working hour, and unemployment and labor underutilization), labor demand, and employment condition (Stadtler 2015).

These statistics can be used in the analysis, assessment and monitoring of the economy, the labor market and a wide range of government policies and programs (related to employment, income support and workplace relation). Primary clients of this program are Australian administration agencies that includes treasury, the Reserve Bank of Australia, Fair Work Commission, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

A survey was conducted with the 100 employees of the organization. Survey questionnaires were distributed to them through persona e-mail. Survey was conducted with an aim to understand whether the employees are satisfied in JKL Industries or not. If the employees are not satisfied ten what are the reasons behind it. Besides, this survey also wanted to find out why employees are leaving the organization. Among those 100 participants, randomly 50 responds were selected for analysis the data. While doing the survey, ethical rules and regulations were followed properly (Scott 2014). None of the employees were forced to take the survey. They were allowed to quit the survey at any point. In the survey questionnaires, no personal questions were added. This data will be stored in the personal computer of human resource management. A hard copy will be provided to the assistant manager of human resource department. In no situation, these data, especially the names of the employees will be shared with the other managers of the organization.

Q1. In which department you are working in JKL Industries

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Line Manager	2	4	50
Sales Force	30	60	50
Mechanic	18	36	50

Q2. For how long you are working in JKL Industries

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Less than one year	25	50	50
1-2 year	18	36	50
More than 2 year	7	14	50

Q3. Are you satisfied with your work?

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Yes	5	10	50
No	35	70	50
Can’t Say	10	20	50

Q4. Why do you think employees are leaving the organization?

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Low wages	15	30	50
Absence of motivational factors	15	30	50
Less opportunities	20	20	50

Q5. How do think management can motivate the employees?

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Higher wages	15	30	50
Monetary Incentives	20	40	50
Non-monetary incentives	15	30	50

Currently, towards employees, the organization has only one objective and strategy which is to provide proper training and guidance so that employees can update their skills. However, it is seen that only training program is not sufficient to motivate them. That is why; employees are leaving the organization and looking for better opportunities. Therefore; the management of the organization will have to revise their strategies. As a new strategy, the management will have to make sure that employees are provided with incentives and other types of benefits (Bovee and Courtland 2012). More female employees must be included in top management and in sales department. Especially for sales department, it is required to have ample amount of female employees.

3.5.1 Executive Sum.

In this part of the report, a detailed summary will be added related to internal and external labor trends in the organization and in Australia. It will also be mentioned that how these factors will affect the organizational goals. Besides, a recommendation plan will also be added in this part that will include suggestions on how the organization can bring changes to its organizational objectives and targets. Besides, a plan on how the organization will be able to continuously improve this strategy will also be mentioned in this part of the report.

Internal labor trends

From the survey conducted with the 100 employees, it is clearly seen that a major part of the employees, including the line managers are hot happy with the workplace. Employees have also stated that the organization doing least to motivate them. On the other hand, chances of opportunities are also low in the organization. Only training programs are provided to the employees which not enough to motivate the employees (Chaney and Martin 2013). That is why; they are leaving the organization and looking for better opportunities elsewhere.

External Supply

From the external analysis it is seen that Australia is economically stable. Therefore, the organization can increase their wages. It will not only motivate the existing employees to stay in the organization, but will also attract new talented candidates. However, it is also found that several numbers of multinational companies are already there in Australia that are that are offering higher wages and several number of benefits (Scott 2014).

The workforce planning strategy will be described as effective only when the organization will be able to overcome its issues related to employee turnover. The working plan must be able to resolve all the issues that the organization is currently facing including employee motivation, employee turnover and diversity. Besides, the workplace planning must be able to recruit ample amount of employees in the organization so that each department can have required amount of staff members to operate properly (Scott 2014).  

Define

• The management will have to assess their current culture and performance. They will also have to evaluate internal and external trends.
• Initial mission and vision of the organization must be cleared. Based on that, the management will have to find out the weakness within that mission and vision.
• Values and expected behaviors must be clarified.

Align

• Strategic priorities must be clarified. For instance, currently the priority of the organization is to provide several benefits to the employees so that turnover rate can be minimized.
• The management must engage a team to define SMART goals.
• It is also important to

Manage

• A management system must be maintained for priorities and goals
• It is essential to manage communication habits and routines
• Throughout the process, the most important thing that the management will have to do is to develop motivation among the employees.

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