Workforce Planning

Workforce Planning MODEL
Workforce Planning TOOLS
Workforce Planning FAQs

Rationale for policy and summary of issues it addresses:

Achieving international excellence is dependent on attracting, developing and retaining high quality staff. A range of factors, including an ageing workforce, skills shortages, changes to federal government funding, the Research Quality Framework, budgetary tightening, increasing competition in the tertiary education sector and private sector, and technological innovations, impact the University’s capability to be competitive in attracting, developing and retaining high quality staff to meet its requirements.

There is a compelling need for UWA to plan to meet these changes and avoid crises management. The Organisational Renewal Project has identified what steps are required to meet this emerging challenge and position the University to effectively plan for the future.

Workforce Planning is a critical step in planning for staff and achieving the goals of the University’s Strategic Plan. It is the first step in the human resource planning cycle and links up to preparing to recruit, attracting staff, recruiting and selecting staff and developing staff.

Workforce Planning is the planned strategic process of linking business directions with planning for resources, growth strategies, together with planned activities including succession planning, work design and staff development.

Workforce Planning links up to the broader strategic planning processes of the organisation and addresses the following questions in the context of a changing environment –

• What are the strategic drivers impacting on your business over the next 5-10 years?
• What are the requirements to meet the Operational Priorities Plan (OPP)?
• What work needs to be done to achieve these outcomes?
• What organisational structure would best meet this need?
• What are the high level capabilities required to successfully do the work?
• How can these capabilities be acquired and/or developed in the workforce in the short, medium and long term?
• How can these requirements be best met with current financial resources?
• What are the capabilities of the current workforce? Are they near retirement or going on leave?
• What are the consequences of not engaging in workforce planning to meet future strategic directions?

For example, in recruiting a Federation Fellow, there are various planning requirements to be considered. These considerations may include the appointment costs and on-costs of the Fellow and their team, together with the infrastructure costs for accommodation, laboratory and equipment.

Policy statement:

Faculties, Schools, Centres and Divisions are responsible for meeting the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in their Operational Priorities Plan. Workforce Planning is an annual process to assist managers in identifying the critical capabilities required in their workforce to deliver against their OPP and position the organisational unit to best meet future requirements. The decision to recruit is made at this stage. The expected outcome for senior managers is a workforce plan to meet current and future staffing needs.

Responsibilities:

Deans, Heads of School, Directors, Managers:

• Conduct an environmental scan and identify the impact on the business
• Review OPP strategies, budget, benchmarking information and KPIs annually
• Identify services/products required to meet KPIs
• Identify high level critical capabilities required to deliver KPIs
• Review labour forecasting requirements
• Review labour supply impact
• Identify gap
• Determine recruitment needs and obtain annual approval to recruit
• Implement HR programmes to meet labour requirements

Human Resources:

• Provide the tools for managers to determine the supply and demand of critical capabilities
• Analyse information and coach managers in its application
• Facilitate the strategic discussion on labour requirements
• Work with managers to determine the impact – oversupply or undersupply of labour
• Assess the need to improve or develop HR programmes to meet labour supply e.g. Mobility (multi-skilling, change in life circumstances, preferred life balance changes), development programmes, graduate/apprenticeship/traineeships
• Advise managers of cost effective options, deliver and evaluate programmes

Glossary:

“Workforce Planning” is a process to ensure that the organisation meets its objectives by identifying its future needs for skilled staff and developing plans to meet these objectives. The process consists of four phases – labour demand forecasting, labour supply analysis, balancing supply and demand, and control and evaluation procedures. Succession planning and critical replacement planning is a subcomponent of workforce planning.

Labour demand forecasting identifies the quantity and quality of employee skill sets needed to meet strategic goals such as an increase in the student population to 20,000 by 2010 and become one of the top 50 universities in 50 years. Forecasting can occur at various stages of development. Labour supply analysis identifies the availability of staff required. Determining supply begins with the identification of the capabilities of the current workforce. Balancing supply and demand is met by developing tailored HR programmes to expand or reduce the workforce. Control and evaluation procedures provide feedback on the success of HR programmes in meeting labour demand.

Related forms:

Workforce Planning MODEL
Workforce Planning TOOLS
Workforce Planning FAQs

Related administrative procedures:

File No:

Approving body or position: Executive
Date original policy approved: October 2006
Date latest revision approved:
Date policy to be reviewed: August 2008
Administering body or position: HR Director
Contact position: Policy Officer
Related policies or legislation: Operational Priorities Plan | Delegations Policy – University Delegations