• Three office workers image by Vladimir Melnik from Fotolia.com
  
  Human resource planning involves the hiring, development and retention of employees in the achievement of organizational goals. This includes analysis of the current workforce and how it aligns with future employment needs. By planning for the future, human resources creates action plans aimed to satisfy organizational goals.
  
  

Consider Future Workforce

• Organizations use strategic planning to achieve goals. This relates to the organization's vision, mission and strategic objectives. An organization must analyze its future employment needs. If an organization decides it must increase productivity by 25 percent, it may need to grow its workforce by 2 percent. If an organization wants to increase market share by moving offices into new locations, it must consider the human resource requirements.
  
  

Analyze Current Workforce

• With future workforce needs considered, human resource planning must analyze the competency of the present workforce. Comparing future needs with current workforce strengths and abilities will identify gaps or surpluses.
  
  

Future Preparation

• Considering workforce surpluses and deficits, human resources must prepare action plans for the workforce. This includes identifying the type and number of employees needed, employee competency, budget considerations, recruiting and retaining measures, and the development and training of employees.
  
  

Evaluation Process

• Ensuring objectives are being met by the future workforce requires an evaluation process. This will determine if the workforce is adequate to satisfy strategic goals. Planning for this process now will more easily and quickly identify future workforce gaps or surpluses.