Workforce planning and HR templates

Workforce planning – what's in it for me?

Your business plan should give you a clear idea of what you want to achieve.

Common reasons for workforce planning include:

• struggling with the workload generated by your business
• regulatory changes, market changes or new technology that could force you to look at how you're running your business
• poor staff performance
• achieving business growth.

Look at your current staffing situation

Good HR records should help you gather this information – but if you don't have this information at hand – you can conduct staff surveys or have conversations with your staff.

Questions you should ask to determine your current staffing situation:

• What are your employees characteristics – for example, age, salary, who they report to
• What skills do you have in your business?
• What's the rate of workforce growth or decline – over time?
• What's your staff turnover rate?
• How would you rate your workers' satisfaction in their roles?

Workforce information template (DOCX 36.95 KB)

Hiring new staff

Think about the design of your organisation structure – inefficiencies can be commonly tracked back to poor organisational design. Effective organisational design creates an environment where people can work and communicate efficiently. 

Before you hire new staff, consider the following:

Critical skills

• If you couldn't find someone to fill the job, would it hurt your business significantly? 
• Does one of your employees already possess the skills – but isn't using them in their role?

Consider your options

Consider up-skilling existing workers and taking on new entrants to the workforce and training them.

When considering your options for employment, be sure to look at:

• Restart Program – offering incentives for employing people aged 50 or older
• Jobs Victoria – providing targeted support services for people looking for work and for employers looking for workers

Consider costs

This doesn't just mean wages – you'll also need to think about:

• turnover
• loss of training
• inexperience
• long-term vacancies if there's a high turnover of staff due to badly thought-out jobs.

Resources

• Will this change in three to five years –  and if so – how are you planning for it? 
• Will the role be full-time, part-time or casual? 
• Having flexible working arrangements, such as part-time hours, working from home or job-sharing options may open up your job to more applicants.
• Have you considered a broader range of potential employees such as older/younger workers, or working parents?

Consider employment types and hiring options.

Determine your future staffing needs

Having identified your business needs and profiled your current workforce, you can now get your workforce to meet your business goals.

Workforce action plan (DOCX 26.47 KB)

Create a HR manual 

Tailor a policy and procedure document that will ensure your staff will fit your workforce plan.

HR Policy and Procedure Manual template (DOCX 216.86 KB)