Determining the need for staff: concept, planning methods and ways to cover it

One of the most valuable resources of any company is the staff. However, it is quite expensive. Therefore, it is extremely important to determine the number of employees at which the maximum economic effect can be achieved at the lowest cost. For this, special techniques and approaches are used. Determining staffing needs is one of the management priorities. How this process is performed will be discussed later.

Types of labor requirements

The process of determining staffing needs is a system of integrated measures. Its task is to achieve specific goals for the production process. This is a rather complicated procedure, since it is necessary to determine not only the number of employees who will perform the necessary tasks, but also create the most efficient production system. Therefore, personnel are also selected in accordance with their qualifications and experience. If necessary, training is provided.

In an organization, planning should involve several different lines of development. In this case, the planning process in the field of human resources will be most effective.

There are different approaches and methods for determining the need for staff. Most often they are divided into 2 main types:

• Promising. This approach is also called strategic. He is associated with the future of the organization. The need for staff in this case is determined in accordance with the chosen course of activity of the organization. Moreover, in the long run, not only the amount of labor resources is calculated, but also the level of qualification of employees.
• Situational. Such planning allows us to provide production with the necessary amount of resources in the near future. With this approach, attention is paid to the turnover of staff, as well as the indicators of the number of holidays, sick leave, maternity and long-term leave, reduction, etc. are studied.

The planning procedure is carried out continuously at different periods of time. So, a similar procedure can be:

• Short-term - up to 12 months.
• Medium-term - from 1 year to 5 years.
• Long-term - more than 5 years.

Also, experienced managers determine the qualitative and quantitative requirements for staff. In the second case, you can set the exact number of company employees. With a qualitative assessment, the need for personnel of a certain qualification is determined.

Quantitative need

The definition of qualitative and quantitative staffing requirements are significantly different. Planning is carried out in both directions. When determining quantitative indicators, a method is selected by which it is possible to calculate the optimal number of employees in the state. The determination of this value is carried out in a certain time frame.

The determination of the quantitative need for staff occurs using several key indicators:

• Headcount of employees. This is the number of employees on the list for a given date. This takes into account the number of retired and arrived workers on the day of the analysis.
• The apparent amount. The number of employees who are in the company’s staff and who must come to work that day to fulfill their job duties. If you find the difference between the average and the safe amount, you get an indicator of full-time downtime due to vacation, business trips, illness employees.
• The average number of employees. To track the number of staff for a certain period, this indicator is used. It is used in the calculation of the average salary, labor productivity, turnover ratios, staff turnover, etc. If you need to find the average number of employees for a month or another period, the payroll for each day is added up, divided by the number of days. This takes into account weekends, holidays. If you want to determine the average for the year, summarize the average number of employees for each month. The result is divided by 12.

To determine the presented indicators in the production, a list of the payroll and the attendance is kept. At the same time, the source of information is orders on hiring and dismissing from his post, on transfer, replacement, temporary absence of an employee for a good reason, etc.

To calculate the number of employees for a specific date, different methods are used to determine the need for personnel:

1. Labor-intensive method. It involves the use of information about the time of the labor process.
2. Calculation Methods. Use data on service standards, workplaces, standards of number and controllability.
3. Stochastic techniques. Allow you to determine numerical characteristics using correlation or regression analysis.
4. Method of expert assessments. It involves simple or advanced (single, multiple) calculations.

Qualitative indicators

Determining the quality requirements for staff is characterized by significant difficulties. The analyst should determine in the course of such a study not only the number of personnel, but also the degree of professionalism and qualifications of the employees that the organization needs.

The difficulty lies in the fact that at the moment there is no single system for determining the quality of labor, the potential of employees. There is only a basic list of characteristics and qualities that determine the degree of qualification and skills of an employee:

• Economic. Determine the complexity of the work that the employee performs, his qualifications, working conditions, length of service and industry affiliation.
• Personal. The presence of certain skills, discipline, efficiency, conscientious performance of their duties, creativity and creativity.
• Organizational and technical. The technical equipment of labor, its attractiveness, the level of organization of production technology, rationalization.
• Socio-cultural. Social activity, collectivism, moral and cultural development.

The determination of the need for the organization’s personnel by qualitative characteristics is based on the following data:

• Organizational structure.
• Division of employees by professional qualification level (indicated in the production and technical documentation).
• Requirements for jobs.
• The staff list of structural divisions of the company.
• The regulation of organizational and managerial processes.

For each quality criterion, the need for the number of personnel is determined. The total number of employees required for the organization to function properly is determined by summing up the results for each criterion. For this, the following organizational documents are developed:

• The system goals on the basis of which the organizational structure of the company is built.
• The general organizational structure of the enterprise and its divisions.
• Staffing schedule.
• Job descriptions. They are also used in the calculation of the complexity of the functions of the main and senior staff.

Factors affecting the need for labor

There are certain factors that affect staff planning processes and the determination of staff requirements.

