Trend Analysis Staffing Tool Report Example

A staffing plan refers to a set of procedures that a company upholds in matters to do with their staff. This ensures that the said organization has the right number of staff fully equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills thus making the individuals compatible with the company’s needs. (Schuler, 1984) The staffing plan is put in place in order to ensure that the employees assist the company to achieve its overall goals. In the development of a staffing plan, certain key aspects need to be taken into consideration. These factors represent a stepwise process of developing a staffing plan for any organization. The factors include giving a clear job description, listing of the specific job requirements, ensuring fairness in employment, looking into the skill level of the employees in the company and finally taking into consideration the trends in terms of turnover and the business environment. (Harzing, 1992)

History of Trend Analysis

In most companies, developing a successful staff planning strategy is essential. In view of achieving this, staffing trend analysis emerges as an essential tool that businesses need to adopt. This ensures that the human resources are well set to meet the needs and objectives of the company. Essentially, trend analysis is done with a view of ensuring that the workforce in a company meets the staffing needs of the organization. A major issue that has rapidly made trend analysis important in the business world is the retirement levels in companies. Demographic factors such as situations where the older generation of workers is phased out have made staffing for organizations a challenging issue for firms (Snell, 1992). This has made organizations adopt the trend analysis.
Over time organizations have come to learn that the competition in various industries is increasing. With the increase in competition comes the need for the companies to strategically place themselves in order to stay relevant in the market. The tools that many companies have sought to use, therefore, include intensive staffing plans that include doing trend analysis. Over time, many companies have been observed to leave traditional ways of planning in order to concentrate on the development of strategic objectives and goals. In line to achieving these goals, therefore, rises the concept of proper staff planning and doing trend analysis.
Microsoft gulf is one of the major companies in UAE that has been famed for its performance when it comes to employee development. Over time, the company has been famed for having innovative human resource practices that set it apart from other organizations in the country. The policies enacted in terms of trend analysis allow the employees to put in place individual efforts in line with the companies goals and objectives. Through the analysis, the company has been able to establish programs such as Management Surveys and other development programs. This has enabled the company achieve improved retention levels for its employees. (Microsoft.com)
FedEx is another company in UAE that has posted good results due to improved employee relations. The company has been famed for the policies that allow for fairness in employee treatment in the company. FedEx’s success in its business has its basis on various developmental programs available for their employees. This was arrived to after an analysis revealed solutions to higher turnover rates among similar organizations in UAE. To deal with this, FedEx decided to approach a more employee-friendly policy that enables employees to rise up in the organizational structure. (FedEx.com)
The Marriott hotel in the country is another example where efficient staffing procedures have led to the realization of improved performance by the organization. The company has been able to establish policies that look into maximizing the performance of employees in line with the organizational goals. Given that performance in the hotel industry is measured by the service given to customers, the hotel has been able to introduce a system where only people with specified skills are hired. In their staffing procedures, the hotel ensures that only trained professionals who are able to handle an array of issues in the industry are hired. This policy came about as a result of extensive trend analysis both within the organization and in the hotel industry in the country (Marriott.com).

Benefits of Trend Analysis

Doing trend analysis in organizations is closely tied to the level to which the companies achieve organizational goals and objectives. In the normal setting for any given business, it has become increasingly difficult to clearly stipulate the expected traits that are required in the workforce; traits essential for fulfilling the organizational staffing needs. The difficult situation that many businesses find themselves in involves trying to find a balance between understaffing and over staffing. (Mello, 2014) Understaffing leads to a situation whereby the employees are not enough to cover the expected functions of the organization. Here, the productivity and ability of the business organizations to offer services or make sales is compromised. Overstaffing, on the other hand, occurs where the available staff in an organization are surplus to the requirements or needs of the business. This is harmful to the business since the profits the organization may be making are taken up by staff issues such as maintenance and remuneration. It therefore becomes imperative for any organization to arrive at a point of balance where the staffing needs of the company are conceptualized and well understood. The conceptualization of the needs is in terms of both the number and the skills and knowledge requirement of the staff. Trend analysis, therefore, comes into the picture here, whereby the employee performance levels are examined in relation to various business variables in order to establish the possible human resource requirements for the company (Galinsky, 1990).
Carrying out trend analysis reveals various aspects of the business and its performance that are essential in helping the overall organizational goals to be met. Various aspects to do with employees are learned. For instance, an analysis can show the level to which employees are satisfied with their jobs and specific roles (Lawler, 2003). The analysis can help management design how to manage such an issue while also looking at the structure of the organization where performance is optimum and proper management of the work in the organization. Doing the trend analysis also helps organizations establish the level of skills and knowledge that current employees have. Appropriate action can be taken after the facts established. When analysis is carried out, the organizations are able to learn the characteristics of people drawn to the organization while handling the turnover issue. The organization can, therefore, learn why people join the business while others leave.

Best Practices in Trend Analysis

In doing effective staffing trend analysis, the first aspect that needs to be looked into is the statistics on employees that the organizations have made available. Issues that can be looked into include individual employee educational levels, past places of employment and any other kind of data available about employees (Scullion, 2006). This data about employees should be collected over time and preferably over a year or two. The current situation, therefore, will be compared to the past in order to show the expected trends in the workplace. This will, therefore, reveal information such as turnover rates and possible resignations by previous employees. Tables and graphs are then drawn in order to give a pictorial representation of the trends.
In conducting a trend analysis, the aspect of comparison is very key. Comparison, in this case, takes the form of using the data from employees who have stayed in the organization for more than one year in an organization. Various issues that may have changed over time in terms of compensation, education levels, and organizations structure are taken into consideration. This information for current employees and the employees who left the organizations are compared in order to establish relationships between the conditions explaining their respective stay or departure.

Conclusion

Businesses all over the world have established the important role played by trend analysis in staffing. It can be used as a tool that can ensure that the organization tailors its staff policies such that they achieve organizational success. Over time, various best practices discussed in the paper have been established on how to apply trend analysis efficiently. All these efforts ensure that the staffing procedures help organizations achieve organizational goals and objectives.

References

Fedex Express. Retrieved 3 March 7, 2015 http://www.fedex.com/ae/about/
Galinsky, E., & Stein, P. J. (1990). The Impact of Human Resource Policies on Employees Balancing Work/Family Life. Journal of Family Issues, 11(4), 368-383.
Harzing, A. W., & Pinnington, A. (Eds.). (2010). International human resource management. Sage.
Lawler, E. E., & Mohrman, S. A. (Eds.). (2003). Creating an Effective Human Resources Organization: Trends and New Directions. Stanford University Press.
Mello, J. (2014). Strategic human resource management. Cengage Learning.
Microsoft Gulf. Retrieved 3 March 7, 2015 http://www.microsoft.com/en-gulf/default.aspx
Schuler, R. S., & MacMillan, I. C. (1984). Gaining competitive advantage through human resource management practices. Human Resource Management, 23(3), 241-255.
Scullion, H., & Collings, D. G. (Eds.). (2006). Global staffing. Routledge.
Snell, S. A., & Dean, J. W. (1992). Integrated manufacturing and human resource management: A human capital perspective. Academy of Management journal, 35(3), 467-504.