How to Develop a Staffing Plan

This how-to guide is designed to help an HR professional answer the question, "What
staff support will my HR department need in the next year, and how will we meet those
requirements?" (Generally, the time period is a year, but it could be shorter or longer.)
The staffing plan should be used to identify not only head count additions and reductions
but also the different skills and knowledge that might be needed. Staffing plans may
encompass employees, contractors, consultants or other experts. In essence, the steps
used in developing a staffing plan help HR professionals ask the right questions to come
to a clear understanding of the current state, the desired future state of the function and
how to get there.

Staffing plans are often used during budget cycles to help plan and allocate costs.
However, staffing plans can be used any time there will be a major adjustment to a
workforce.

While the steps given below and the sample staffing plan are specifically for a human
resource department, they can be applied to any function within an organization. HR
professionals can also use the steps and staffing plan on a larger scale for a division or
entire company. For best results, each step should be completed in order rather than
jumping ahead.

Staffing plans can be one component of a strategic workforce plan. The differences
between the two and how they intersect will be discussed at the end of this how-to guide.

Steps to Complete a Staffing Plan

Step 1: Evaluate Goals

The first step in developing a staffing plan is to evaluate the needed goals to achieve. By
recognizing the targets employees will be working toward, human resource professionals
can identify the amount and type of support needed to meet those expectations.

Ensuring a clear understanding of expectations helps HR professionals in a number of

ways. Departmental goals should align and support organizational goals. Thus, this
exercise is a perfect opportunity to reach out to other leaders to understand their
expectations of the department in the upcoming year, including support for major projects,
new strategic initiatives or other changes that will require adjusting staff.
In addition, during this step, HR should identify any major goals within the function.
Perhaps a reorganization or realignment is needed to increase customer service or
develop specific expertise.

Questions to ask when evaluating goals include:

 What are the organization's major strategic and tactical goals for the upcoming
year?
 How will the HR function support those goals?
 What goals do I need to set for my function to ensure I'm aligned with the
company's goals?
 What support are other functions/departments expecting from my department this
year?
 What internal goals would this function like to achieve this year?

Step 2: Identify Influencers

In this step, HR professionals determine the factors that might affect the staffing plan.
Influencers can be internal or external to the organization. They can be positive or
negative and are defined as anything that might indirectly affect the plan but that the
organization has little control over. By evaluating influencers on the staffing plan, HR
professionals survey the landscape to identify and understand forces that will affect the
talent supply. Examples of such influencers are a tight labor market, changing regulations
and evolution of a function.

To complete this step, HR professionals should start with a brainstorming session to

identify everything that might impact their workforce. Once they generate the list, they can
then group like influencers. For example, if the brainstorm list includes "low
unemployment" and "competitor ABC Company is hiring 50,000 local workers in the next
year," the two could be consolidated under the influencer "external workforce availability."

Sources that provide labor market data include:

 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 State and municipal labor statistics.
 State unemployment data.

Questions to help identify influencers include:

 What is the talent availability in our market?

 What trends are affecting skill development? These could be social impacts such
as managing social media requirements, learning new skills as part of process
evolution or the need to learn new technology.
  Will technology changes influence our labor supply or demand? These changes
could be new technology that will require additional staffing or training time or
technology that improves efficiencies, thereby eliminating jobs.
 Will changes to regulations affect our workforce?
 Do we have competitors that will affect the supply of labor? Perhaps competitors
are growing their workforce, or they are laying off people, thereby growing the labor
supply.
 Will economic or financial factors affect our staffing plans? These may include
anticipated changes to the local economy, tightening of financing available to the
organization or an influx of venture capital funding.
 Do we need to account for constraints or impacts from facilities or infrastructure?
These include office size, location and commuting implications.
 Are potential "game changers" affecting our industry? Called "disrupter
companies," examples include Uber and its impact on the taxi industry. Other
game changers include technology improvements such as driverless cars that may
affect the transportation industry.

Step 3: Analyze the Current State of the Function

As with any plan, it is critical to know the starting point. In this step, HR professionals
compile information on the current state of the function or create an inventory of the
important components of the skill set currently in play.

Compiling information on the current state of the HR function involves listing all current
resources, including staff, contingency workers or other people who regularly support
function goals. In addition, the current-state analysis should determine competencies, skill
set or expertise to fully understand the tools presently available to meet expected plans.