They can be direct or indirect, internal or external. The following factors have the greatest impact:

• Labor market conditions. They are determined by several features. The conditions include the demographic situation, unemployment, the quality of education, the supply and demand for labor in various industries, the involvement of the employment service in the training of specialists.
• Technological innovations. Active progress in the modern world leads to the simplification of human labor, changes its content. This requires timely retraining for qualified professionals.
• Changes in the field of legislation. This factor is poorly predictable. This refers to legislation in the field of labor protection and employment.
• Approach to the recruitment of competitors. The organization must constantly monitor and study the methods and approaches to work with competitors. Based on this information, an adjustment is made to the organization’s own personnel policy.
• Company goals. They can be short-term or long-term and follow the general strategy.
• Financing. Each organization has certain financial capabilities. Based on this, the personnel policy of the organization is also selected.
• The potential of personnel. This is the basis for the success of a marketing plan. If the personnel service of the enterprise can consider the development zone, staff capabilities, this allows you to close emerging vacancies on time.

Stages of the work

There are several basic steps to determining staffing requirements. Most often, three large processes stand out during the execution of a similar task.

At the first stage, the company analyzes its own resources. This is necessary in order to determine whether it is possible in the future to satisfy such needs on their own. At the same time, important indicators are profit, company turnover. She should have enough resources to pay for the work of employees.

Further, in the second stage, an analysis of the personnel requirements in the past period is carried out. The conclusion is made on the appropriateness and effectiveness of the use of labor resources. The analyst identifies the weaknesses of this process. A long-term plan is being developed that allows eliminating completely or minimizing the negative influence of constraining factors.

At the third stage, a decision is made on specific actions in the field of personnel policy at the moment. This takes into account the general goals and objectives of the organization. Decisions are made on the retention and reduction of certain employees. After the analysis of determining the need for personnel, several decisions can be made:

• staff reduction;
• external staffing;
• staff training and retraining.

Moreover, the listed actions can be carried out simultaneously. It depends on the situation that has developed in the organization.

Need Determination Methods

Determining the needs of the enterprise in personnel is carried out in accordance with certain methods.

There are several popular techniques:

1. Photographing a working day. This is an effective but very time-consuming method. A spectrum of responsibilities is defined for an employee. During their execution, time is recorded. This approach allows you to identify unnecessary actions. In some cases, a decision is made about the need for a particular employee to work in the overall production process or the vacancy as such. For small amounts of work, it may be necessary to combine two staff units into one.
2. Calculation according to service standards. For each employee, certain production indicators are established based on different standards and rules. Having information on the daily rate of production, managers can calculate the need for personnel for a certain period of time.
3. Expert estimates. This is one of the most popular methods. It is used in various companies. The opinion of managers is decisive in determining the need for staff. But at the same time, managers should be characterized by a high level of training and professionalism. It is important to have a clear understanding of the development of this industry in the future.
4. Extrapolation. Based on current data, a forecast is made for the long term. In this case, possible changes are taken into account. This may be a rise in prices, planned actions by the state in this industry, its development in the future, etc. This approach is applied if the internal and external working conditions of the organization are stable. In our country, it can be used only for short-term planning.
5. Building a computer model. Heads of departments transmit information on the basis of which a computer forecast of the organization’s labor requirements for a given perspective is built. This is a relatively new method, so it has not yet managed to get significant distribution. It requires significant financial costs, as well as the involvement of relevant specialists. The technique is more suitable for large enterprises.

Calculation Formulas

Determining the need for personnel is carried out using special calculations.

Before choosing a formula, you need to determine what the company is more inclined to in the process of conducting its personnel policy:

• To increase the volume of production, which requires the involvement of additional personnel.
• To reduce the number of manufacturing products, which leads to the release of labor resources.
• The volume of production is not planned to change. The need for personnel is determined by the natural movement of personnel in the event of dismissal, decree, retirement age, etc.

Therefore, in the planning departments of enterprises there is a calculation and justification of production growth. To increase labor productivity, all factors are taken into account. To determine the planned number of employees, the formula is applied:

Chpsp = Chbp * And + OI,

where Chpsp is the average planned number of staff in the planning period, Chpp is the number of staff in the past (base) period, And is the index of changes in the volume of production in the future, OI is the total change in the number of staff in the base period.

Average number of employees

Determining the need for staff can be performed using another formula. You can determine the average number of employees as follows:

Heart rate = Chav * Kss,

where HR is the number of the average staff, Chiav is the number of employees that is necessary to complete the task during one shift, Kss is the coefficient of the average staff.

Ways to cover needs

When the need for labor resources is determined, outline ways to cover it:

• External In this case, attention is paid to graduates of specialized educational institutions, personnel retraining centers, as well as proposals from recruitment agencies, an open labor market.
• Internal The staff of the company is retraining, improving their skills. To do this, professional development is carried out for career opportunities. This approach reduces staff turnover.

Support staff

Determining the need for auxiliary personnel is also carried out according to a simple formula:

Csvr = Krm * RS * Kss,

where Csvr - the number of auxiliary employees, Krm - the number of jobs for auxiliary employees, RS - the number of work shifts in one day.