1.1(a) Workforce planning

Workforce planning aligns the organisation's workforce with its present and future needs. It involves ensuring that the organisation has the right number of employees with the right skills to do the work required-so the goals of the organisation can be achieved.

Effective workforce planning means having competent employees available when needed. As a result, the organisation will be more competitive in the marketplace. By having clear career paths, training and other development opportunities, the organisation is more likely to attract high quality employees.

The process of attracting employees begins with accurately forecasting human resource needs and labour availability to ensure the organisation's objectives are achieved. This forecasting allows an organisation to make informed choices about how the demand for staff will be met.

If the final decision is that additional staff are required, it may be a case of recruiting new staff. However, this is only one possible solution. Accurate and timely planning may offer other options such as:

• training existing staff
• transferring staff from other parts of the organisation experiencing a downturn
• using casual or contract staff.