As part of the activities in this step, HR professionals need to decide which systems to
use to obtain the analysis data. Small departments can simply count positions on an
organizational chart. However, data for larger staffing plans may need to be pulled from
the human resource information system (HRIS) or payroll, talent management or
scheduling systems. If the staffing plan is for head count purposes, payroll or HRIS data
will suffice. But for competency planning, a learning or talent management system may
provide the most accurate data.

In this step HR should also evaluate factors that may change the makeup of the
department, such as flight risks, potential departures and current open positions actively
being recruited.

This step does not include identifying gaps; that activity happens in Step 5.
Questions to ask while analyzing the current state include:
  What systems should I review for data on the current state?
 Who are my current staff members? What positions affect how we get things done
(e.g., what responsibilities require an HR manager versus an HR administrator)?
 What expertise do staff members bring to their role?
 Do other employees outside of my function regularly influence achieving HR team
goals (e.g., perhaps the employee in payroll who reports to the chief financial
officer)? This question is especially relevant in matrixed organizations.
 Do vendors, contractors or others outside my organization regularly contribute to
achieving team goals?
 What are the competencies my current staff have?
 Do I have any employees who are flight risks or who have personal issues that
may affect their longevity with the organization?

Step 4: Envision Needs

In Step 4, HR professionals envision what will be needed to accomplish the goals set out
in Step 1. Keys to this step are to start fresh and not be overly influenced by the current
state. This step identifies both end-state staffing and interim needs. It should be assessed
at both a head count and skills level.

To complete this step, HR professionals should review the goals outlined in Step 1 and
imagine what will be needed to accomplish those goals. It is best to envision needs as if
building the department from scratch. Taking this approach will help articulate
requirements without being hampered by the current state.

The envisioning step may be approached from a head count perspective. However,
envisioning needs from a skill set, competency or expertise perspective helps overcome
biases that may exist in the current state.

Questions to ask while envisioning needs include:

 What expertise does the HR function need to accomplish our goals for next year?
 How many people will we need to meet our goals, and where should they be
located? Sources for this figure may include current span-of-control numbers, staff
ratio recommendations, historical rule of thumb within the organization or statistical
regression analysis.
 Does staffing change throughout the year? What will it look like in six months? In
12 months?
 What is the ideal mix of staff, contractors or outside expertise needed to meet our
goals? Generally outside experts are costly specialists such as lawyers or
consultants whom HR may want on only a very limited basis but whose input is
critical to the success of the plan. Contractors should be hired to fill short-term
needs.
 What budget will we need to meet our goals?
Step 5: Conduct a Gap Analysis

Step 5 identifies what is missing between the end state outlined in Step 4 and the current
state identified in Step 3. Gaps may include inadequate staffing, lack of expertise or
simply the wrong people in the wrong place. Information derived from a gap analysis will
identify deficiencies in the current state of the function that HR will need to address to
achieve the outlined goals. HR professionals should not view these gaps as weaknesses
of the current department but rather as opportunities to evolve the function into an ideal
state to achieve organizational goals.

Questions to ask when doing a gap analysis include:

 If I compare the end state to the current state, in what areas are we currently
unable to support outlined goals?
 Where will we need to adjust current staffing? Will factors such as current
performance or mobility affect the current staffing?
 Do we lack staff with the right expertise in functional areas?
 Do we have geographical gaps in which we need to hire staff?
 Will cross-functional collaboration be needed? If so, how can we strengthen that
partnership?

Step 6: Develop a Solution Plan

Having conducted the analysis above, HR professionals can now put together a plan to
achieve the stated goals for the upcoming year. The plan should include both end-state
staffing and any interim staffing needed. Step 6 often encompasses determining timing
(i.e., when to hire or promote specific staff) and assigning costs if the staffing plan is being
done in conjunction with a budget cycle.

The plan itself should outline the staff needed, at what time and location. It should
differentiate full time versus contingent staff and identify every role needed in the function
from entry level to executive. The plan may also detail the timing for when specific, outside
expertise is needed.

Staffing plans may be created as tables, charts, PowerPoint presentations or other

visuals. The important thing is to present the information in a format that provides the
amount and type of information required in an easily consumable format.

Questions to ask while developing the solution plan include:

 Given all the information above, how do I use it to achieve the goals outlined in
Step 1?
 At the end of the year, what should my staff composition consist of?
 When and where will we need to adjust staffing levels to support organizational
goals?
 What level of expertise do I require in which roles?
 How am I accommodating for the influencers identified in Step 2?
 How am I addressing the gaps outlined in Step 5? Outside of hiring, would training
or other methods help cover these gaps? Can we fill some of these gaps with
technology?
 Finally, how often do I need to revisit this plan to ensure it continues to meet
organizational needs?